Again, I guess they're challenging you to read "true tales of the weird and supernatural," not necessarily delivering them.

Traditionally, in ghost stories, anybody scoffing at the idea that they were "true" is going to get the pants scared off of them later. I doubt that's going to happen here, but who am I to say? From 1976, Ghosts #50.

The GCD credits Buddy Gernale with the opener, "startling testimony to the existence of a frightening world of the spectral and supernatural." I rather like the notion of a haunted bookshelf, since I'd like to haunt a bookshelf! I don't know if any of these stories are necessarily based on anything, although Dartmoor had mysterious beasts in it as recently as a few years ago. Actually, the mundane explanation for that one is still kind of fun.

In "Home is Where the Grave Is!" a young boy raised next to a graveyard grows up with ghosts as good, friendly neighbors. But that doesn't save him from getting drafted for Vietnam...you can pretty much guess how he's going to come home. (Story by Carl Wessler, pencils by John Calnan, inks by Tex Blaisdell.) "The Trapped Phantom" features E.R. Cruz art, as a bandit murders a fisherman, but worries about his vengeful ghost. Which is trapped near where it passed, so should be easily avoidable...unless there's a flood or something.

Finally, in "The Most Fearful Villain of the Supernatural" an Irish writer visiting "Rumania" is shocked to find a deserted castle, with a body in an open coffin with a stake in its heart! Which he removes, reviving the vampire: not doing that seems like it would be common sense, but it wasn't yet, since the writer, Bram Stoker, hadn't written Dracula yet! Did Stoker have a chance encounter with the supernatural, that led to one of the most famous books of all time? That's a premise that's probably been used elsewhere, but also probably given more than six pages. (Written by George Kashdan, art by Lee Elias.) Read more!

"Ghosts" concludes: JLA Annual #2!

It's taken some months--far longer than it took the crossover to run!--but today we'll check out the conclusion to the 1998 Ghosts annual crossover: JLA Annual #2, "Life Itself" Written by Ty Templeton, pencils by Mark Pajarillo, inks by Walden Wong.

I'm seriously considering calling shenanigans on the first panel of this one; as a shadowed figure breaks into the Smallville Museum of Marvels. I'm sure the Silver Age Smallville has a great museum with all sorts of crazy crap from when Superman was a boy; but this Smallville would just be a typical small Kansas town, which means it's museum would be mere local history and probably wouldn't have anything more exotic than a butter churn or a cotton gin. It seems kind of unlikely it would have the mummified corpse of Egyptian wizard Hermes Trismegistus.

Unless...unless it was some kind of exhibit somewhere else, like a travelling show perhaps. Perhaps under shady circumstances. Then a run-in with someone like, say, Jonah Hex; shots were fired, and when the smoke cleared the mummy was the only body without holes in it, so it was left to the town's podunk museum. That might've been a fun extra...

Back to the story at hand: long-time JLA villain Felix Faust is breaking into the museum for the mummy, since he wants Trismegistus to tell him about immortality. The narration, which seems inexplicably cheery considering the topic and that Faust is bleeding a guard to bring the mummy back to life, explains how Faust is afraid of death. Not for the usual reasons, but because he knows for a fact hell is real and he's totally going there; so he's mighty interested in finding an out.

Trismegistus returns to life like a very crabby man awoken from a good nap. Faust knows Tris has the secret of immortality, and would be alive to that day, if he hadn't committed suicide. Which means, Trismegistus didn't want to be alive...

I love the title page for this one: it's a 40's style detective movie, in black-and-white. J'onn J'onzz is enjoying a flick, when Faust's face appears on the actors as he begs for help. If that was a movie I particularly enjoyed, I would be super-pissed at Faust about then, since would I be able to watch it again without thinking of that tool?

J'onn brings Faust before the JLA, where he's chained and wrapped in Wonder Woman's magic lasso, so he can't tell a lie. Faust explains he resurrected Trismegistus, but now they need to find his Emerald Tablet to stop him from killing everything, removing "the life frequency" from the universe. Faust says the spell has already begun, weakening the borders, and they probably would've seen ghosts. The JLA'ers have, although seemingly didn't bother to mention it to each other: look, they see a lot of weird crap, OK?

Since the Lasso is figuratively twisting Faust's arm, they figure he's on the level. The tablet had been broken into three pieces by Freemasons, who hid it in the most inaccessible places they could get to. Flash points out they aren't that inaccessible, at least to the JLA; Faust counters they're supposed to be inaccessible to Trismegistus, but he would get them sooner or later.

The team splits up to recover the pieces, and each team encounters another ghost: Flash and Aquaman bump into Vibe, Superman and Green Lantern find Ice, and Batman and Wonder Woman see Steel. (Not the armored guy, the cyborg patriot from the JL-Detroit days.) Each ghost has a subtle ghosty feature: music--presumably breakdancing hip-hop--follows Vibe, Ice is pale and cold, and poor Steel appears on monitors like the ghost of Max Headroom. J'onn isn't positive they're ghosts in the traditional sense, that they could be psychic residue or playback. Faust insists they're merely a symptom of the bigger problem, and unless the tablet is destroyed, Trismegistus will come for it.

