Space Ghost #1 Trades the Darker Tone of DC’s 2000s Series For Nonstop Action & Surprising Realism

Summary Dynamite's new Space Ghost series focuses on action and realism, ditching the darker tones from past reboots.

Space Ghost's origin story is skipped in #1, with the focus on epic fight scenes and an intriguing plot.

Pepose and Lau's version reinvents key characters like Jan, Jace, and Blip, setting up an action-packed series.

Warning: contains spoilers for Space Ghost #1!

Dynamite’s new Space Ghost series foregoes the darker tones of previous reboots, including DC’s mid-aughts reinvention, instead placing the focus on non-stop action and surprising realism. For over half a century, Space Ghost has fought bad guys across the universe. With his trusty sidekicks Jan, Jace and Blip, Space Ghost fought his way into cult hero status, and his new title at Dynamite is one of the year’s best.

Space Ghost #1, written by David Pepose and drawn by Jonathan Lau, skips the character’s origin story, at least for now. The book opens with a ship under attack by pirates, seeking to steal its highly valuable cargo for themselves. Doctor Jarrod Kaplar and his children Jan and Jace are onboard, along with their cybernetically enhanced monkey Blip. Space Ghost arrives, stealthily taking the pirates out, but does not arrive in time to save Kaplar.

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Jan and Jace, who Pepose and Lau make the story’s central characters, watch in awe as Space Ghost disposes of the pirates.

Space Ghost's Success Can Be Traced to a Silver Age Comics' Genius

Space Ghost Has Become a Cult Icon

Created by legendary artist Alex Toth for the equally legendary Hanna-Barbera Studios, Space Ghost is a cosmic vigilante. His original show aired on CBS in the late 1960s. Space Ghost was an innovative character, taking common superhero tropes and bringing them into a futuristic time and place. Like Batman, Space Ghost makes extensive use of gadgets in his war on evil, and like the Dark Knight, he has teenage sidekicks. Space Ghost also has an extensive rogue’s gallery, including Brak, Zorak and Moltar, some of whom appear in Space Ghost #1.

A number of actors have provided the voice for Space Ghost over the years, including Gary Owens, George Lowe and F. Paul Tompkins

Space Ghost’s path after the cancelation of his show proved Alex Toth struck gold with his creation. After Space Ghost’s first run on television concluded in 1968, the character would live on in reruns. Episodes of the cartoon were repackaged over the years, appearing alongside other Hanna-Barbera space heroes, such as the Galaxy Trio and the Herculoids. Then, in 1994, Cartoon Network, using actual animation cels from the show, repurposed Space Ghost as a late-night television talk show host. Once again, Space Ghost was innovative, as Space Ghost: Coast to Coast helped lay the foundation for Adult Swim.

In the wake of Coast to Coast, some of Space Ghost’s original mystique was lost.

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast ran for an incredible 11 seasons. It’s off-kilter humor, combined with celebrity guests who just ran with the concept, helped cement Space Ghost’s status as a cult icon. The show was goofy and did not take itself seriously. Furthermore, it led to spin-offs, such as The Brak Show as well as Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. This first wave of Adult Swim shows, along with Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, helped revolutionize adult animation in America. In the wake of Coast to Coast, some of Space Ghost’s original mystique was lost.

In the 2000s, Space Ghost Took a Darker Path

Space Ghost Became a Violent and Unstable Vigilante

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DC Comics, whose parent company Warner Brothers also owns the rights to Space Ghost, upended everything fans thought they knew about the character in the 2000s. Written by Joe Kelly and drawn by Ariel Olivetti, Space Ghost took a much more hard-core approach to the character. The six-issue miniseries gave the character a blood-soaked origin, and seriously ramped up the scary factor on previously goofy villains like Brak and Zorak. For a generation who grew up on the surreal and hilarious Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Kelly and Olivetti’s take was jarring.

