WHY AREN’T YOU PEOPLE READING THIS SERIES!!!! I don’t mean to yell at you, because I know that if you’re reading this review more than likely you are reading this series. More than likely you’ve sought out reviews as a way of finding others that have read the book and so welcome.

The Ghost Fleet #6 marks the first digital exclusive issue from Dark Horse. That’s right The Ghost Fleet will no longer be printed in single issues (floppies), but you can expect a printed trade. Frankly I’m just fucking glad that it’s still chugging along as this series has been… gah, words just don’t even describe it sometimes.

If it wasn’t a horrible injustice to this series I would just end the review on “gah”, but since I don’t want people to forget about it I will continue with the review, but know that every time there’s “…” it’s me going “gah.” Also I’m going to point out the fact that I somehow missed the fifth issue. No idea how, but it didn’t change my enjoyment of this issue, it just gave me something to go back and find.

I am not going to ruin how the story starts off, but it’s awesome. It’s funny, but awesome. Meanwhile in the present storyline Chase and Beth and heading towards the Los Santos de la Muerte gang’s hideout. Problem is there’s no gang and no truck. Unfortunately for the one gang member left behind he’s going to have to deal with a very pissed of Trace after finding his dog Axl. After that is a long gunfight that was simply amazing. More comics should have amazing gunfights, but they don’t. They should… but they don’t.

I applaud Donny Cates for this series and this issue. When I spoke to him in New York (one of my lost interviews) he told me that this series was very different from Buzzkill and the upcoming The Paybacks, but in some ways they’re not. There’s that over the top nature to the characters. There’s the unique brand of humor that Cates has. While I wouldn’t say they’re the same by any means, they are kindred spirits in the fact that you can find Cates’ writing style stamped on the story. That’s a good thing too because I really enjoy Cates’ style.

There’s this flood of new talent to comics in general lately and I haven’t been excited by much of it. Most of it is dated or trying to be cool, but with Cates I can honestly say that he’s a creator that excites me. I want to read more of The Ghost Fleet, but I also want to read more of anything Cates touches as long as it’s his characters and his voice. I don’t know if I want to read his Deadpool, but I’m sure others do. I mean isn’t Mickey already ten times better of a character? I think so. The point is this is a series that makes you want to follow the creator and that’s as high of a compliment that I can give.

Where has Daniel Warren Johnson been all my life? I don’t know how to properly describe his style, because it’s really on this cusp of being a strange style for comics, but then at the same time being the perfect style. He represents the new school of art in my opinion. Each era tends to have its focus and the last decade or so the focus has been photorealistic, and now it’s moving into this detailed, realistic and yet overly stylized look and we’re better for it. Johnson’s style reminds me of Tradd Moore’s style in a lot of ways and that’s a damn good thing.

Also can we get a quick… break? I mean this issue is just… yeah… yeah…

I haven’t given colorist Lauren Affe enough props on this series, but she kills it on this issue. Whereas Moore has Felipe Sobreiro, Johnson has Affe. And that’s the thing about Johnson’s style, in the hands of the wrong colorist it could be destroyed and washed out. Affe adds to the tone of the story and it’s better because of it.

I’m going to end the same way I began because it’s really the only thing I needed to say about The Ghost Fleet #6… WHY AREN’T YOU PEOPLE READING THIS SERIES!!!!

Score: 5/5

The Ghost Fleet #6 Writer: Donny Cates Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson Colorist: Lauren Affe Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $1.99 Release Date: 4/1/15 Format: Ongoing; Digital