This far into Space Ghost I have been sold on the product that David and his team are selling here. As someone who watched the Space Ghost cartoons with his father as a child and later fell in love with the comedic approach to the character in The Brak Show, Space Ghost Coast to Coast and so on this comic live and dies by the love and care this team brings to every page. Reinventing classic characters for a modern lens is a tough job, but the team here took it head on. From introducing characters like Jan and Jace, to Brak’s appearance in the first issue there has been so much put into how we see these characters both aesthetically and lore wise. Dynamite Entertainments Space Ghost was one that I was both looking forward to and worried about because of how good the DC versions of these characters were years ago. This series has given me faith that future Hanah-Barberra adaptations will be of the same quality.
In this issue we meet Zorak, who has been reimagined as a cult leader in search of Lokar a mythical locust of the apocalypses. When Space Ghost sees that he is free he demands the twins stay on Ghost Planet as he goes off to stop Zorak’s evil plans. This leads to a meet up with a character heavily connected to Zorak, and some great action sequences throughout. The first thing that stands out in this issue is the more mature version of Zorak we get here. Being a cult leader, a death cult leader at that, give him more of an edge over his campy cartoon counterpart. This provides some gruesome and mature moments throughout the issue. And seeing that this is the first time Space Ghost is shown to be shook up or worried about a mission gives it a leg up on previous encounters we have witnessed.
Cover Gallery
As I have said on previous review getting further into a comic series can make it difficult to discuss the art, when the team stays the same. Jonathan and Andrew are such a wonderful team up for this series that it does bare repeating at how wonderful the issue looks. They continue the tread of wonderful action sequences and amazing world building through each panel of art. With this issue the unique aspect is the redesign of Zorak. What I have loved about every redesign they have come up with so far is that they are unmistakably the characters from the original cartoon series while being give an more mature look. Zorak continues to look like a giant mantis, as he should, but giving his appearance a more rough feel with every joint of his body and both a deranged while battle tested look. Having him escape from prison also added to his appearance, this happens in the first few pages of the comic so light spoiler I guess. He walks around with a torn and battered prison uniform to add a layer of mystery to his appearance. I feel like the artist here spent a lot of time making sure he looked right both for this issue and for longtime fans.
I continue to just adore this comic more with each issue. David and his team have done a wonderful job of building up the world with the first three issues and issue four really feels like the start of their first big story arc. Bringing in a character like Zorak ramps things up to another level than we have seen in previous stories, and the cliffhanger, while familiar, adds a drama that will have you waiting in excitement for issue five. I believe that his comic is not just a series made for the fans but also a great way to bring on some new fans as well. It can be a tough needle to thread but David manages to not talk down to people that know the source material while still managing to introduce characters in a way that welcome newcomers. This is a comic for both Sci-Fi and Super Hero fans alike, but I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, intense action comic.
Space Ghost #4 will be available August 7th 2024 at your local comic shop or digitally. All the cover art was provided by Dynamite Entertainment while the review copy of this comic was provided by the writer David Pepose.
I have been really enjoying the series so far. Looking forward to seeing more iconic characters.