Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing

The Ghost Fleet #1-2

by Donny Cates, Daniel Warren Johnson (Artist), Lauren Affe (Artist)

For the world’s most valuable, dangerous, or secretive cargo, you don’t call just any trucking service...you call THE GHOST FLEET. When one of the world’s most elite combat-trained truckers takes a forbidden peek at his payload, he uncovers a conspiracy that will change his life, and the world, forever! The critically acclaimed eight-issue miniseries is collected for the very first time in one deluxe, over-the-top volume from DONNY CATES (GOD COUNTRY, REDNECK) and the incredible DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON (EXTREMITY). Collects THE GHOST FLEET #1-8

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Dystopia

208 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2017

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take the best of 80's action flicks, toss in a heavy pour of John Carpenter, with just a pinch of Mad Max, shaken not stirred and serve over ice then you have the perfect blend of Ghost Fleet. Filled with betrayal, heaps of guns and guts, and the Apocalypse, all while racing across America. This thing is balls out crazy, over the top madness. Daniel Warren Johnson's art gives off a Paul Pope / David Rubin vibe. It's very dynamic which works well with this high intensity ride.

Received an advanced copy from Image and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tribute to John Carpenter, this is revenge horror meets guilty pleasure B movies. What Donny Cates lacks in realism he makes up for with ambitious storytelling. And Daniel Warren Johnson brings this wacky horror show to bold and bloody life.

The story is delightfully self-indulgent. While it’s highly entertaining, dark, wacky, and hyper-violent, it is a little cliched at times: a demonic cult of powerful white men, devil-may-care black ops, buddy cops, demonic apocalypse, etc. But at least Cates is self-aware, because this is basically a tribute to the genre. And I will say that, apart from Big Trouble in Little China and Maximum Overdrive, which are both obvious inspirations, big rig supernatural horror is few and far between!

A real bummer, though, is the rushed ending. Dark Horse cut them four issues short, essential to the epic denouement I would have expected from this story. So they had to go back and redo the ending four issues shorter. Which is why it has that epilogue ending: This person did this, that person does that. And it just feels off kilter. I was excited in issue seven to see how it wrapped up, and it sadly didn’t.

What really shines is the artwork of Daniel Warren Johnson, a name you’ll need to remember. (He also wrote and illustrated Extremity.) His style is reminiscent of Chris Burnham and Nick Pitarra, a scratchy fine detail, cartoony realism, extreme facial expressions, and gut-wrenching violence. In a word, bombastic. And perfect to illustrate this story.

Imperfect, but Ghost Fleet achieves what it sets out to do: starts small and becomes as large and unusual as possible to maximize entertainment. My only complaint is the ending, or lack there of.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa, talk about starting 2019 with a bang!

This story starts right off the bat in a crazy way. Three guys in a truck trying to outrun people trying to take whatever is in it. So once we establish this insane story, crashing, and seeing a friend betray another, the real story actually starts. A revenge tale that goes deep thanks to a flushed out backstory of two best friends and someone they both care for being the heart of it all. Then the ending, which I won't spoil, goes to insane heights of craziness that I can't help but love.

Good: The art is gritty yet the facial expressions and movements can be cartoony to make a awesome mix of the two. I love every character in here. The brother like relationship, the love and betrayal, and of course the twist and turns Donny is famous for all work well. The ending is one of the most ambitious, outright insane, endings I've ever read but loved every second. The dialogue and pacing of the story are near perfect in my opinion.

Bad: Uhhh maybe a tad confusing at the start?

Overall, one of my favorite Cates books ever and I love a lot of his series like Redneck and Babyteeth. This is a great way to start 2019. A 4.5 out of 5, pushing it up to a 5.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars. Pretty good book. So there’s this Ghost Fleet that hauls the crazy, mysterious or whatever important secret ish you need transported. What’s in these trucks? Something wild that I wasn’t expecting which lead to an all out brawl with an ending I didn’t see coming. Great art by Daniel Warren Johnson, tons of action and a fast pace read. Pretty solid stuff.

