Space Ghost #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

SPACE GHOST No. 3, July 2024

Filled full of family feuding, near-fatal feminine wiles, and a bucket load of diabolical double-dealing, David Pepose’s storyline for Issue Three of “Space Ghost” should have ticked plenty of boxes with its audience upon the comic’s release in July 2024. Indeed, besides the titular character making a somewhat dubious decision to listen to his two understandably naïve sidekicks rather than trust in his own experience as a veteran crime-fighter, there isn’t much wrong with the award-winning writer’s twenty-two page plot at all; “Ten million credits has a way of illuminating one’s priorities, young lady.”

Foremost of these successes is arguably the well-fleshed out villain-of-the-piece, the seductive Widow, who completely captures the audience’s attention with her super-slick deadliness whenever the immoral madame appears. Able to mentally control the killer tentacles of numerous Venusian Spider Plants, as well as “manipulate any [other] botany in the vicinity”, the inter-galactic criminal conveys a persistent, genuinely palpable sense of peril for anyone foolish enough to stand in her way – and that includes both the titular character, as well as his masked entourage.

Likewise, the comic contains some truly gratifying emotional moments, where the likes of Dax, Jan and Jace all take a good look inside themselves to establish just what is the most important thing in their lives. This reflection upon what motivates them is especially important for Space Ghost's young female ward, who so impresses the treacherous Widow with her level-headedness that she is offered “a life of untold power” if the girl agrees to leave her blindsided mentor behind, and betray him to Robo-Corp.

Quite definitely also adding to this book’s beguiling storytelling is artist Jonathan Lau, who quite brilliantly gets the tome off to a pulse-pounding pace by pencilling a wonderfully-dynamic gun-fight between the main protagonists and a horde of blaster-toting Lizard Slavers. In many ways it’s actually a pity that this laser-fest doesn’t carry on for a bit longer. But the sheer ‘noise’ this ferocious fracas creates in the Mind’s Eye then contrasts really well with the need for stealth and absolute silence later on, when the heroes need to quietly infiltrate Robo-Corp’s Central Mainframe via a network of access corridors.

The regular cover art of "SPACE GHOST" #3 by Francesco Mattina