Space Ghost #4 - Dynamite Entertainment

SPACE GHOST No. 4, August 2024

Many a reader may well feel that publisher “Dynamite Entertainment” were probably being overly-boastful when they announced that “danger and excitement expand like a supernova” inside this particular twenty-two page periodical. But David Pepose’s storyline for Issue Four of “Space Ghost” absolutely nails it, blending high-octane action with a seriously disconcerting twist that sees poor Jan, Jace and Blip battling for their very lives against their masked mentor’s greatest enemy; “We couldn’t stay behind -- There were hostages on Grax-3. But I swear to you… We didn’t know it was him."

Leading this palpable assault upon the audience’s senses has to the introduction of the mentally-deranged mass-murderer Zorak, whose terrifying penchant for mutilating hapless humans establishes the character as being a million miles away from the goofy-looking animated space mantis voiced by Don Messick during the late Sixties. Indeed, this modern-day incarnation of the Dokarian is enthrallingly ruthless, and completely captures all the attention whenever he makes an appearance – whether that be hacking a fallen prison warden to death with a homemade hand-scythe, or fervently leading his army of fanatical Zorathian warriors to a hollow victory over some defenceless scientists.

Just as good though, is arguably the Guardian of the Spaceways’ fisticuffs with the wonderfully envisaged Titanor. This huge, cyclopean robot makes for a truly menacing foe, who quickly establishes that he won’t be quickly beaten by the hero’s famous all-powerful energy bands. In fact, for once it momentarily looks like Space Ghost’s occasional hubris may well have got the better of the super-powered protagonist, as he is forced to quite literally dig deep so as to overcome the seemingly invincible metallic might of his opponent.

Similarly as successful as Pepose’s prodigious penmanship is also Jonathan Lau’s lavish layouts. Whether it be projecting Zorak’s sheer insanity straight off of the printed page, or showing the total desperation of his perilous predicament in the jawline of an increasingly bruised Dax, the “exclusive illustrator” does a first-class job. Furthermore, due to the downtrodden look sketched into their demeanour, many a reader will doubtless sense the sheer terror emanating from Jan and Jace as the two children inadvertently fall straight into the Harbinger of Slaughter’s death-dealing claws.

The regular cover art of "SPACE GHOST" #4 by Francesco Mattina