It’s tempting to look at the title of this three-issue miniseries from Antarctic Press and decide that you already know what it’s about. We’re used to paint-by-numbers mash-ups featuring some combination of ninjas or cowboys or pirates, and it’s not often you come across one that’s really something special. But not only does “Ghost Cop” utterly fail to come across as a mash-up; it also winds up being surprising in a lot of ways.
Written by V.J. Boyd and Justin Boyd
Illustrated by Christian DiBariIn 1947, hard-boiled police detective Tom Fraley was murdered by a vicious serial killer. Now, in 2013, someone is replicating that killer’s pattern. Fraley’s spirit returns to hunt down the criminal and take vengeance for his own death.
Tom Fraley has been haunting the same department store half a century when all of a sudden he’s compelled to leave the place and walk about freely. An opportunity to tie up his unfinished business seems to have come up, and it’s going to involve collaborating with a modern-day detective as she investigates a murder.
What’s interesting here is the way the story is set up, proceeding character by character. First we look into Tom’s mind (or whatever ghosts have by way of governing impulse); then we get a terrifying glimpse at the subconscious of our modern detective, Laticia. It’s their inner narration as much as the dialogue that gets across their personalities, and the writers, in addition to nailing the voices of these characters, also convey their troubled mental states. In the end it’s hard to say whether Tom or Laticia has the more interesting backstory – or the bigger score to settle – and so far as odd couple partnerships go, these two seem well-suited.
Happily, we’re also spared the usual expository scenes that occur when a living character encounters a ghost. Laticia already knows all about them thanks to mysterious book, which is excerpted during Laticia and Tom’s first conversation. And if that sounds like a lot of information to absorb at once, it is, but the episodic pacing of the comic as a whole gives us lots of little moments to catch our breath, maintaining a fairly engaging pace.
Speaking of episodes, Christian DiBari’s art starts off a little rough, with a cluttered opening page that takes a couple reads to understand. But the visual storytelling soon hits its stride, with DiBari drawing the hell out of Laticia’s dream sequences and getting across a tangible sense of terror, not to mention a good dose of surreal atmosphere. Meanwhile, Tom’s scenes are about as noir and shadowy as you’d expect, with a brighter sequence signaling the passage of time in the department store breaking things up nicely. And while the comic as a whole goes a lot of different places, DiBari’s got a light stylistic touch that makes the disparate subject matter feel unified.
The characterizations are also very effective; Tom’s weathered face is appreciably haunted-looking, while Laticia’s troubled in a different way, more vulnerable while still maintaining that outside cynicism. In a miniseries, where there’s so little time to get to know the characters, having a good set of faces to work with goes a long way toward making you feel like the know the characters already, and that’s definitely the case here.
Michael Spicer’s colours lend an aquarelle finish to the art, all the while giving the noirish sketchiness of DiBari’s style some room to breathe; the end product doesn’t look overly polished, maintaining some energy and looseness. The palette choices are solid, with some washed-out hues distinguishing the dream sequences.
In the end, the issue feels longer than it should; but bearing in mind how far the story gets in this limited space, it’s impressive that the chapter reads as smoothly as it does. Between the versatile writing and the atmospheric art, “Ghost Cop” is a surprising little read, drawing us in with two interesting and complicated main characters and already showing a bit of thematic depth. It’s not perfect, but this mournful, intricate first issue is definitely worth checking out.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Recommended browse
