The Ghost Fleet #6
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
DIGITAL LINK: https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/5578.ghost-fleet-6/
If a burning car was rolling down a hill at you, ripping its way through a city street, what would you do? You would jump out of the way and then watch it careen to its glorious, explosive end.
When Trace Morales as written by Donny Cates and depicted by Daniel Warren Johnson is on a roll, you do the exact same thing. Get out of his way but still watch, with eager, earnest hunger for what will happen next.
With issue #6, The Ghost Fleet continues to be a high octane, explosive comic that seems to be heading for a brutal, visceral and beautiful end. I can’t look away.
Cates, again, writes an honest, relatable and funny script that packs a certain, truck engine powered, punch. It’s indulgent in a way, violent and borderline nihilistic but it never careens off the edge into unbelievable. Trace’s abilities seem almost god-like, a super human capable of John Wick or Neo-like killing streaks. He hits heavy, he moves fast and he doesn’t take no for an answer. But then, heartbreak, loss, pain and frustration remind us that he is, in fact, a man. A fragile man with a brutal, storied past that is willing to do whatever it takes to save his truck, his dog, and possibly, the world.
Cates understands human nature in a way that I think very little comic writers right now do, he gives us the burning trucks and the assault rifles that we so desperately want. However, he doesn’t give without taking something too. He takes from Trace, he takes from Ward and I can only assume he plans on taking from Beth and Reno, too. He takes from them in a way that unrepentantly asks us questions about what we would do in situations like this. It’s balanced, careful scripting that feeds my insatiable appetite for smart, visceral writing better than most comics out now and I can't wait to see how it ends given this issue's twists.
Daniel Warren Johnson, too, delivers in a variety of ways. His art in this issue is like that long, continuous shot in Children of Men (near the end of the film). It doesn’t give you room to breathe, it doesn’t change angles and it doesn’t hold back. He draws hurried, brutal action in a way that beckons you to turn the page but also to carefully unpack each frame because there’s so much, careful detail to see and in a way, feel.
This is, in my eyes, a perfect issue. Get out of the way, wait for the boom.
Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
DIGITAL LINK: https://digital.darkhorse.com/profile/5578.ghost-fleet-6/
If a burning car was rolling down a hill at you, ripping its way through a city street, what would you do? You would jump out of the way and then watch it careen to its glorious, explosive end.
When Trace Morales as written by Donny Cates and depicted by Daniel Warren Johnson is on a roll, you do the exact same thing. Get out of his way but still watch, with eager, earnest hunger for what will happen next.
With issue #6, The Ghost Fleet continues to be a high octane, explosive comic that seems to be heading for a brutal, visceral and beautiful end. I can’t look away.
Cates, again, writes an honest, relatable and funny script that packs a certain, truck engine powered, punch. It’s indulgent in a way, violent and borderline nihilistic but it never careens off the edge into unbelievable. Trace’s abilities seem almost god-like, a super human capable of John Wick or Neo-like killing streaks. He hits heavy, he moves fast and he doesn’t take no for an answer. But then, heartbreak, loss, pain and frustration remind us that he is, in fact, a man. A fragile man with a brutal, storied past that is willing to do whatever it takes to save his truck, his dog, and possibly, the world.
Cates understands human nature in a way that I think very little comic writers right now do, he gives us the burning trucks and the assault rifles that we so desperately want. However, he doesn’t give without taking something too. He takes from Trace, he takes from Ward and I can only assume he plans on taking from Beth and Reno, too. He takes from them in a way that unrepentantly asks us questions about what we would do in situations like this. It’s balanced, careful scripting that feeds my insatiable appetite for smart, visceral writing better than most comics out now and I can't wait to see how it ends given this issue's twists.
Daniel Warren Johnson, too, delivers in a variety of ways. His art in this issue is like that long, continuous shot in Children of Men (near the end of the film). It doesn’t give you room to breathe, it doesn’t change angles and it doesn’t hold back. He draws hurried, brutal action in a way that beckons you to turn the page but also to carefully unpack each frame because there’s so much, careful detail to see and in a way, feel.
This is, in my eyes, a perfect issue. Get out of the way, wait for the boom.
A Look Inside
