Review by C.J. Bunce
Wow! If you thought Space Ghost Issue #1 was fun, wait ’til you get a load of Issue #2. The power of the new series can be found in Jonathan Lau’s strong pencils and inks. His Space Ghost is all passion, power, and grit, the kind of energy that comic book fans woke up to in decades past with Bill Sienkiewicz, Michael Turner, Mauro Cascioli, and Frank Miller’s different takes on Batman (the cowl is so similar that Space Ghost will no doubt conjure Batman for many readers). This Space Ghost, as seen inside the book and via covers by artists Michael Cho, Bjorn Barends, Jae Lee and June Chung, and Francesco Mattina, is a superhero that could stand with your favorite renderings of Superman, Batman, and the legacy Captain Marvel. I’ve loved Lau’s recognizable style going back to his work on The Bionic Man and Miss Fury. So it’s exciting seeing what he’s doing with this series. Nobody balances both power and nostalgia like Alex Ross in his dazzling covers, but Lau is coming into his own with this interior artwork, which may be the best work of his career so far. Together with writer David Pepose, they are reinterpreting the many incarnations of Space Ghost, making him a comic book superhero for the 21st century.
Take a look at what’s coming this summer from these artists in Space Ghost with cover art through Issue #4, courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment.
If you missed my review of the first issue here at borg, all you need to know is that the series is a must-read for fans of any incarnation of the character. David Pepose’s story is much darker than you might expect, but in the second issue he is quickly building up a layered character for Space Ghost with a violent and dramatic backstory. Space Ghost is planning what to do with deceased scientist Dr. Jerrod Keplar’s children Jan and Jace–and their monkey Blip–as the kids get into some trouble. Pepose’s dialogue tells us a lot about his hero and where he plans to take him going forward, with lines like “Not bad kid. Maybe you won’t be sleeping in the airlock after all.” The writer is giving readers a non-standard family story, his main cast all with similar life disasters resulting in loneliness as they find themselves in circumstances without supportive characters or systems to hold them up.
This issue also features a sneak preview of the new Jonny Quest comic book series.
Just look at the covers coming your way for Issues #2-4 (including this first one, a one-off variant by Joe Quesada):
As always, look for some versions of the covers without the logos like these:
It’s the comic book event of the year. Don’t miss out on this fantastic new comic book series. Add Space Ghost to your pull list at Elite Comics or your local comic shop now!