[Ignacio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obra iniciática de Cates y DWJ que tiene todo lo que se entiende por opera prima; sobre todo una historia de acción un poco atropellada y con bastantes incongruencias, algunas justificadas, otras no. En todo caso, bien ambos que además tienen que capear con un final que no es el que habían ideado al principio. La flota fantasma estaba planificada para doce números y se cerró en el ocho, cosas del imperativo editorial. Algo particularmente sangrante porque cuando la narración había encontrado su golpe de pedal tiene que terminar. También, leída en este 2023, me lleva a pensar que tanto tiempo esperando un tebeo de DWJ guionizado por otra persona para darme de bruces con uno que podría haber hecho él estos últimos años. Eso sí, sin lucha libre. Supongo que eso es la coherencia.

[Gabriell Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jak to dopadne, když si Cates chce napsat šílenou osmdesátkovo-devadesátkovou jízdu a nakreslí mu to Daniel Warren Johnson? Dobře, dopadne to rozhodně dobře.
Teda pro čtenáře, postavy vevnitř jsou prostě jenom maso v mlýnku na nekonečnou a šílenou akci. Rozhodně povedenou akci. Nebyl by to Cates, kdyby tam nebylo pár šílených twistů a kdyby se to s přibývajícíma stránkama neurvalo ze řetězu, ale takového ho máme rádi. Teda někteří. Možná.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A world out of Mad Max with truck convoys carrying secret payloads and protected by swarms of mercenaries armed with rocket launchers. Kurt Russell complete with the eyepatch from Escape From New York. Biker gangs. Assassins. FBI agents. Blackmail. Betrayal. The end of everything. This graphic novel packs a mean punch. It's loaded up with a lot of stuff storywise, although the plot is a bit loose and elastic and mysterious. The artwork is captivating.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ghost Fleet starts with the buddy cop friendship of two combat-trained truckers, Trace Morales and Robert Ward. Both men work for the Ghost Fleet, a trucking service which has a long and deep history of transporting the most dangerous cargo anywhere you pay them to take it. While on one of their trips across country to transport cargo that they are forbidden to look at, Trace and Robert run into serious trouble. Even for ex-military men, it’s the kind of trouble that neither is quite ready for. The fallout of that night begins a chase leading straight into the arms of a cult that’s been collecting strange, unknown items. What are the intentions of the shadowy cult and can the Ghost Fleet survive the conspiracy it finds itself entangled in?



Ghost Fleet is like if Big Trouble in Little China had a baby with Kung Fury with more John Carpenter scattered throughout. It’s unapologetically violent, with a lot of morbid humor and nods to 80’s action movies all over the place. While it starts with an already crazy story, it’s pretty clear that Cates and Johnson had so much fun with this series. Even beyond the nods to classic movies (Trace looks exactly like Snake Plissken), Cates and Johnson even hide jokes in the sound effects and art. At no point does Ghost Fleet take itself seriously but the ending makes it truly go off the rails. I couldn’t help but wonder what it could have been if they’d gotten the full twelve issues to tell the story. The ending was undeniably rushed and I really wish they'd had the time they deserved to wrap it up.

When you pick up a book like Ghost Fleet, you have to accept that it’s going to be ridiculous and not something that you take seriously. There is a ton of violence in it so if you’re bothered by that, this is definitely not the comic for you. But if you’re a fan of movies like John Wick and Escape from New York, it’s a truly fun, insane ride.

Full series review here

[LordTBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

My review of this crazy, balls to the wall graphic novel can be summed up as such:

Take The Governor from "The Walking Dead" comics (not that sad attempt in the TV show), give him an 18-wheeler containing Death itself, a samurai sword, and an excuse to kill a crap ton of people.

The storyline is insane and the artwork is bloody fantastic. This graphic novel is like Jason Statham in Crank, full of adrenaline and ready to kill whatever stands in its way.

