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Image Comics' Ghost Cage #1
- Artist:
- Nick Dragotta
- Cover Artist:
- Frank Martin Jr, Nick Dragotta
- Letterer:
- Rus Wooten
- Price:
- 5.99
- Publisher:
- Image Comics
- Release Date:
- 2022-03-23
- Writer:
- Nick Dragotta, Caleb Goellner
Image Comics has presented an eco-drama sci-fi for the ages in Ghost Cage #1. Co-written by Caleb Goellner and artist Nick Dragotta, the series is set in an ambiguous future where the world's power is controlled by Ohm -- the source of all energy in the world, from coal-based power to nuclear power. At the helm of Ohm's energy empire is Karloff, the ultimate genius and inventor. But Ohm has been attacked by unseen terrorists, causing blackouts and disrupting civilization.
Determined to hunt down the terrorists and retain his grip on the world's best commodities, Karloff sends his newest invention, his "newborn" son SAM, to go inside his power plant and weed out his other "children" lurking within its levels. In addition to SAM, Karloff sends one of his Ohmployees, an ambitious and cheerful but hapless technician, to babysit.
Goellner and Dragotta wear their anime influences on their sleeves. As fresh and relevant as Ghost Cage #1 and its themes are, it pays homage to many Japanese sci-fi cyberpunk classics in manga and anime, such as the neo-noir Akira and the melodramatic mecha world of Neon Genesis Evangelion. However, Ghost Cage #1, despite being focused entirely on power, energy, and tech, has a more organic approach. Considering its sensibilities and influences, it's no wonder that Ghost Cage #1 is so visually sumptuous. It stays close to the conventions of both vintage and contemporary manga. The issue is rendered in greyscale and uses its finite color palette with great dexterity and skill. Ghost Cage relies on retro-style screen tones, spot blacks, and white shape language to convey tone to great effect. Ghost Cage #1 also displays Dragotta's light and gentle hand, and his formidable sense of scale, scope, and environment.
But the most impressive aspect of Ghost Cage, artistically and conceptually, are its character designs. SAM, the beta mechanism newly "born," is a small, childlike android whose main feature is a large eyeball. SAM's movements are innocent and endearing, but his power in fight scenes serves as a stark contrast to his base form. The book's best designs are the monsters SAM must fight, entities representing the forms of energy under Ohm's command. SAM fights the monsters under Doyle's supervision throughout each level of the power plant. For example, the monster Coal is a hulking, made of skeletons, and speaking only in hacking coughs -- brilliantly alluding to coal's dirtiness as a substance and as a major source of pollution. Hydro is a leaky faucet clad in a 19th-century diving helmet, giving a heavy-handed but apt speech about its importance and mistreatment as a form of energy and a source of life.
Despite the many near-photorealistic elements throughout Ghost Cage #1, there are moments of exaggerated expressionism, cartoonishness, and extreme shape language in the character designs. There are hints of whimsicality evocative of the sci-fi works of Osamu Tezuka. This comic relief in the visuals and the writing is subtle but appropriate. Goellner and Dragotta are a good team and are excellent at creating a strong premise, worldbuilding, and a good narrative pace. On occasion, however, their dialogue can feel awkward. Ghost Bud in particular has some groan-worthy Ohm-related lingo, and the use of the world "lol" unironically is a little bit obvious. However, there are times when the humor does work -- mainly Doyle's persistent cheerful ambition, which is tested constantly, and Karloff's insistence on never getting their name right. Doyle and Ghost Bud's rapport also grows more natural with every interaction, as does Doyle's growing relationship with SAM.
Ghost Cage #1 kickstarts a series that goes beyond a tribute to an era in Japanese manga and sci-fi and forges its own path as a story about the perils of energy, power, consumption, and abuse of power. It combines social commentary, eco-sci-fi, action, adventure, and the Kaiju genre with a little comedy and it pays off eloquently.