Don't Miss Out: "Five Ghosts" by Barbiere and Mooneyham

- by Señor Editor, 29 November 2013

PULP. I love pulp. I have pulp running through my veins. I eat pulp for breakfast. So you can imagine just how disappointed I was when I heard that Image has been publishing "Five Ghosts" for a while now, and that I'm late to the party. That was a while ago. I'm all caught up now, and I'm here to tell you why you, too, should invite Frank J. Barbiere's and Chris Mooneyham's "Five Ghosts" into your cold little hearts.

Thank you, inside cover of #1! Yes, that's exactly what makes our hero, Fabian, different than the typical pulp adventurer. He can use the powers of each of these "literary ghosts". What are literary ghosts? Well, that's a whole 'nother story, relating to how all the human myths and legends, from many different cultures and centuries, have plenty of common elements, which in turn relates to something called "the Dreaming", something that's always been inside the human race.

... But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here - these are important details, that tie to the underlying plot, but let's get back to the basics.

This series has beautiful covers. Click to enlarge.

Seeing as there's quite a few Nazis knocking about, our story takes place in the best possible time to be a pulpy adventurer - either slightly before, or during World War II. Fabian Gray is a British thief, or ''treasure hunter'', as he prefers, and he uses the powers of the five ghosts to help him in his adventures. The ghosts aren't too happy about it, though. They are locked in this human vessel and they're making it harder and harder for Fabian to use their powers, taking their toll on him. Gray's first adventure, titled "The Haunting of Fabian Gray" (now collected in trade), involves having to come to terms with the ghosts, by passing their tests.

That's just one of Fabian's worries, though. There's more at stake - when he first found the Dreamstone, right as it merged with him, his sister fell into a supernatural, catatonic state. Bringing her back, is what pushes him and his friend Sebastian into their adventures.

And these two have A LOT of adventures. Barbiere's work is action-packed, taking us around the world, from one peril to another, and the pacing of the stories is often quite breakneck.

Calling on Robin Hood's and Merlin's powers to steal from filthy Nazis. All images here are by Chris Mooneyham, © Image Comics.

The first issue alone takes us to Austria, where Fabian fights Nazi soldiers in an old castle, through Barcelona, where his mysterious enemies are tracking him, to Oxford, and Africa, where his plane crashes under attack from a tribe of warriors with spider eyes (you have to see it, it's beautiful).

It's not just action alone that works in favor of "Five Ghosts". Chris Mooneyham is a great artist and his art is very stylish and elegant, fitting the series perfectly and rendering each of the very different locations, buildings and characters masterfully. It's a great joy to look at. It's vibrant, dynamic and very classy.

It's also very well thought-out, as it borrows heavily from the layouts and visual tropes seen in early XX century pulp comics. Just look on the page to your right.

Another of the great strenghts of "Five Ghosts" is Lauren Affe, whose coloring is as important to the overall style as Mooneyham's pencils. There's also a lot of great touches, like the paper having a yellowish, this-is-an-old-classic-found-in-your-grandpa's-house, tint. It looks like a lot of love went into creating each issue.

A page from issue 3, making great use of the classic pulp style (click to enlarge).

This is one of the most exciting ongoing series currently being published, and if you're a fan of adventure stories you will not be disappointed. Shangri La, Nazis, a tribe of spider people, distant exotic lands, myths and legends, riddles, cutting off limbs and burning off flesh, demonic possesion, planes and sword fights... And that's just the first arc (it's followed by a one-shot issue with a different artist, and then Mooneyham comes back for art duties). Barbiere really throws a lot of fantastic stuff at the reader here, and it keeps getting better and better.

Going vampire on the spider cult. And I'm not even using the best pages here- you'll have to see THOSE for yourselves!

There's no other comic currently doing the pulp adventure genre better than "Five Ghosts". It's the perfect mix of classic feel and fresh new ideas. It quickly became one of my favorite titles. I highly recommend it. You will be glad you picked it up!


Are you reading "Five Ghosts"? If not, when will you start reading "Five Ghosts"? Sound off in the comments below!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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