[Václav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was beautiful ride. Action packet, brutal and hectic action driven ride. Perfect eight issues of escalating violent madness with awesome ending for this stray dog hero action fantasy. Daniel Warren Johnson and his nonchalantly reckless but very effective style of drawing is awesome. Colouring is neat too. And the story, story is brilliant. Easy but not stupid with complex details enough to get you in but not stand in the way of action. If you love hard boiled style of action, have weakness for stray (but very dangerous) "dogs", this is what you need.

[Mutated Reviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads Synopsis:
For the world’s most valuable, dangerous, or secretive cargo, you don’t call just any trucking service...you call THE GHOST FLEET. When one of the world’s most elite combat-trained truckers takes a forbidden peek at his payload, he uncovers a conspiracy that will change his life, and the world, forever! The critically acclaimed eight-issue miniseries is collected for the very first time in one deluxe, over-the-top volume from DONNY CATES (GOD COUNTRY, REDNECK) and the incredible DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON (EXTREMITY). Collects THE GHOST FLEET #1-8

My Review:

I received an arc from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

This story is a roller coaster from the very beginning. Immediately when you start the story, there's a car chase, a fight scene, some car crashes, gunshots, an explosion, and an army goes down. If that doesn't make you want to see what happens next, I don't know what will. This book demands to be read. If you put it down even for a second, you're left thinking, what's going to happen next? I need to see. And because it's in the form that it is, you're able to easily read the entire thing in one sitting. The ending is completely unexpected and it caught be off guard, but in a way that was like, wow that's awesome. I'm glad I read it. The art in this book is cool looking and I feel like it matches the story well, it kind of reminds me of Tank Girl.

So overall, although I was a little confused at first reading this, l enjoyed it. It's about two hundred pages, so a pretty quick read. Definitely check it out if you get the chance.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon, and another link to the authors twitter.

https://www.amazon.ca/Ghost-Fleet-Who...

https://twitter.com/Doncates

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

[Ignacio Izquierdo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quizás lo más interesante de esta obra sea su valor "arqueológico" al ser de los primeros trabajos de artistas ahora ya consagrados como Donny Cates y en especial Daniel Warren Johnson. No soy excesivo fan de Donny Cates, pero Warren Johnson ya apuntaba maneras y entrega un trabajo tremendamente dinámico, tremendamente explosivo. Es impresionante la fuerza que tiene este dibujante. Siempre es un gustazo pasar sus páginas.

La obra, carta de presentación de dos desconocidos, no funcionó muy bien en ventas allá por 2014 y su planificación original de 12 números se quedó en 8. Una pena, porque se nota el pisotón en el acelerador en los últimos números, en un ritmo demasiado acelerado que desmerece un poco el conjunto. Aún así, macarrismo puro, que sin ser transcendente si es bastante disfrutable.

[Joe Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donny Cates - writer
Daniel Warren Johnson - illustrator

This is some good shit right here. Great writing, amazing art ... check it out!!!!!

5/5

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

The hell I just read?

Some sort of Mad Max mash-up with Big Trouble In Little China/Escape from New York by way of Supernatural, a combination that eventually explodes. Literally.

The last act is just balls-out crazy; on an action scale of 1 to 10, the story oscillates between a 6 and 7 on the blood-and-guts meter and then jumps to a solid 108. It’s got plenty of attitude, but pegging the needle on far end of the weird-shit-o-meter feels like a nutso choice.

The art is fine but the coloring actively fights the story. A couple times I had to go back to try and puzzle out what was going on. It’s some of the worst coloring I’ve seen in years. I typically don’t even mention the coloring because most colorists are quite competent. Not so here.

I really hated what happened to Axl the dog. Completely unnecessary. And fucking brutal. Making a smirking comment about it doesn’t help.