Still lassoed, Faust says the tablet must be reformed before it can be destroyed, and sets J'onn, GL, WW, and Aquaman as "a living elemental circle" around it. He then says he must be released to complete the spell, and Batman OK's it, since Faust couldn't be lying. A rare tactical error there, since Hermes Trismegistus had been hiding within Felix Faust! Although Faust had been forced to tell the truth, nothing he said had been a lie; although now Trismegistus was going to end all suffering by wiping out all life. Batman knows how to use the truth, though: Green Lantern could get a beam into the tablet and destroy it from within. Aquaman and J'onn chip in their willpower to help, but the collected heroic ghosts--now including a Robin and Deadman!--pile on Faust. Ice knows she can end this, by following GL's beam and destroying the tablet, which she does after saying goodbye to Superman.

With Trismegistus defeated, Superman still wonders if the ghosts were real. J'onn is open to the possibility, since he expects an afterlife, but doesn't think about it. Aquaman points out whether you dwell on it or not, eventually you'll get the answer. Batman gets the last line, but doesn't end with a joke: "I live with ghosts every day." Meanwhile, in an asylum (possibly Arkham but not necessarily) Faust is no longer afraid to die; since he's now immortal, because Trismegistus is trapped in his body screaming at him. Now he's afraid to live...

Maybe Templeton should've written this whole crossover--this and his Martian Manhunter Annual were high points. Of course, if you want to nitpick, try and figure out how many of the "ghosts" that were dead have since come back to life, either before or after the New 52 reboot...


Read more!

Ghosts: Flash Annual #11!

So, far the Martian Manhunter Annual has been the best of the Ghosts crossover, but today's maybe could beat it! Flash Annual #11, "Haunts" Written by Brian Augustyn, pencils by Anthony Williams, inks by Ray Kryssing.

Wally West didn't think he was prone to sleepwalking, until he found himself sprinting around the world, with the ghost of dead speedster Johnny Quick. Later, Wally contacts speed guru Max Mercury, who can't quite nail down what it could mean, but suggests he contact Quick's daughter/fellow speedster Jesse. (Jesse may be better known under her mom's identity, as the modern JSA's Liberty Belle.) Who promptly shows up, having a weird feeling about her dad. Wally wants to try to avoid that conversation, but can't get rid of her before Tina McGee, an old girlfriend, also arrives. Linda isn't bothered by that, because Tina has a bigger problem: her husband Jerry, creator of super-speed drug Velocity 9, had suddenly had a flashback relapse, and was tearing around as Speed Demon.

Briefly mixing it up with Speed Demon, Wally sees Johnny again momentarily; and realizes he only sees him when at full speed. Later, he tells Max that he wonders if he should've tried to go into the Speed Force to save Johnny. But usually when a speedster goes into the Speed Force, they don't return; while Wally has done so twice, he doesn't know if he could do it again. Fortunately, it doesn't come down to that: grabbing Speed Demon and accelerating him into the Speed Force to burn out the Velocity 9, Wally gets to finally talk to Johnny, who had been trying to reach Jesse, but she couldn't reach the level of speed needed to see him. Wally gives Jesse a boost, so she can say goodbye. Linda asks Wally if he still feels haunted, but all Wally's ghosts are friendly ones.

A little thin, and a bit of a throwback to the days when there were seemingly a bunch of Flashes and associated speedsters running all about. Next week: the conclusion of the "Ghosts" crossover, JLA Annual #2!
Read more!

"Ghosts" Annuals: Batman Annual #22!

The Wonder Woman and Superman Annuals in the 1998 Ghosts crossover both dealt with deaths from 1988. Today's issue refers to a more recent death, from 1994, but of far less import: Batman Annual #22, "Bough Breaks" Written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Yvel Guichet, inks by Robert Campanella.

When a distraught pregnant woman arrives at the Gotham City police station claiming "Batman is trying to kill my baby!" Commissioner Gordon fields that one himself, noting usually it's only criminals complaining about Batman. She claims he's been trying to get her to miscarry and laughs at her, neither of which sound like Batman. Meanwhile, Batman faces a group of thugs who have some of his equipment, Batarangs and gas bombs! Later, Batman makes a phone call to his former replacement, Azrael, who can account for his whereabouts, hasn't lost any gear, and doesn't have his old armor.

Curious, Batman has Robin run the woman's name, and finds she was a blood relative of the serial killer known as Abattoir. Abattoir "liked to stalk and kill his own blood line," but was left to die by the Azrael-Batman, a situation that led to the death of one of his relatives that he had taken hostage. Batman wasn't there, but still felt guilty over that death, since he felt it showed Azrael had been unfit to replace him. Now, Abattoir has returned as a ghost, haunting the Azrael-Batman armor, and planning on taking his niece's baby's body for his own!

Abattoir lures Batman and Robin back to where he dies, the Nolan Steel Foundry. (Presumably named after Batman artist Graham Nolan!) Alfred and Robin wonder, if Batman can exorcise his guilt, would it do the same to the ghost; while Abattoir doesn't seem to realize he's not facing his killer. As Batman delivers the baby, Robin fights the costume, which he admits he has "an adversarial relationship" with, and forces it into a smelting crucible, destroying it.

