Creative Staff:
Story: Chris Sebela
Artwork: Jan Duursema & Dan Parsons
What They Say:
Von Ghastly’s not just a corny TV host—he’s an obsessive cult leader with a brainwashed fan club of obedient minions. What’s worse, he’s tapped into a power that allows him to physically touch Ghost! Will she be able to cancel his program before he takes her permanently off the air?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the idea that a local TV host may be an actual demon instead of just playing one on TV, it worked nicely to set the stage for stuff since it made sense that some of the demons in this world would hide like that. Hiding in plain sight makes a lot of sense and offers a kind of security that you can play off of. It also worked nicely in that it let Tommy take center stage a bit to help in dealing with Elisa and what she’s going through since the human and support side of what she’s been doing has come across as a bit weak and underutilized so far in the series. To the point, in the first arc, of not really being worth remembering their names. Of course, things don’t go well with Elisa dealing with Von Ghastly since he’s able to deal with her in a rather creative way.
THe whole clockwork chains thing he has her in at the start here is classic in its comic bookness nature and while goofy in a way, works rather well since it paints a picture that he’s able to handle her physically in a way that others can’t. Which makes the revelation that he’s actually human and not a spirit all the more interesting since normally humans can’t do such things to her. It does serve, however, to do more than just interest her because it pisses her off a good deal. With his history explored briefly with what it meant to be the host and how it gave him access to things he probably shouldn’t have, the idea that he works in blood and sacrificial magic certainly clicks and his showing it off a bit with one of his minions definitely makes a bloody impact.
That Von Ghastly is a bit off his rocker is no surprise, but I like that he has the idea that upon seeing so many other dimensional realities out there that he becomes convinced that the real world is a hell itself and he wants to get out of it by going to some other dimensional reality. He comes up with an interesting idea about basically creating his own reality elsewhere that’s completely under his control, but the gist of it is that the guy is pretty much nuts and grasping at straws to cope with what he’s seen. There’s an underlayer to events going on here as well, which we see a bit when Tommy gets there and helps Elisa to escape, so it’ll be curious to see how that forms in the upcoming issues. It seems like a lot of this issue is fairly transitional in a way as we watch how Elisa deals with things, both with Von Ghastly and others as it progresses, and a couple of touches with the support group as well, but there’s an odd feeling about the second half of the book where it’s like they’re whistling past a graveyard as the big events are about to happen.
In Summary:
With an interesting spin on the whole demon aspect, local TV celebrities and the growing threat in the background, Ghost has a decent issue but it feels like it’s on quicksand to some degree. Things are shifting here, there’s a sense that it can go in any number of directions and there’s an uncertainty to events. Which can work well when viewed as part of the bigger picture while leaving you with a lot of unease during the individual chapter. It moves between events quickly, almost a little haphazardly, but it gets to where we see the real lurking danger sliding into place and that certainly draws you in to wonder what more is going on. Sebela keeps things moving and starts to flesh out the support side more while providing Elisa with some decent narration and it all comes together under the always wonderful artwork from Duursema.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: July 2nd, 2014
MSRP: $2.99