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know that scene at the end of Raiders, with all that stuff in crates? These guys drive it there. It’s a fun story with a lot of death and destruction being left in the wake of a horseman of the apocalypse transport gang. It’s an interesting story but the actual details feel pretty weak and not the high strangeness stuff but the human characters are just okay, their relationships aren’t as engaging as they should be. I felt like this was missing some real interesting people but in my opinion the best characters were the biker gang (although F them for killing that poor dog)and the assassin who’s only briefly in the story and literally parachutes away during the high point of the story.

DWJ is a really fun artist, his work always feels a bit manic and intense but it’s really solid work here.

[A Fan of Comics · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I had no idea what I was getting into but I'm glad I picked this one up.

A man out for revenge gets more then he can bargain for when he realizes the truck he just stole holds things not of this world. This book just got better and better the deeper I got into it. It starts off with a bang and refuses to slow down. I know I say it a lot, but it could easily be a movie. It had great action scenes, the narration was really well done, the angles and art were awesome and the timing/ way they revealed things was spot on. I also REALLY LIKED THE PAPER that they used to print on. It feels like a newspaper! Issue 3 has the best opening too, I think it was my favorite part. Honestly cant think of any complaints, this is probably the best revenge book I've read in a while.

[RG · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so crazy!!!

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Ghost Fleet: The Whole Goddamned Thing collects issues 1-8 of the series by Donny Cates with art by Daniel Warren Johnson

The Ghost Fleet is an elite series of military trained cargo drivers. Their mission is to deliver their cargo by any means necessary and to never look at what they are carrying. When Trace is fed up after a spectacularly failed mission, he decides to see what he risked his life hauling which sets forth a chain of events that will forever change the world.

This book is bonkers. It is an over the top 80s/90s action movie if you combined John Carpenter, Michael Bay, George Miller, and Tony Scott. The book is blistering fast, has great humor, and filled with blood and guts. The art perfectly captures the chaos. This is a fun read for action fans.

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m 100% certain that you have never read a book like this before.

I don’t even know where to start. It’s awesome. The art is awesome. The whole time, I was thinking “what the fuck?!” It’s a total trip.

Unique, weird, awesome, fun, wrenching... this is all of those things. This fulfilled a need I didn’t even know I had.

As an added bonus, this trade has semi newsprintish paper that feels good in my hands.

Loved this book!

[Dustin Moon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have been an easy 5 because the art was amazing as always by DWJ. But this story was soooo meh.
Felt like a bunch of other stories I’ve read before mashed together with no closure…oh well I read it for DWJ art anyways.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A team of people that transport 'secret' cargoes get involved in a battle between good and evil.

The story was good but the narrative seemed to have chunks missing and was confusing in places.

[Jeik Dion · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great fun. What if Tarantino/Rodriguez/Carpenter wrote a John Wick movie? DWJ is great as always, the art team did a hell of a job.

[Alex Sarll]

A betrayal, a trucking fleet who carry the strangest and most dangerous cargos, and something especially worrying in one of their containers...early on, this feels like it could be a conventional conspiracy thriller, albeit one to which Cates and Johnson bring more vigour, humour and sense of life's variety than the genre often manages. But then the chaos starts amping up, and a (not very) subtle cue in the art suggests that maybe it's a good idea to stick Bat Out Of Hell II on while you read, and shit gets real. And then even more real, and before you know it we're "riding dead on into damnation on eighteen wheels of steel and thunder". An interview in the back explains that a projected 12 issues got cut to eight when they were already working on the sixth, which makes a lot of sense, as does the news that Cates only initially got into comics to tell this story, intended as the greatest John Carpenter film never made. And honestly, it's lunatic enough to live up to that pitch. Wonderful stuff.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Skvelá akčná záležitosť, s výbornou kresbou. Ku Catesovým začiatkom sa vždy rada vraciam.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was wild. A pure action-filled piece involving big rigs, government conspiracies and rural Texans. The story hits the ground and keeps running which is great for those looking for action, blood and violence, but when it comes to plot there are gaping holes. An intricate secret government series of organizations are involved in trying to stop what could be the end of the world. The story is left behind as the action takes over and character development is tossed to the wind. I really had no feelings either way for any of the characters. An afterword explains how this book started off as a 12-issue series and was cut down to 8 mid-run. This gives us the answer as to why the story is lacking in cohesion.

