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Ghost III #4
Ghost Volume 4: A Death in the Family
With all memories of her life as Elisa Cameron recovered, Ghost has a new drive and purpose: she's going after Chicago's deeply entrenched criminal network. But taking on the most powerful criminals in the city brings to light a terrifying new villain. Will an unwinnable fight bring out the worst in a hero already filled with deadly rage? And what will happen when Ghost's friends are caught in the crossfire? The "lady in white" has never fought harder or meaner than in this volume!
Collects issues #9–#12.
Collects issues #9–#12.
96 pages, Paperback
First published June 23, 2015
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 20, 2020
Ghost gets her memories back but doesn't do anything but follow her sister around. Then she gets involved with taking out the organized crime in the city. It's a dour, drab story. This series has taken a serious downturn since turning it's back on hunting down demons and other supernatural creatures.
June 27, 2020
The most pressing conflict available to readers in GHOST: A DEATH IN THE FAMILY is to determine whether a specter, after regaining her humanity, is made more, or less human with the knowledge that her humanity was what got her killed in the first place. One step further, in eschewing all sense of humanity, does Elisa, as the ghost, likewise knife her way through the last of her humanity? That is to say, does she have any humanity left in her to knife away?
This volume of Ghost isn't very compelling but it is a decent read. Elisa takes out some of Chicago's nastiest gangs (e.g., shutting down hovels of prostitution, blowing apart gun runners), but as can be expected, this results in a power vacuum, and the folks who step into the gaps are a lot less accommodating than the old regime. Whoops. Elisa is turning the streets of Chicago into a warzone while simultaneously empowering minorities and the disenfranchised to stand up to corruption on every front.
Elisa isn't very relatable by this point in the story, which isn't to say the ghost has never been relatable in her published history; only to clarify that the more deliberate and darker her adventure becomes, the harder it is to conscientiously reel her back in for the audience's benefit. Walking the line between a savage avenger-from-hell and the investigative madam-in-white isn't handled with much deftness or nuance, but there are flashes of it. For example, Elisa visibly struggles with letting the ghost's bloodlust take over versus moderating violence for her own purpose (i.e., "I love surprising people.").
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, visually, is uninspiring. Tolibao sometimes forgets how to draw feet, and Champagne's inks are almost always the same, heavy weight throughout the whole book. Positively, Tolibao does some interesting things with perspective while also making good use of scenes requiring high levels of texture (e.g., bedrooms, tactical gear).
As far as Ghost lore goes, this volume is regrettably forgettable. Important things do happen, certainly, but the totality of underdeveloped villains, contrived sex scenes, and a handful of continuity errors do their necessary damage.
This volume of Ghost isn't very compelling but it is a decent read. Elisa takes out some of Chicago's nastiest gangs (e.g., shutting down hovels of prostitution, blowing apart gun runners), but as can be expected, this results in a power vacuum, and the folks who step into the gaps are a lot less accommodating than the old regime. Whoops. Elisa is turning the streets of Chicago into a warzone while simultaneously empowering minorities and the disenfranchised to stand up to corruption on every front.
Elisa isn't very relatable by this point in the story, which isn't to say the ghost has never been relatable in her published history; only to clarify that the more deliberate and darker her adventure becomes, the harder it is to conscientiously reel her back in for the audience's benefit. Walking the line between a savage avenger-from-hell and the investigative madam-in-white isn't handled with much deftness or nuance, but there are flashes of it. For example, Elisa visibly struggles with letting the ghost's bloodlust take over versus moderating violence for her own purpose (i.e., "I love surprising people.").
A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, visually, is uninspiring. Tolibao sometimes forgets how to draw feet, and Champagne's inks are almost always the same, heavy weight throughout the whole book. Positively, Tolibao does some interesting things with perspective while also making good use of scenes requiring high levels of texture (e.g., bedrooms, tactical gear).
As far as Ghost lore goes, this volume is regrettably forgettable. Important things do happen, certainly, but the totality of underdeveloped villains, contrived sex scenes, and a handful of continuity errors do their necessary damage.
February 6, 2015
Judging from the last pages this seems to be the end of this series (for now). And considering the ending it looks like it was rushed, considering the big bad evil gets dealt with in a quite simple way.
March 11, 2023
And thus ends the rebooted Ghost.
I'm not sure how I feel about it all. I guess as a whole, it's ok. Not fantastic, not horrible. It was an ok read. Not something you really need to seek out, but if falls in your lap, it's worth the time.
The art in this one is a slight downgrade, but it not so bad. Just not as good as the rest of the series. Writing wise, it's weird. If you take it as a whole, the four trades for the rebooted Ghost, it doesn't really earn the emotional weight it's punching with here. Yet, those punches somehow still land. Maybe I'm a bit of a pussy, I don't know. I'd be lying if I said none if it got to me, but It would also be a lie to say I truly cared about any of the characters.
As far as a conclusion for the story as a whole, it does well enough. Just by the nature of the story, the door is open for more, but they don't even hint that they have any intention of walking through it. Emotionally, the story of Elisa Cameron has a solid finish here, there is no reason to pick it back up again. IF they were to start making Ghost books again, I'd kind of hope they'd do another reboot or at the very least a giant leap into the future. Not that this was some great story that I want to protect the sanctity of. But comic stories so rarely wrap themselves up this nicely. There is no good reason to go screwing with that. Especially at this point considering it's been dormant now since 2015.
I'm not sure how I feel about it all. I guess as a whole, it's ok. Not fantastic, not horrible. It was an ok read. Not something you really need to seek out, but if falls in your lap, it's worth the time.
The art in this one is a slight downgrade, but it not so bad. Just not as good as the rest of the series. Writing wise, it's weird. If you take it as a whole, the four trades for the rebooted Ghost, it doesn't really earn the emotional weight it's punching with here. Yet, those punches somehow still land. Maybe I'm a bit of a pussy, I don't know. I'd be lying if I said none if it got to me, but It would also be a lie to say I truly cared about any of the characters.
As far as a conclusion for the story as a whole, it does well enough. Just by the nature of the story, the door is open for more, but they don't even hint that they have any intention of walking through it. Emotionally, the story of Elisa Cameron has a solid finish here, there is no reason to pick it back up again. IF they were to start making Ghost books again, I'd kind of hope they'd do another reboot or at the very least a giant leap into the future. Not that this was some great story that I want to protect the sanctity of. But comic stories so rarely wrap themselves up this nicely. There is no good reason to go screwing with that. Especially at this point considering it's been dormant now since 2015.
November 20, 2020
Ghost has become so forgettable for me that I didn’t realize I hadn’t actually read volume 4. Ghost continues to have identity issues, with her continued trinity of apparently independent identities making the elucidation of any real identity impossible. Initially, A Death in the Family delves more into the found family aspects of the narrative, which is nice. But it seems to lose itself later on, and becomes all fight and no story.
October 25, 2023
I finished it and hate myself or it. This series started with such an interesting premise and ends with a dog turd of a book. Shock death for no reason, plot holes for days, uninteresting hook-ups, etc. Just a mess. The art was passable but nothing could help with poorly written mess. Don not waste time or money on this.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews