I saw The Grim Ghost, Wulf and (i think) The Phoenix on the stands today, and picked the Grim Ghost No. 1.
Art: Good enough, but not great. The story takes place in a purgatory world where backgrounds are apparently non-existent. Kelley Jones, known for his work in Deadman and Batman books is the artist. To me, it looks very different from most Kelley Jones work. Jones' inker isn't his typical collaborators (often Malcolm Jones III or John Beatty), but Eric Layton. I'm not sure who veered in style --- Jones taking on a new look or Layton inking Jones in a very different way.
Still, Jones excels at using body language and shadow, but there was a lot of "talking heads" in this book.
Story: This issue/arc is written by Tony Isabella, and he does a good job with the dialogue, but the plot is typical writing-for-the-trade style. Its too early to tell exactly where the story is going, but I just don't have enough mystery to necessarily keep me buying.
I only own a single issue of an original Atlas Comic (Tigerman No. 2), so I have no idea what "The Grim Ghost" is supposed to be about and after reading issue one, here's my best effort to summarize it: The Grim Ghost is a protector of souls in purgatory. He's a former highwayman (as in a bandit from the 1700s) and he is directly opposed by his former life's nemesis, who is a collector of souls in Purgatory. Sometime recently, The Grim Ghost brought along a sidekick. He's teaching the sidekick to use his soul-charged powers to be another protector. (SPOILER ALERT) At the end of the issue, we see that the Grim Ghost and the sidekick are one in the same person. (END SPOILER ALERT).
I'm not sure if that's right. I'm not sure how closely it follows the previous Grim Ghost.
The Future: A promo inside the book shows a series where all the Atlas heroes have banded together to fight a common enemy. Does this mean the Grim Ghost is going to get a "transfer" to the real world? If that is the case, I think THAT should have been the finale to this issue. Right now, I'm not terribly interested in a quasi-religious battle over people's souls in the Phantom Zone.
Will I buy the next Issue? Definitely not a "must buy," but I will thumb through it and decide then. I will probably try the other issue No. 1s of each of the other titles.
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...The original Grim Ghost ( Well , apart from DC's " even by the early 70s ' Gay ' made for too much hee-hee-hee..." ! ) was a 1700s highwayman , but I recall that he was a COLLECTOR of souls , for Hell !
The Devil , after getting his due in the 18th Century , then I presume offered him improved conditions , to jump forth to the Twentieth and I suppose avert a " cashflow problem " of bad souls that needed to be pushed over the edge and fall into the Pit , symbolically speaking - Kill baddies in the 1974 world , I mean . - TODAY . Or , what , Satan would lose the damnation contract to the Zoristronarian or Hindu incarnation of total evil if projected earnings weren't met ?
Anyway , he rode about on a flying black horse and killed people , from what I remember .
Hey , since the previous one didn't hold , let's make this line the one for comments on the new Atlas ( Which was " Atlas-Seaboard " in its original 70s version , and which I still want to call it . ) !!! I've yet to get mine yet , but...
...When last I checked http://www.atlas-comics.com (I haven't time to check it again now) , I noticed that much of it was old , reflecting the #0 issues...and The Grim Ghost listed a " permanent " creative team none of whom were Tony or Isabella...I. e. , they presumably wnt out the door and T.I. came in for #1 as issued...Maybe he did a good comic , I don't know .
They did have preview stuff up for PHOENIX as late as #3 .
Lumbering Jack said:
Isabella wrote the third issue of the original series. Another account of the original series can be found at the Gone and Forgotten webpage's series on Atlas titles, here (language warning).
Incidentally, I think in the Golden Age "grim ghost" was a sobriquet of the Spectre. Ghost heroes were something of a Golden Age genre. I have a theory the Gay Ghost was inspired by the movie The Ghost Goes West.
And you can read a really good review of the third issue of the original series here.
I've been reading a lot of JSA in All Star Archives lately, and do you know what Gardner Fox called the Spectre in every issue I've read so far? He referred to him as a "Dark Knight." I guess that's why he later specified Batman as the Dark Knight Detective (although the "detective" has long since been dropped).
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