Kelly and Olivetti, for the first time, revealed Space Ghost’s tragic and heart-breaking origin. Born Thaddeus Bach, the man who would become Space Ghost is a Peacekeeper. As a law-enforcement agent, Bach regularly came into contact with criminals across the galaxy. Bach was then recruited into an even more elite agency: the Wraths. Highly corrupt and answering to no one, the Wraths dispensed brutal justice to their prisoners. As seen in Space Ghost’s first issue, Bach began to have doubts about his line of work. Bach decided to leave the Wraths behind, and attempted to flee with his pregnant wife.

Kelly and Olivetti’s Space Ghost series was not for the faint of heart.

Bach would pay for this decision, and in a brutal scene, watched as his wife and unborn child were killed. Swearing revenge, Bach becomes the Space Ghost. Using the Wrath’s only technology against them, Space Ghost embarks on a bloody quest to avenge his loved ones. Kelly and Olivetti’s Space Ghost series was not for the faint of heart. Despite the tone that was incongruous with Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, the book was a hit, and remains in print. DC attempted another, lesser-edgier Space Ghost in the 2010s with Future Quest, which re-teamed him with other Hanna-Barbera space heroes.

Dynamite's Space Ghost Is A Winning Reinvention of a Silver Age Icon

Space Ghost's Villains Are As Terrifying as Ever

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Like Future Quest, Dynamite’s new Space Ghost does not go as hard, but still combines heavy-hitting action with space opera elements. Pepose and Lau do not bother themselves with telling Space Ghost’s origin. There are no real hints to his backstory sprinkled in the issue–Space Ghost is just that: a ghost, mysteriously slipping onto the scene, moving undetected. Space Ghost, for now, will be as enigmatic to readers as he is to Jan, Jace and Blip. No doubt Pepose and Lau will delve into Space Ghost’s origin, but readers need not worry about it right now.

DC’s mid-2000s Space Ghost book did more than give the character a dark and violent tone. It also made his villains terrifying. In Dynamite’s Space Ghost #1, Brak makes an appearance. Part of the gang of pirates that raids Doctor Kaplar’s ship, Brak here is a hardened criminal, but Pepose manages to work in a reference to The Brak Show. An instant feud begins, as the two have an explosive fight. Lau’s art in this scene jumps off the page, giving readers a tantalizing glimpse at Space Ghost’s power.

David Pepose and Jonathan Lau do not limit the reinventions to Brak alone. Jan and Jace, Space Ghost’s sidekicks, get a new origin here as well. Jan and Jace were an element of the Space Ghost mythos that Kelly and Olivetti stayed largely away from, only introducing the two at the end of the series. Pepose and Lau ground Jan and Jace here as the main characters. Jan and Jace find themselves caught up in something they barely understand. Their father is dead, and their only hope is Space Ghost.

Blip may hold the key to the galaxy’s future, and it is up to Space Ghost to ensure his safety.

Blip, Space Ghost’s monkey, is also reimagined in the first issue, and indeed, he may be the most important character in the series. As revealed in Space Ghost # 1, Blip is an acronym for a new type of neural implant, one that could have enormous benefits for medicine and science as a whole. Blip is the prize the pirates and Brak were after. Blip may hold the key to the galaxy’s future, and it is up to Space Ghost to ensure his safety.

The Future Looks Bright For Dynamite's Space Ghost

Pepose and Lau Have Crafted an Action Packed First Issue

The fight scenes in Space Ghost #1 are grand as well, and watching the character dispense brutal justice to those who would prey on the innocent is satisfying

Pepose and Lau’s Space Ghost #1 is a crackling first issue. The action moves swiftly, and Space Ghost’s entrance is epic. The fight scenes in Space Ghost #1 are grand as well, and watching the character dispense brutal justice to those who would prey on the innocent is satisfying. Pepose and Lau keep Space Ghost mysterious for the time being, instead focusing on non-stop science fiction action. Dynamite’s Space Ghost #1 is the perfect reinvention of this cult hero, infusing him with realism and non-stop action.

Space Ghost #1 is on sale now from Dynamite Entertainment!