Ghost Volume 2: The White City Butcher

Ghost III #2

by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Christopher Sebela, Ryan Sook (Artist)

Ghost, the spectral protector of Chicago, defends the world against extradimensional demons and all-too-human monsters. After a painful encounter with a familiar face, Elisa Cameron finds herself torn between protecting her city and uncovering the mystery of her past life! Collects Ghost #1–#4.

* Featuring killer covers from Terry and Rachel Dodson!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Crime, Comic Book

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 2014

About the author

Kelly Sue DeConnick’s work spans stage, comics, film and television. Ms. DeConnick first came to prominence as a comics writer, where she is best known for reinventing the Carol Danvers as “Captain Marvel” at Marvel and for the Black Label standard-setting Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons at DC. Her independent comics Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly (both from Image Comics) have ranked as New York Times best-sellers and been honored with Eisner Awards, British Fantasy Awards and Hugo nominations.

Ms. DeConnick’s screen work includes stints on Captain Marvel, a film that earned $1B for Disney worldwide, and 2023’s forthcoming The Marvels with Marvel Studios; in addition to having consulted on features for Skydance and ARRAY, and developed television for NBCUniversal, Legendary Entertainment and HBOMax. Her most recent stage work is the mythic spectacle AWAKENING, which opened at the Wynn Resort Las Vegas in November 2022.

Mission-driven, Ms. DeConnick is also a founding partner at Good Trouble Productions, where she has helped to produce non-fiction and educational comics including the “Hidden Voices” and “Recognized” series for NY Public Schools and Congressman John Lewis’ Run, in partnership with Abrams Comics.

In 2015, Ms. DeConnick founded the #VisibleWomen Project, whose mission is to help women and other marginalized genders find paid work in comics and its related industries. The project continues to this day and recently expanded in partnership with Dani Hedlund of Brink Literacy.

Ms. DeConnick lives in Portland, OR with her husband, writer Matt Fraction, and their two children.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series has been my 1st introduction to this character and I quite like her.



The gist is that there's a serial killer on the loose that she needs to find, while making a deal with a devil to help her get answers. She thinks up quite a clever solution to that particular problem.



Then we get a peek into her childhood and find out that she was always a bit of a hero.

While this isn't something that really sticks with you, it's is actually not bad at all. I'm honestly hoping I get a chance to read more about this character.

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like ghost is finally living up to her potential. This reboot simplified her complicated backstory, making her a woman without a past hunting down the demons who murdered her. The addition of an actual supporting cast has really helped as well. Even the art is great, but what else did you expect out of Ryan Sook. I like the new twist on her costume design. It has the classic look of her original costume without her boobs falling out.

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the way the first fight scene is staged, with almost words hinting at sounds but doing interesting things in the frame.

As the action goes on, it gets much more unsettling. There are more demons in grosser shapes, but also we have people we are following in three different locations and everyone is in peril. It becomes unsettling trying to keep track of what is happening with everyone.

That sense of things being unsettled stays as Elisa seems to be expanding her mission. There have been hints before about how hard balancing this half life is for her, and maybe she is becoming more brutal and more explosive. Can she hold onto her humanity? How much does she have left? This seems especially relevant for the last page.

[Wolverina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this better than the first volume. It's not a mind blowing series, but it is a solid street level superhero with a supernatural spin story.

The only real catch is while the narrative feels stronger and more enjoyable, the art is just not as good. Like it's not bad, but it's also not nearly as pretty. D:

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warming up a little to DeConnick's writing, but it occurs to me that all of her women sound the same. I am not sure what to make of that.

The side characters remain really irritating, but it is nice to see a story starting to come together for Elisa.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is it terrible? Kind of but not really. It's not the worst, but it is a bit of disjointed mess. Doesn't make a ton of sense and tries to be something it isn't. This is not and should not be a superhero comic. But it wants to be so badly and it tries to deliver a superhero story regardless.

The Smoke in the Din was better because it played off the mystery and intrigue. I had thought it was intentional but now I'm thinking it was lack of talant. Just couldn't find a better or more creative way to present a mysterious origin. I don't deny there is still some potential for good and interesting stories here. But I'm done, I'm not down for giving this incarnation of Ghost more time and money for a possibility it might not suck.

[Erik Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mostly found The White City Butcher confusing. There were too many different stories happening at once. It took me a long time to figure out that the main storylines weren't actually related, and it felt weird when they were made to intersect seemingly just for the sake of convenience.

It's hard to find Elisa compelling when her whole identity is not having an identity.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Almost everything that was fun and interesting in the first volume is missing in this volume. While Kelly Sue DeConnick is credited for writing some of this, it never felt like it. The story was pretty generic and missed out on the more interesting elements (The White City Butcher). The art was average at best. Overall, a big letdown.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fun supernatural female vigilante taking down demons (and regular bad guys too) it was a little confusing to keep track of the people hosting the demons because the demons hop bodies and also when they've been in a body for a bit, the body just looks all mushy old boozy white man.