[OmniBen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first Donny Cates story. I know his superhero runs are either much beloved or loathed, and I know he has some very well thought of independent stuff which I have sitting on the shelf waiting to be read, although this was where I started. And four issues into an 8 issue run, I actually messaged a friend recommending this book, which if I'm honest, I wasn't expecting to do. It was much better than I expected, which took me by surprise, quite frankly. The first issue could have been a lesson in how to draw a reader in, giving them just enough to invest them heavily in the story, while keeping so much a mystery. The characters, although little more than strangers to me yet, had all the hallmarks of being engaging and memorable. The world that was being created had me desperate to learn more about it. Numerous things were being teased, and I was tantalisingly wanting more and more, keeping me turning the pages. I was seriously on board for this. Like I said, I messaged my friend at the end of issue four, and then, right on cue, the comic gods saw issue five coming and began laughing at me from the shadows. What followed was an absolute lesson in how to shit the bed in, what had previously been an ever building interesting and engaging tale. How to undo all your work in the same amount of time it took to make it. There is nothing I would love more, then to go full on spoilers and rip this thing a new asshole, although I won't. I will however offer a cautionary tale to all who read this and dive in anyway. Prepare for things to go from believable to absolutely ridiculous. Prepare for character motivations to go from realistic to contrived and unfulfilling. Prepare for cringey jokes that aren't funny during serious moments and sexuality pointlessly shoehorned in when there was zero need for it. Prepare for the pacing to go from a continual ratcheting of tension to the story just chucking stuff at you, without a chance to let it breathe. And the ending.... The big reveal was a completely un-foreshadowed WTF moment, which fizzled out any remaining hope I had to reinvest me in this story. This book was winning the race only to be overtaken on the last lap by everybody, before it suffered a stroke and died before crossing the line. There were so many interesting aspects to the earlier story which received absolutely no further information or follow up. Its really is a shame, because the art for the most part was really good. It suited the violent and gritty nature of the story down to a T, although by the end, it may as well have been a toddlers aimless doodling, because I was completely uninvested. This idea could easily have been a long running series, had it been set up right. or at least gone on for a few more issues, allowed the tension to keep ratcheting to a fulfilling crescendo, and answered more of the questions any reasonable reader would have had along the way. I really can't believe just how completely and effortlessly this story managed to go from a 4, maybe even a 4.5 to the sad and deflating mess it ended up. What a shame. 2.5/5

OmniBen.

[Paul Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an early work by Donny Cates and Daniel Warren Johnson published by Dark Horse. It was originally going to be a 12 issue maxi series, but it was cancelled and they had to settle for eight. There is an afterword that explains everything that happened behind the scenes with this series.

The Ghost Fleet will take you on a ride so ridiculously fast and thrilling that I think I actually got motion sick!

To say it’s explosive is a massive understatement. In fact, the word “BOOM!” appears so often that it was starting to feel like this Image publication was giving free plugs to Boom, who’ve published several other titles I’ve really enjoyed recently.

More than anything else, this book reminds me of one of those modern, bingeworthy TV series.

In fact, its apocalyptic background and extreme characters can’t help but remind the reader of the recent American Gods. Like that series, this is very much for adults only!

The storytelling from both writer Donny Cates and artist Daniel Warren Johnson has a continuous sense of speed the likes of which one doesn’t usually find outside a Flash comic!

Giant trucks zooming across double page spreads, planes soaring through the air, wind rushing by, bullets flying, torrential rains coming down, and, well, demons! You and the characters get a rare moment every once in a while to catch your breaths but, just as you do, the story zooms off ahead of you again and you have to hang on tight so you don’t get left behind.

