Berger Books is the new almost imprint from Dark Horse Comics. Now, Dark Horse are no stranger to horror books, seeing as they practically own the market place with a raft of books featuring Hellboy and his gang from fan favourite Mike Mignola. The move seems like common sense, as Berger carries a wealth of experience in both the mature and the macabre.
Hungry Ghosts is something of an anthology book, set around a the rules of a game called Kaiden. Essentially, the game is historically played by a group of warriors who tell ghost stories. At the end of each story, the storyteller blows out one of a hundred candles and looks into a mirror to see if he sees himself or has a demon possessed him. As the candles are blown out, the room darkens and the risk of possession weighs heavily.  This idea is given throughout the first story, entitled Kaiden, with the warriors being replaced by dictators, war criminals, thieves and despots at a swanky dinner party. Form this frame, a number of short stories are weaved.
Writers Anthony Bourdain and Joel Rose keep the mood consistent through the various stories and fully get into the swing of things following the rather clunky exposition that is the opening set up, with a second, somewhat obvious tale. Alberto Ponticelli provides the pencils for the first two stories, the aforementioned Kaiden and The Starving Skeleton,; the former is quite traditional, whereas the latter shows the type of shadowing art that is reminiscent of Mignola.
The Pirates, featuring art by Vanesa Del Rey, is probably the best of the tales on show. A ship full of pirates rescues a fair maiden from the cruel sea, although the payment of such an act has an air of cruelty and morbid satisfaction. Del Ray’s art is full of insinuation, both of story and of form, which does fit well with the idea of life on the open sea, back then. Its turgid, its dirty and its hard work.
The book is given a sense of continuity from the colors of Jose Villarrubia who delivers great schemes across all the stories. The level of flexibility and required team work, is definitely a virtue. Letterer Sal Cipriano also displays a level of consistency throughout, never trying to over lay the writing, instead showing a high degree of letting the words speak for themselves.
Karen Berger is widely and correctly so by the way, recognised as an industry great. Her work on Vertigo speaks for itself and her absence is surely felt at DC, mainly as DC try to “superhero” some of their Vertigo stalwarts.  Berger Books has given her an opportunity to help her thumb her nose to her past employers. As a first issue, this book feels rather safe, which is a tad disappointing, yet it does allow for growth in future issues.
Writing – 3 Stories
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by; Anthony Bourdain & Joel Rose
Art by; Alberto Ponticelli, Vanesa Del Ray
Colors by; Jose Villarrubia
Published by Dark Horse Comics
In Shops: Jan 31, 2018
Diamond Code:Â NOV170012
Author Profile
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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
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