Now this is what we’ve been waiting for! Space Ghost dead? An enemy triumphant?
David Pepose and Jonathan Lau bring us a tale for the ages in Space Ghost #8. It is in this issue readers will fully grasp the horrors of what happened to Planet Vector, the home world of Space Ghost and a gruesome villain who wields power beyond measure who seems to be at the cusp of intergalactic domination and subjugation!
The team responds to a distress signal, and during the battle Space Ghost sees a familiar robotic face which sets him off, leaving Jace, Jan, and Blip to fend for themselves during the rescue. Space Ghost ultimately goes face-to-face with the assailant, revealed to be the one individual responsible for the swath of death and destruction across countless worlds, including the world Space Ghost once lived.
Our hero’s outrage while seemingly powering his resolve, ultimately becomes a source of self-sabotage, blindly going into a fight where he is given a short, sharp lesson into experiencing a world of pain, physically and mentally.
The details in the coloring and artwork by Lau with colorist Andrew Dalhouse and letterer Taylor Esposito paint a colorful ballet of terror as a menacing terror swoops in. Laying waste to all in his way, this horror leaves nothing but destruction through intermixed pages where flashbacks bear witness to traumatic savagery. Ultimately, leading to the origins of Space Ghost and the mission for vengeful justice. It’s pretty gut-wrenching as each panel unfolds. While readers will instinctive anticipate and pre-emptively rejoice with hope Space Ghost will obtain a measure of revenge, the end result is what one might not expect.
I felt excited reading this issue, knowing and anticipating this would not be a typical “villain of the month” again, but what appears to be an extended adventure. The final page drives the point home this will continue, for this battle is not yet over!
Like the Zorak arc, this will need a second issue to flesh out. I am hopeful it will not conclude after a second issue but perhaps continue leading towards a bigger story arc. This confrontation appears pretty darned epic to delve into the origin story while confronting its perpetrator. I would love for this to get drawn out over the next few issues.
Big kudos to Pepose and crew, this might be the best issue yet.
Space Ghost #8 is available at your local comic book shop.