And you really don’t want to be left behind. The story itself is intriguing enough to keep you anxious to find out just what’s going on as old friends betray each other over and over and nothing is ever really what it seems. What it seems is a pair of well-trained truck drivers hauling secret cargo cross country are beset by hijackers, but we soon learn there’s much more to it than that.

Based on this book being dedicated to Kurt Russell, I can only assume our eye-patched, long-haired protagonist is supposed to be equated to Russell’s Snake Plisken from John Carpenter’s Escape from New York and Escape from L. A. That works as good as anything else and certainly makes for some visually striking images but the writing makes him an even better character than the one-note Snake in the long run.

Johnson provides some brief but lovely quiet visuals throughout to go along with the more intense sections of the book. This works well to show he’s not just a one-note illustrator.

Like I said, I didn’t know much about this going in so I’m not going to tell you much about it either. It’s a genuinely well-written story, though, with humour, action, mystery, and unexpected twists. It’s told very well by both writer and artist (and with some brilliant uses of colour by Lauren Laffe).

It’s a fast ride, a dark ride, a bloody, violent ride and, in the end, if a comic book can be loud, The Ghost Fleet is very, VERY loud! I binge-read it in one sitting and it turned out to be one HELL of a ride…in spite of the motion sickness!

[Dr. T Loves Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

What it's about: In the 1800s, operatives for the government of the United States established a "ghost fleet" - ships that carried cargo that no one knew about, but that would help protect the country. Since then, the ghost fleet has changed shape, but the purpose remains the same.

When fleet driver Trace Morales finds himself betrayed by his best friend, Trace decides he's going to get back at those who abandoned him by stealing a ghost fleet shipment.

But what Trace doesn't know is what is inside the trailer he gets his hands on.

Powerful, shadowy forces set out to hunt down Trace, and more importantly, the cargo he's taken.

Because if that cargo is revealed, it might spell the end of the world.

What I thought: This was a wild ride. Cates does a good job of providing enough detail to quickly flesh out the characters as the story rolls along. There's not much downtime, but there's still a little bit of character building as things go. And the central concept of the story is interesting. And Cates manages to keep things engaging but veiled enough that the 3rd act revelation is a surprise - as is what follows. I found my expectations for this story radically changing multiple times - I had one idea based on the title, which shifted when I saw the cover, and that shifted when the story started, and then shifted again as the story unfurled. There was a lot of unexpected stuff here, in a good way. Definitely worth a read.

(I have to admit, also, that while I couldn't quite get a handle on the super-assassin's character, the weird use of his shirt as a constantly-shifting song board of his thoughts (?) was dark-humor funny and interesting.)

Cates does a GREAT job of setting up particular expectations, then subverting them in later twists, both visually and with plot points. Early in the story, there's a panel that shows "how it ends" with the Statue of Liberty being destroyed, implying the end of the world. Later, that happens - in Las Vegas, outside the New York, New York hotel. I found it a clever change-up. And the figure who is set up as the big-bad of the story with a LOT of supporting evidence (he is literally the devil) turns out to actually be trying to stave off the end of the world. There are some other fun bits here and there that make this different than many action-adventure, end-of-the-world stories I've read.

He also manages to get a surprising amount of character development into a pretty short story that is 90% violence. The characters are not super-deep, but Cates manages to convey a lot through the story without getting bogged down in exposition.

