Space Ghost Annual #1: Hanging up the Cape?

Space Ghost Annual #1 isn’t a direct continuation of the Time Master storyline. That plot was fully resolved in Space Ghost #12. Instead, Space Ghost Annual #1 serves as a strong emotional epilogue to that storyline. The death of Space Spectre weighs heavily on Dax, leading him to examine whether he can continue in his role with Jace and Jan alongside him. At the same time, though, Space Spectre’s sacrifice has convinced Dax that even if he were to leave Jace and Jan and continue his fight, it would ultimately prove futile because he won’t be able to save everyone.

A developing family between Jace, Jan, and Dax is an idea that has been touched on before. Pepose has never explored it within the context of whether Dax can or should continue as Space Ghost. Space Spectre’s death serves as the perfect catalyst. His identity as a future version of Jace allows Dax to experience the emotions of losing one of his kids without actually losing one of his kids. As a result, when Jace and Jan are in danger in Space Ghost Annual #1, Dax’s experience comes in a completely different context.

This emotional journey frames a fight that took place in the wake of the trio’s fight with the Time Master. The two stories successfully inform each other despite the fact that one precedes the other. Yet again, the action in Space Ghost informs and is informed by character exploration.

Dax is almost never drawn unmasked which usually leaves Lau with only the bottom half of his face to work with. Here Lau imbues the character with significant emotion, perhaps more than has ever been the case. Dax is repeatedly downcast or seen from above leading to significant shading around his facial features, The result is a character who looks pained and conflicted as he struggles with the emotions given voice in Pepose’s dialogue.

The Space Ghost cape is a significant object within the context of this issue. It’s the literal representation of Dax’s conflicting emotions. Whereas Lau usually draws the cape as a lighter, quick moving object during action sequences, here he uses heavier lines and thicker, darker shading to make the cape look like a heavy object–a kind of burden given physical form.

Lau’s typically energetic action sequences provide a nice contrast to the quieter emotional moments throughout the issue.

Dalhouse’s use of vibrant colors and striking contrast is a key part of why these action sequences are successful. In Space Ghost Annual #1, though, it’s the scenes of less vibrant coloring that steal the show when it comes to Dalhouse’s work. The background is largely thrown to black which maintains a high contrast throughout Dax’s more emotional scenes despite the relatively subdued coloring.

Dax’s dialogue regarding his consideration of remaining Space Ghost repeatedly carries over into the action sequence that it frames. Esposito’s choice of caption box design choice and his overall text organization does a good job making both storylines easy to follow.