Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Donny Cates
Artist: Daniel Warren Johnson
Colourist: Lauren Affe
Release date: May 6, 2015
Price: $1.99
Comic book decapitation covers are rare, so when you see one you know mayhem is on its way. Ghost Fleet #7 mayhem in a nutshell. A character explains the titular organization: “You know the end of Raiders? With that big, cool warehouse full of secret stuff? Ghost Fleet are the dudes that haul that stuff.” And like a good concept, it is short and to the point. The reader can have no doubts about what will unfold.
Central protagonists Ward and Trace (did they ever tell us their last names?) retrieve their haul of “secret stuff” and make off in a cargo plane, only to get shot down. A conflict of Biblical proportions ensues. Blood and guts are the message and the medium here.
Thankfully Cates’s dialogue maintains a sense of humour in the visceral mixture: “You just declared war on the Silhouette, man. What next? You and Mickey going to challenge God to a knife fight?”
And in a twist the devil tells an apocalyptic hero to cheer up since “it’s not the end of the world.” Plus when the villain makes his obligatory speech at the end he cusses like a sailor. You have to smile, through the carnage just a little bit.
There’re a few issues with the story though. A character gives up his life, but it’s not clear what he’s trying to accomplish by doing so, since he could have helped his colleagues and still try to escape. And driving a tractor-trailer out of a plane’s cargo hold just as it crashes strains at the willingness to suspend disbelief.
Having said that, artist Johnson’s style has just enough realism to visually ground the story. And as silly as the plane wreck scene is, it has the impact of a Michael Bay storyboard. Colourist Affe shifts backgrounds from yellow to blue to purple without missing a beat, adding movement and dimension to the action.
Aside from the aforementioned plot holes the comic is definitely worth your two bucks, and if your penchant is decapitation covers, well, you’ve made a killing too.
Reviewer: Joe Lovece
Review Editor: Steve Hooker