Why my chosen shelves: BIPOC, Black, diverse, Puerto Rico, racism: Trace is Puerto Rican, and his (former) best friend and other main character is Black, and Trace experiences some racism as the story unfolds; lgbt: Trace is revealed to be gay, which is a spoiler because the story implies he is romantically involved with his former partner's wife as part of a plot twist;omniscient: The narrator offers information from many characters and jumps through the timeline; limited, multiple perspectives: We end up looking over the shoulders of several different characters as the story unfolds, but we don't get their thoughts; religion, mythology, supernatural, weird: A big chunk of the story revolves around these elements; military: Trace and other characters are former covert ops, and deal with lots of military during fighting scenes; weird: There is a character who has a shirt that has a different saying on it each time it's in view, and the sayings are usually obliquely related to what's going on in the story at that point, but it's never commented upon; female: There is a character in the second half of the story who is very important to events;

Why I rated it like I did: 3.75 stars -

[Yoshiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

POPKULTUROWY KOCIOŁEK: Jeśli szukacie unikalnego połączenia dynamicznej przygody, emocjonalnej głębi i zdumiewających zwrotów akcji, to znaleźli się we właściwym miejscu. Widmowa flota opowiada o tytułowej tajnej organizacji, zajmującej się przewożeniem ściśle tajnych i niezwykle niebezpiecznych ładunków. Fabuła skupia się na Trace’u Moralesie i jego partnerze Wardzie, którzy wpadają w sieć zdrad, odkrywając prawdziwą naturę przewożonego przez nich ładunku.

To, co zaczyna się jako surowa opowieść akcji o kierowcach ciężarówek i sekretach ich ładunku, szybko przekształca się w epicką nadprzyrodzoną historię, w której pojawiają się pozaziemskie moce oraz tematy lojalności i odkupienia, a stawką w tej grze są losy świata.

Donny Cates w charakterystycznym stylu łączy opowieść, której fundamentem są bohaterowie z szalonymi, oryginalnymi pomysłami. Dialogi są ostre i pełne humoru, a tempo akcji intensywne. To sprawia, że czytelnik pozostaje na krawędzi siedzenia przez cały komiks. Cates doskonale balansuje spektakularne sceny akcji z cichymi, emocjonalnymi momentami, które ukazują ludzką stronę bohaterów.

Trace to świetny, barwny protagonista. Napięcie między nim, a partnerem, który go zdradził napędza fabułę komiksu. W miarę jak pojawiają się elementy nadprzyrodzone, Cates umiejętnie łączy rozwój postaci z wydarzeniami na większą skalę.

Rysunki Daniela Warrena Johnsona są po prostu spektakularne. Ma on niezwykłą zdolność uchwycenia zarówno akcji, jak i emocji. Jego surowy, dynamiczny styl doskonale współgra z pełną adrenaliny narracją. Dynamiczne ilustracje oddają prędkość i chaos pościgów oraz wybuchowych konfrontacji. To sprawia, że świat Widmowa flota wydaje się autentyczna, a każda eksplozja i nadprzyrodzone zdarzenie odczuwalne niczym na pokazie filmu 4D....

https://popkulturowykociolek.pl/walka...

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5

Donny Cates has been a new addition to my library. He injected his unique storytelling style into the Thanos series started by Jeff Lemire, and now I found myself in the universe of Ghost Fleet. This is a Big Trouble in Little China meets Escape From New York, with a splash of insanity. This book is insane and if you're a fan of the author, maybe it's time to hunt down these Image Comics volumes. This collects all the Ghost Fleet storyline and this is the only way you should read it. I couldn't imagine having to wait for volume 2. Ghost Fleet is why I enjoy reading graphic novels and comics. Donny Cates is a guy who is unique and if you read the scripts, it will make sense.

Why the 5?

It's like an insane 80s film. I understand the John Carpenter references all over the book and on reviews. This is from the mind of a child who enjoyed all the offerings from that era. People make fun of the 80s, but there was iconic films that reshaped cinema for better or worse. Ghost Fleet's storyline is over the top and if you can't run with incoherency, this may frustrate you. I don't mind if the comic is insane for the entire duration and Ghost Fleet is one of those books. I look at it like Big Trouble in Little China or Buckaroo Banzai These movies are iconic and have a firm cult following, but not everybody is going to appreciate the weirdness. Ghost Fleet is exactly that.