Gianfelice has some great expressions this issue. Wonderful moments with the characters mid-thought. These moments occasionally make Ghosted seem to light while also making it more accessible. Williamson goes for a lot of exposition this issue. There’s so much talking, the word balloons obscure important visual details (the pacing of the big action scene is all off because of them). It’s too much to digest, especially since most of it’s fluff.
There are some excellent moments throughout the issue but almost as many mundane ones. Williamson tries way too hard to make callous protagonist Jackson lovable. Gianfelice does it in the art already, far more discreetly. Though, to be fair, Williamson doesn’t exercise any restraint. He goes overboard.
The excesses hurt the issue. It reads like Williamson’s asking the reader to come back next time instead of being confident. Bad kind of excess. But it’s still more than adequate.
CREDITS
Writer, Joshua Williamson; artist, Davide Gianfelice; colorist, Miroslav Mrva; letterer, Rus Wooten; editors, Helen Leigh and Sean Mackiewicz; publisher, Image Comics.
Williamson finally finds a great cliffhanger for Ghosted. What’s so strange about it is how it continues the trend of somehow being either too intimate or too grandiose; but maybe for the first time he’s got his lead in real, scary danger. Ghosted is a supernatural heist story and Jackson is the mastermind and Williamson has spent the series setting him up as being smarter than everyone else.
Williamson keeps this issue in constant motion. Even the expository scenes are in motion–with both Williamson and Gianfelice putting the emphasis on keeping things moving. The pace is important because Williamson needs to get in an unexpected turn regarding the villain of the arc before the cliffhanger.
Busy, busy issue. Very busy. So busy Williamson can kill people off without it resonating just because there’s so much other stuff going on. And a lot of it goes on at the end; this issue has two cliffhangers, one hard, one soft. Very busy.
Williamson gets away with a lot of exposition. Jackson and the kidnapped, possessed girl are on the run through the jungle of ghost animals–which turns out to be somewhat cute, in an amusing turn–and the girl just talks and talks. But the way Williamson paces out the conversation, it works great. There’s danger and tension and the dialogue fits between. Very nicely done.
Gianfelice’s art stands out this issue. Maybe it’s because everything Williamson does–Jackson is being held hostage–needs to be a surprise. There’s the villains taunting him so their taunts need to be visually rendered, there’s the allies doing a surprise attack, the surprise needs to be rendered. Even though there aren’t any huge set piece fights (I think they average three or four panels), the art’s essential.
Trick is okay. I’m a little surprised, since he sort of ominously disappeared for a bit last issue. He’s in sidekick role, self-proclaimed dirty old man to Jackson’s more sympathetic narrator.
Oh, good, Davide Gianfelice is a new artist on Ghosted. I was a little confused as the style is so different from the first arc. I thought it could be the same guy, just because Williamson’s doing such different things right off with this issue.