Advance Review: Space Ghost #1

Yet again that which was old, is now new again. Following on the heels of Transformers, G.I. Joe and Dynamite stablemate, Thundercats, Space Ghost takes to the skies once more. For those that don’t know Space Ghost; it was a cartoon show from the 60’s and was quite formulaic. In the show, Space Ghost had a couple of partners-in-fighting-crime in Jan and Jace and their monkey Blip. With nary an explanation you would watch the show which normally featured two 7-minute segments. With such an open world and clear origins, writer David Pepose has practically a wide open space in which to set his book.

Jan and Jace’s father is working on something big. Of course the bad guys in the familiar shapes of Brak and co. discover said “something big’ attack, the compound, which impacts Jan and Jace. Thankfully, Batman…….sorry I mean Space Ghost arrives to save the day!

When you consider David Pepose’s body of work started with Spencer and Locke, a kind of homage to Calvin and Hobbes, he seems the perfect choice for the newer version of the classic hero. Pepose writes to a logical plan for the most part, with dialogue that matures up the relationships between Jan and Jace and even getting to give some much needed import to Blip one of the earliest cute animal companions that seem to litter Saturday morning cartoons. I assume you all remember Uni from Dungeons and Dragons! With all the set-up the juxtaposition between all the characters and Space Ghost’s terseness is a tad jarring. Gone is the jovial hero and in his place is the almost Batman inspired version, though power bands still seems to be an issue.

The art is provided by Jonathan Lau who, like the writing, attempts to mature up the art. Also like the writing, Lau succeeds. Unusually, the secondary fare better, at least in my opinion, that the main character. Jan and Jace look fines, their father is well delineated, though looks a little young to have two teenagers, and again Blip gets some love. Even the bad guys are on point! that just leaves Space Ghost himself who looks like he has just stepped out of Image circa 1992. Surely we are passed the over the top musculature, especially given the clean lines of the original cartoon? I guess I understand that if this version of Space Ghost has to be the cosmic vigilante, but does that mean we have to regress the art 30 odd years to prove how dark he can be? The colors are provided by Andrew Dalhouse who does a great job of painting this universe as a dark corner of the galaxy. It feels used, worked and lived in. Great work! Taylor Esposito (ironically of Ghost Glyphs fame) does his usually bang on job with the fonts and placements of some very wordy expositions. As its a Dynamite comic, there are a range of covers to chose from; I am a big fan of the classic look on Michael Cho’s cover D.

So another cartoon revival comic book hits the racks. Nostalgia is king, it seems. With that said, I wonder who the guest will be in Space Ghost: Coast to Coast #1?

Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars

Overall – 3.5 Stars

Written by; David Pepose
Art by; Jonathan Lau
Colors by; Andrew Dalhouse
Letters by; Taylor Esposito
Published. by; Dynamite Entertainment

Space Ghost #1 is available in shops from May 1st

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network