It has certainly been a minute, now hasn’t it? Finally catching up on a lot of material, so be prepared for a number of reviews in the near future. Beginning with Space Ghost #6, rather than a non-spoiler preview, I offer what I hope to be a comprehensive review of a fun issue.
Still feeling the effects of their battle with Zorak, Space Ghost and Jen get no rest as the next familiar villain rears his ugly head to cause havoc and destruction. The villain of the month is good old Moltar, one who controls the Fearsome and unending molten men. Initially the comic might read like a typical episode or Space Ghost has to trounce the bad guy, but a further dive into the dialogue reveals there is a lot more than meets the eye.
Besides tackling villains, the underlying themes of this issue involve Jace being consumed with guilt and a loss of confidence, Space ghost becoming angry and directionless, and a more sinister plot involving hidden forces behind Robocorp and their wishes to retain a monopoly on the galaxy.
Jace’s story intrigued me the most, in the last issue the young man had to make a difficult decision of killing someone in order to save a world and by extension, the galaxy. This reminds me of the famous quote from Spock in Star Trek,a line which resurfaces often: “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.” Jace is dealing with the moral decisions made, and his feelings of shame and regret. Maybe it’s because I work in mental health, but imagine having to take a life in order to save others. you can’t, it’s unimaginable. The issue progresses with Space Ghost chasing down his phone, while Jen and Jace debate the mission and the reasoning for continuing on with Space Ghost at all. For a while it seems Jan is somewhat dismissive of Jace’s reluctance, but soon realizes that with Space Ghost continually being consumed by anger, Jace’s feelings hold more weight in reality than Jan realizes. Jan tries to appeal to her brother’s scientific side which seems to peak some interest but does not yield any result. She leaves him to continue marinating with his own thoughts while Space Ghost tracks down Moltar once again.
Fast forwarding a little bit, it seems that the anger consuming Space Ghost has left him vulnerable as well as the victims caught in the crossfire. As another world ending event seems to snap Jace out of his thoughts, using his scientific expertise to fill a gap in which neither Space Ghost and Jen can fill. it is curious how suddenly this awakened Space Ghost and to realizing his anger was consuming him, something I think could have been explored in another issue or two and not immediately resolved, however it might appear that while all three were on the same page today, this may not hold true for the future if this is temporary.
Readers should enjoy this new iteration of Space Ghost because while at times it may feel episodic, and follow a villain of the month routine, there are clear seeds being planted for a bigger event down the road. We don’t know how far down the road, but clearly something else is building. it’s also curious how the relationship between space ghost, jace, and Jan continually tested with children being put in these life or death situations. While Jan seems to embrace the idea of being a heroine, Jace prefers to do his best from the shadows.
