Comics
Review: ‘Ghosted’ #8
An incredibly fun read, “Ghosted” #8 is an entertaining supernatural adventure filled with spooks, witches, and action. With two engaging and humorous protagonists, readers will find these characters easy to root for. The “Ghosted” series takes an amusing approach at poltergeists and ghost-hunting.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Davide Gianfelice
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: March 19, 2014
The Teacher of the Dead has been waiting for Jackson Winters, the haunted thief, to arrive at his hidden and ancient temple. Jackson has found himself lost in the jungle and captured by the Brotherhood of the Closed Book. Jackson keeps waiting for Anderson, his ghostly partner-in-crime, to spring him free. But she keeps teasing him as they wait for the Teacher to torture him. Somehow Jackson has to free himself and rescue the damsel-in-distress, Nina, who also has a ghost inside her head.
What really makes the narrative by Joshua Williamson feel so energetic is his sarcastic and witty dialogue. Even when all seems lost, I find it hilarious that Jackson is able to throw a cynical one-liner at the face of danger. I was laughing out loud when Jackson was hoping that the Teacher, the big bad, would be some kind of Bond villain. Jackson expects someone to torture him and throw him into a pit full of giant snakes.
What I really like is the snappy dialogue between the Teacher and Jackson. Like a true Bond villain, the Teacher explains his grand scheme in detail. Williamson then twists the idea and has these two characters play around with each other, like a cat and mouse. The Teacher knows Jackson is talking to his ghost partner and conjures up a spell to make her go away. Even while the Teacher is revealing his master plan, Jackson is secretly planning to steal something valuable from the temple.
Artist Davide Gianfelice is able to portray the two different sides of the Teacher. In his character design, the Teacher is elderly and flailing with his wrinkly skin. The antagonist shuffles his feet as if his bad knees would break at a single moment. But there is something deadly about him when he flashes his teeth, which are sharp as fangs. His fingers have extended nails to scratch your eyes out.
Gianfelice makes great use of the jungle setting throughout the narrative. In a wide shot, Gianfelice illustrates the ancient temple with thousands of stone steps. If you look carefully, the steps form into the shape of a hand. The walls and narrow tunnels are lit by flickering candles. The Teacher’s throne is made up of bones and skulls, the remains of humans who have been eaten by giant snakes.
Readers should definitely be on the lookout for “Ghosted” #8. With its surprising cliffhanger, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Jorge Solis
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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