Dynamite Entertainment’s Space Ghost #6 – out this week – picks up with the fallout from issue #5: Jace dealing with the emotional trauma of having killed Zorak. And no matter how justified Jace was in defending others and saving the universe by pulling the trigger, killing someone really must be a traumatic experience – especially for a kid. Jonathan Lau continues to remind us just how young Jace and Jan are, drawing them scrawny with big heads. How does a kid that young deal with the knowledge that he took another’s life?
Pepose goes deep into Jace’s emotional state, narrating the issue through his diary entries. And Pepose treats the events and Jace’s guilt with an authenticity that is admirable, considering this is still a comic book based on a classic children’s cartoon. I’m not sure the realistic handling of this very heavy theme makes Space Ghost #6 better than the rest of the issues in this series, but I’ll go more into that later.
Courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment
Space Ghost #6 starts by introducing another one of Space Ghost’s villains: the crazy Moltar. And his origin promises plenty of dramatic potential, with Moltar depicted as a kind of anti-Space Ghost. He’s also a gifted scientist, but – in contrast to Space Ghost – one obsessed with his research. He also tragically lost his family, but – also in contrast to Space Ghost – through his own fault. And he also has a found family. But instead of orphaned children and a monkey, Moltar’s found family are his monsters.
And Moltar’s monsters, the molten men – creatures of living molten magma – are incredibly well drawn by Jonathan Lau, with brilliant colors by Andrew Dalhouse. The images of Moltar surrounded by orange flames and the monstrous molten men are the ones that’ll stick in your head from this issue.
But after the interesting two-page origin, Pepose shifts the focus to Jace’s psyche, which, unfortunately, doesn’t leave room to make more out of Moltar. For the rest of the issue, he becomes a run-of-the-mill, maniacal, cartoon villain, or maybe only a henchman working for the overarching antagonists in Robo Corp. Besides the wonderful visuals and the intriguing potential of his origin, everything else about Moltar is sadly forgettable.
Courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment
Which brings me back to the issue’s main theme: Jace’s guilt, or rather Jace’s and Space Ghost’s guilt. Pepose really does write the characters and this theme with a good understanding of the emotional trauma involved. He also does a good job showing how Jace and Space Ghost deal with the guilt in different ways, according to their different personalities. And it leads to a well-earned relational payout, cementing Space Ghost’s role as surrogate father.
But emotional trauma is not an easy topic to write or read about, especially in a comic book based on a classic children’s cartoon. Make no mistake, much of the plot and too much of the dialogue fit right into the Saturday-morning-cartoon mold. But the diary entries and focus on Jace’s emotional trauma make this issue heavy, and I’m not sure how well that fits the series. My favorite part of the series so far has been just how much fun I’ve had reading each issue. Almost every issue has been well-paced, self-contained, action-packed, sci-fi fun. Now, Space Ghost #6 has many admirable, well-written and well-executed things going for it, but it’s not fun like the other issues.
Courtesy of Dynamite Entertainment
In conclusion, Space Ghost #6 provides plenty of good things to keep me interested in the series. The art by Jonathan Lau continues to be excellent. Andrew Dalhouse’s colors – especially for the villainous Moltar and his molten men – are awesome. And Pepose’s handling of Jace’s and Space Ghost’s emotional trauma is authentic and well done. But the heavy theme means Space Ghost #6 doesn’t share the same feeling that made the previous issues so much fun to read.
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