[Gonzalo Oyanedel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una de las pocas superheroínas rescatables dentro de la moda "bad girl" que inundó el comic-book durante los noventa, replanteada con cierta efectividad por la guionista Kelly Sue DeConnick. Sin sorpresas, mantiene el tono superheroico de raíz sobrenatural, cumpliendo con entretener.

[Dani Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this series. We got to know our main character a bit more by the end of this book and go to see her kick butt. Keepin' on keepin' through the series.

[?0?0?0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to preface this by stating that I think I enjoyed volume one of "Ghost" more than a good number of DeConnick fans. And so it was not unusual when I finished "Ghost Volume 2: The White City Butcher" in one sitting. Like the first volume, the pace of this is like a great action movie and the mystery of our lead character is pursued by her and the same group of misfits as part one: the hey-bro guy that needs to believe in something more (and his new no-nonsense girlfriend who is most often taciturn), and the more rational counterpart. In the first volume, the male characters felt rushed and not that distinguishable from each other - well, this second volume has largely fixed that problem. The villains from part one are back but this time they've protected themselves with flocks of well-designed and drawn demons that provide bloody, fabulous scenes of violence to occur. Now, the depth of the story is not as rich as DeConnick's other works but it does not render this collection any less thrilling. If you liked the first, you should have fun with part two, and if you did not enjoy volume one there's no guarantee this will fix things but it is a strong follow up and I hope part three is, as well.

[Mariko True · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an exciting and involving story. Read volume 1 first. This will enhance the enjoyment of volume 2, while also leading to an appreciation of the growth of Elisa (aka “Ghost”) into a character with a strong moral center.

The artwork is great. It manages to make the violence exciting without veering to the excessive. Humor adds to the attraction of the characters and tone. Elisa is on a search for answers to her identity. Along the way to personal enlightenment, she is cleaning up predators, both human and demonic. A surprising informant provides clues leading to answers regarding Elisa’s origin and identity.

Elisa has human friends helping her on her search. They are, Tommy Byers (former TV ghost hunter) his girlfriend Sloan (currently a blogger) and Tommy’s partner (former newspaper writer) Vaughn Barnes who are individually and as a group, resourceful, brave and loyal.

I enjoyed the dual themes of making society save from those (human or inhuman) who would release chaos paired with a relatable search for an identity.

I recommend this book to readers of graphic novels, paranormal themes, fantasy and alternate realities.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, don't do what I did and leave a two year gap in between reading the Volume 1 & 2; the second volume makes little sense unless you can remember the context of the first volume. Anyhow, after I went back and read the first volume again, this a solid continuation of the story, albeit with a slightly detached coda at the end where we learn more about Elisa.

On the plus side this has a Buffy feel to it, complete with Scooby gang, however, unlike the Slayer, the eponymous ghost suffers from the same problem as Superman; she doesn't appear to have any weakness, so there is never any sense that she is in real danger. This creates a distinct lack of tension in the action scenes; there isn't even a kryptonite macguffin to give her something to overcome.

In any event, I will no doubt get the third volume when it is released. Hopefully the writers can find a way to make Elisa a bit more vulnerable, or compensate by spending a bit more time fleshing out the "gang" (which the first volume actually did quite well) to provide a bit of a deeper subplot.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as volume one, but overall I'm still digging this revamp of one of my favorite characters from the original "Dark Horse Heroes" line. I think my biggest problem with this installment is that the story sometimes gets a bit confusing (particularly in issue/chapter 3), and I'm not sure if that's a fault of the art or the writing. Also, I'm not terribly keen on the characterization of some of the demons, because it feels like the writers were taking inspiration from Joss Whedon's most annoying tendencies. Aside from those minor quibbles, however, this volume does a great job of deepening the mystery surrounding Elisa Cameron's new role as Chicago's number one demon hunter, and puts an interesting spin on a character who once held massive potential but nevertheless felt pretty aimless.

[Anchorpete · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was an improvement over the last volume. There is certainly a focus to this book that was not there for the original 1990s series of Ghost books. I have to say this, with Deconnick and a few other current, popular writers, there are moments in their books where I feel like I didn't pick up something, or was confused as to what was actually happening. I am not sure if it is the nature of the Ghost book, or Deconnick's writing, but I am still confused about a lot of aspects of the book.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first volume, partially due to the fact that I missed Phil Noto's art, as well as the fact that I didn't find Ghost's story as captivating after the mystery of her origins were revealed. I did, however, like the storyline about Elisa's childhood.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final issues Kelly Sue DeConnick wrote for this series, and they're pretty good.

[Lia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, a 3.5, but I like Elisa and Sloane so I rounded up

[Reese Lightning · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than previous volume, so 3.5 really.