Staff Writer: James
Published Date: 12/10/24
Number of pages: 144
Format: e-book
Genre: Graphic Novel
Tags: Adventure
Cardigan rating: 4 out of 5
Thoughts:
My trip down nostalgia lane continues. I wasn’t even alive when Space Ghost premiered on television but I certainly had plenty of exposure to him and his adventures in re-runs and, later, in the completely wacky Space Ghost Coast to Coast on late-night Cartoon Network. Which is to say I was completely thrown off-guard by the very serious interpretation of the character David Pepose serves up here. Space Ghost is given a tragic backstory that was never needed in the cartoon that was just composed of a villain that got defeated in a tidy twenty minutes.
Instead, we are given a grim man obsessed with vengeance who is on the verge of being broken, who has lost his family, and ends up with two orphans and a top secret science experiment in the form of a monkey that the financing evil corporation wants back. Add on top of all that the classic Space Ghost villains such as Zorak, Moltar, and The Widow, who are reimagined for this darker take, appear to cause chaos and destruction.
And there’s the rub of it. If you are fondly attached to the classic version of Space Ghost, this is likely not going to be for you. Things are darker and more violent. If, however, you’re willing to go along for the ride, there is so much to like here. Chief among which is the idea of found family being the path to redemption and a way to heal trauma and, don’t worry, there is still plenty of punching to keep you entertained.