Comics
Review: ‘Ghost’ #0
During the 90s, Dark Horse took a shot at creating their own branded superhero universe and created characters like X, Barb Wire, and Motorhead. One of the most successful characters to spin out of the line was Ghost, a female reporter, Elisa Cameron, that digs a little too deep into a story about the corruption in the city of Arcadia and is murdered in order to keep her quiet. She returns as a phantom spirit sent back to avenge her own death, while keeping her love ones out of harm’s way.
After more than a decade, Dark Horse brings Ghost back to life starting with a 3-part serial in “Dark Horse Presents”, which is now collected as “Ghost” #0. The story functions as the launching point for the upcoming mini-series “In The Smoke & Din”. Dark Horse gives writer Kelly Sue Deconnick (“Captain Marvel”, “Avengers”) and artist Phil Noto (“X-Men”) the job of resurrecting “Ghost” and rebooting one of their most successful properties.
WRITTEN BY: Kelly Sue Deconnick
ART BY: Phil Noto
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
RELEASE: September 19th, 2012
Phil Noto is a master at drawing beautiful women and it shows in “Ghost” #0. The original series emerged out of the 90s bad girl craze, so the character tended to be portrayed in cheesy sexual poses that distracted from the overall storyline. Noto manages to bring some class back to the character by perfectly capturing the dark supernatural element of the book with his simplistic but gorgeous artwork. Noto also turns out two visually stunning splash pages that perfectly capture the essence of his expressive and elegant style.
Kelly Sue Deconnick does a good job of setting up the mystery of Ghost and making it intriguing. The dialogue in this issue is rock solid and the premise of building the story around a pair of paranormal ghost hunters allows the creative team to take the series in a number of different directions. Deconnick does a good job of keeping things a mystery as the issue ends on a cliffhanger that will leave readers hungry for issue #1. How fast things will unravel is still unclear. Furthermore, it’s a mystery if any premise/plotlines of the original “Ghost” series will be revived in this reboot.
Ghost #0 works mostly as a teaser issue that sets up the impending mini-series “In The Smoke & Din”, but it is a good first chapter from the creative team.
3.5/5 Skulls
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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