Jack The Lantern: Ghosts! #1 (Free Comic Book Day Color Edition)

Title: Jack The Lantern: Ghosts!
Issue: #1 (Free Comic Book Day Color Edition)
Date: May 2007
Publisher: Castle Rain Entertainment
Writer: Michael Angelos
Penciler: Tim Vigil, Jerry Beck
Inker: Tony Bledsoe
Colorist: Michael Wulf
Letterer: Michael Angelos
Editor: David Rust
Cover Art: Jerry Beck, Tony Bledsoe

This is issue #1 of a six-issue series, but it opens with the story already in progress and a somewhat wordy recap passage to get the reader up to speed. You might want to get out your score card. Basically, you've got a guy named Jack Corby who's hosting a demon named Argotakar (and Izralwisp!). He's teamed up with a mentor figure, Frank Casper, and a "mystical knight" named Lisa Fraser. Those are the good guys. The bad guys are a cult called the Yavlo, who are in possession of something called the "Book of the Yavlo", which is described as "an alien book with unfathomable power" because the writer figured he probably shouldn't actually use the word "Necronomicon". Anyway, leading the Yavlo is a woman named Jadugar who favors cleavage-revealing dresses, along with an assortment of henchpersons including her brother Roman, cult leader Pavel Malkov, and billionaire London Dirk.

And the whole thing starts off as a very Freudian adventure inside the hellish landscape of Corby's subconscious, where he seems to be slowly working through the issues around his abusive father. The dream sequence bit is dark. In flavor, in subject matter, and in the actual ink tones used to color it, which makes it difficult to read and to figure out what the heck is going on. Artwork gets better once we're in the real world, although most of the action just recaps what has gone before and sets things up for future battles.

I appreciate that the writer takes some time to develop characters here. I like the knight character, Lisa Fraser, a lot. She actually wears sufficient clothing (as opposed to the villainess), and she's got an interesting role, training the lead character in both fighting and meditation. Likewise, the villains were fairly interesting. I was very pleased with the fact that they were all shown to have their own flaws and weaknesses right from the start. In spite of all of their resources, they are unsure how to proceed and it shows. That's a refreshing touch, particularly for a book that seems very heavily influenced by other dark supernatural comics (Vampirella, Hellblazer, and The Demon immediately came to mind). Hopefully, the strength of the full cast will continue to come through as the plot develops.

Rating: 6/10