Space Ghost #10: Let’s Hug It Out

True character advancement isn’t guaranteed in superhero comics. It’s not uncommon for main characters to tread water for extended periods of time–sometimes forever. That has not been the case with Space Ghost, and Space Ghost #10 is an example of why real advancement makes a difference.

Space Ghost doesn’t kill. But in Space Ghost #10, someone who looks suspiciously like Space Ghost does. He is Space Spectre and he’s come to the past to prevent Robo Corp from destroying the future.

Lasting character development is a chief component in Space Ghost. The relationship between Space Ghost, Jace, Jane, and Blip has been evolving since the first issue. Space Ghost #10 pays off that development not just in the issue’s plot that features Space Spectre, but also in the series’ main characters’ interactions. For the first six pages featuring the quartet, nothing reads different than most of their interactions to this point. On the seventh page, though, Space Ghost displays true affection for not just the two children, but their chimp Blip as well. This is a far cry from the first issues when Space Ghost was a reluctant teacher and caretaker, and later issues when they were merely teammates. Rather than keep the characters’ relationship relatively static, Pepose honestly pays off their interactions with real growth.

This character growth makes Space Spectre work especially well as a time traveling antagonist. Readers aren’t asked to believe that while no real character development is happening in the series, a considerable amount will happen between it and whenever Space Spectre comes from. Instead, whatever trauma he experienced between the events in Space Ghost #10 and the future are believable.

Lau relies on shading much more so than distinct line work to communicate characters’ emotions via facial features. This visual nuance is how Lau makes Space Ghost emotive despite having only the lower half of his face to work with most of the time. Lau uses that same style with Space Spectre, and though there aren’t as many closeups on him as Space Ghost, there are still enough opportunities to communicate his anger at everyone involved–Robo Corp, Space Ghost, Jace, and Jan.

That anger contrasts significantly with the emotion displayed when he is briefly unmasked. Lau undermines that anger with downward angled shading on Space Specter’s forehead, under his eyes, and along his cheekbones. The art in this one panel recontextualizes the entire issue more efficiently and emotionally than Pepose’s dialogue (which is not to say that Pepose’s accompanying dialogue is bad).

Dalhouse’s most noteworthy work in Space Ghost #10 is his color design for Space Spectre. The character’s costume is effectively the same as Space Ghost’s, but the color scheme is very different. It’s not really a photo negative, but it creates that kind of impression. Instead of a white costume, Space Spectre’s is a dusty nighttime blue. His cape is gray instead of yellow. His mask is white instead of black. This isn’t a color scheme that screams “bad guy.” But when put up against the usual Space Ghost costume, it creates an eerie sense that something has gone terribly wrong.

There are no shortage of sound effects accompanying the art and color in Space Ghost #10. This isn’t surprising as there are extended fight sequences and liberal use of sound effects for fight sequences is a consistent style choice in the series. There are some stumbles in later pages when Taylor picks a color and font for a rocket’s launch that causes the sound effect to get lost in Dalhouse’s brighter colors. However, Esposito is mostly effective with what is an almost nonstop cavalcade of sound effects throughout the issue. The color choices for the sound effects’ text create effective contrast, either in whole or thanks to their borders, with Dalhouse’s coloring and Lau’s art.