I swear Ghost is switching around its creators even further just to annoy me and give it another bad review. Obviously that’s not the case, but honestly at this point it adds further to my feelings of apathy towards this book. I started out by choosing to review the book because I’m a fan of a lot of Dark Horse’s stuff but hadn’t ever read any Ghost at the time. I also knew in the 90s X and Ghost had met in some different issues so I figured it’d be interesting to see that happen again while being familiar with both characters. I enjoyed the first issue and gave it a 4/5, looking forward to the rest of the series, but Ghost falls flat and continues to disappoint this month with its lack of consistency. Not even the colorist is the same this month! To add insult to injury, Kelly Sue DeConnick is leaving after the next issue. Spoilers ahead
This issue was one of the most boring books I’ve had to sit through since Zombie War from IDW. I can tell you all of the key points in one sentence: Ghost kills the demon that has taken over James Barrow, Vaughn and Caroline get tracked down by some of Doctor October’s demon cronies but of course escape relatively unscathed; Tommy and Sloane get attacked by the White City Butcher but get saved by Ghost who kills the Butcher and lets Beleth switch into the body. After that, Beleth gets arrested since the cops think he is the White City Butcher and are unaware of the supernatural happenings that put him in this circumstance. A weak cliffhanger ends out this issue. You’re welcome for telling you everything that happened so you don’t waste your hard-earned $2.99.
The art was good in this issue, but the fact that the only real thing keeping me even relatively wanting to read this book was Ryan Sook’s art unfortunately makes it a bit less impressive. He did do a great job of filling in, I’m sure some people won’t even mind or notice the difference. It’s in a similar style to Sook’s, but it’s like listening seeing Slayer without Jeff Hanneman-it’s still cool, but just not the same. There were also a few panels that were really confusing as to how the characters got there. There’s a huge disconnect and takes away from the reading experience like when Ghost kills James Barrow. She says the only emotion she feels is rage, and all of a sudden James has a ton of poles through him. The writing just seems drawn out, the supporting cast is very weak and disposable (when it’s teased at that Caroline was killed, it had no impact), and the dialogue is laughable at points. I really wish this book were more organized creator-wise because I want to like this book, but ever since the first issue they’ve made it extremely hard to do so.
Score: 1/5
Writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick and Chris Sebela Artist: Geraldo Borges Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $2.99 Release Date: 4/16/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital