Comics

Review: “Five Ghosts” # 10

Published

10 years ago

March 19, 2014

“Five Ghosts” does what it does best this month. It provides an action packed adventure, which further deepens its world, characters, and ideas while looking beautiful. The whole thing reads like silk. The main protagonist is noticeably absent throughout the bulk of the issue but that somehow doesn’t stumble writer Frank Barbiere for even a moment. Come away to a strange island and join “Five Ghosts” for some giant crabs, stay for the mysterious witch.

WRITTEN BY: Frank J Barbiere
ART BY: Chris Mooneyham
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: March 19th, 2014

This comic exists in a league of its own. The storytelling is conveyed with such confidence that the larger world outside of the pages feels fully developed. The series has an incredible voice that manages to be unique and still drip with tribute. It never feels strained and it always feels unpredictable. Which is basically the highest praise I can give to a comic. If you can continue to surprise me, I’ll be back month after month.

So yet again, “Five Ghosts” surprises me. I find Fabian Grey to be magnetic, almost irresistible. His powers notwithstanding, he’s an enterprising and confident hero who is motivated for the wrong reasons. So extracting this magnetic force should create a lull in the book. Instead, it deepens the mystery.

We’re finally given some time to meet Sinbad (as she calls herself.) She has a dreamstone, and we learn what happens when dreamstones get too close. It’s not pretty, and it’s overwhelmingly ominous. Barbiere weaves the narrative around disorientation and makes Fabian all the more important by removing him. The action is still present, and the supernatural is everywhere. In fact we get a supercharged jolt of it with the introduction of a new character whose sure to mix shit up in all the wrong ways.

Chris Mooneyham and Lauren Affe are a match made in heaven. Their work compliments each other so well that the pulpy, washed out but colorful look to the paper has come to define the book as much as the characters. Mooneyham finds fantastic ways to keep the action exciting and overwhelming. The looming beasts at the beginning of the issue are only rivaled by the ship-destroying climax of the script. Everything is communicated with polish and poise.

It’s hard for me to find a fault in an issue like this. The voice is carefree, the action is heavy, and the implications for the future are far-reaching. The particulars of this book are made with such confidence that you could easily believe lifelong comics pros were behind everything. Instead it’s the commitment to creating a unique and developed world with complex characters that wins out over everything else. At the end of the day “Five Ghosts” exists in an endlessly complicated world that is communicated with relative ease. It’s not an easy task, but it sure looks that way.

Rating 4.5/5 Skulls.

Zac Thompson

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Comics

‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

Published

1 week ago

April 18, 2024

Meagan Navarro

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.