Space Ghost

August 29, 2005 | Trades

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Space Ghost
Joe Kelly, Ariel Olivietti
DC Comics
$19.99 (Paperback)
** 1/2 (out of five)

Space Ghost has always been a bit of a weird character.
Created in the mid-1960s as the lead in his self-titled cartoon series, he was, for lack of a better term, a super-hero. He battled a bizarre assortment of villains and had lots of wild adventures in the two years the series ran, but that wasn’t the end for Space Ghost.
He came back again in the early 80s for another brief heroic go around and then again in a more unusual manner in the 90s as host of Space Ghost Coast-To-Coast, a satirical talk show on U.S. Cartoon Network.
In all his incarnations, however, I doubt anyone could have envisioned using him like he appears in this comic book collection.
Writer Joe Kelly actually plays his straight. He’s a badass former space cop who’s out to avenge the deaths of his wife and unborn son.
This from a character who is so close to lame that he’s scraping the surface. I mean, come on: he’s got a picture of himself on the front of his uniform. Isn’t that like Gene Simmons wearing a KISS T-shirt on stage?
The only thing that saves this book is the dazzling art of Ariel Olivetti and the reprinted covers of the original limited series by comic painter extraordinaire, Alex Ross.

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