Batman then stares down Abattoir, offering himself instead, claiming his soul wasn't with him and he didn't feel any guilt over Abattoir's murder. He also says Abattoir "apparently...didn't talk to anyone in hell either," and that the killer wouldn't have any idea how to get a new body, didn't cross the "River" or try to deal with Charon. Abattoir pipes up that he could so do that, and disappears. Robin asks where Batman sent him, and Batman admits he's not sure. That's kind of the dumbest exorcism I've ever seen...

Batman did buy some time, though, since he thinks Abattoir would be back, but I'm not sure he was. The baby is named Thomas, after Batman's father, while Robin has to ask if Batman's soul is where it belongs or not, but we don't get an answer.

Not my favorite of the Ghosts annuals, but it at least avoided the easy out of visiting Bruce's parents. (Or Dick's...or Tim's...) I suppose it took a little effort to pick a dead Batman villain that would stay dead, though.

Read more!

Ghosts: Superman Annual #10!

Is the death sentence really a deterrent? Not in comics, anyway! From the 1998 Ghosts crossover, Superman Annual #10, "The Death Sentence" Written by Dan Jurgens, layouts by Paul Ryan, finishes by Chris Ivy.

This issue, a criminal sentenced to be executed the next day, pleads his case to Clark Kent, that he didn't shoot a convenience store clerk during a robbery. Or, his argument is more to the effect of, should he die for it? Kent's silence all but announces his distaste for capital punishment, and he starts investigating, just in time to be haunted by the ghosts of the Phantom Zone Criminals! Not the pre-Crisis ones, the ones from the pocket dimension, that Superman executed with Kryptonite. (The Kryptonite in question didn't hurt Superman, since it was from that dimension, not his own...wow, DC continuity is hard. Maybe they were right about that New 52 thing, but the story in question was John Byrne and pretty good.)

One piece of evidence is missing in the case: the stolen money, which probably couldn't be more than a couple hundred dollars? Visiting the criminal's family, and his sick son. After sparring with the ghosts again, Superman realizes the baby was playing with toy keys, except they weren't all toys: one was to a bus locker, which held the money. Fighting the ghosts again, Superman throws a chunk of rebar into their midst, just in time for a lightning bolt to "dissipate" them. Killing them again? Destroying their immortal souls? Well, doesn't matter, Clark Kent has to get to the prison in time to plead the killer's case; which the governor defers to a life sentence. It's fitting for a Superman story...even if I don't necessarily agree.

Read more!

Ghosts: Martian Manhunter Annual #1!

Just from the cover, I'm thinking this one is going to be rougher than the Wonder Woman Annual: with another Bernie Wrightson cover, Martian Manhunter Annual #1, "Heart's Afire" Written by Ty Templeton, art by Ariel Olietti.


Templeton pays lip service to the idea that J'onn J'onzz has a ton of other identities on earth, although I don't know if I see him as a Siberian fur trapper, but that his detective John Jones is still a favorite, like a comfortable suit. His partner Karen Smith is surprised to see him in his office, since he's rarely there, but she's still glad to see him. She obviously likes him, but J'onn plays it off as having "a...thing...about smoking." Their banter is interrupted by a young girl, Rachel, who wants J'onn to investigate her murder. She appears to be shot, then bursts into flames, paralyzing J'onn; but when he looks into the flames he sees his Martian wife and daughter.

J'onn's a little dismayed to notice his car has been towed: he notes he spends a lot of time in other countries, and forgets parking rules from town to town, but is standing under a No Parking sign as he narrates this. At the police station, J'onn uses a trick like Dr. Who's psychic paper: a smiley face on a notepad makes a perfect picture of Rachel, who had been reported missing by her boyfriend six days prior. J'onn asks Karen to follow up a lead while he gets his car--an '87 Chevy Impala--out of impound, but an officer makes a phone call that someone's looking into Rachel's disappearance.

J'onn's poor car is run off the road later, and while he's in no danger, he does see Rachel again in the flames. Catching up to the drivers as the Martian Manhunter, he finds they were put up to it by a cop; and sends them back to the cops to confess under mental coercion. J'onn tries to warn Karen off the case, but she's already at the boyfriend's, who is part of a militia group called the "New Revolution," and she's captured. J'onn disguises himself as an old woman to visit Rachel's roommate, who recalls how much she was looking forward to a camping trip with her boyfriend, even if it was with a bunch of "survivalist weirdos." J'onn allows himself to be captured as well, and is taken before the militia's General Washington, a black man with a somewhat unfortunate hairstyle.

Washington doesn't seem especially broken up over having to kill Rachel--omelets and eggs. She "was not ready to commit to our lifestyle," and the boyfriend calls her a class traitor. The militia plans a bus trip to DC, to murder "every member of the corrupt, slave-owner aristocracy" they can. J'onn decides he's heard enough, and changes to the Manhunter, breaking his handcuffs. Washington expected something like this: "The Justice League are well-known tools of the new world order!" Preparing accordingly, he had a flame-thrower ready, and torches J'onn.

The flames have J'onn on the ropes, seemingly finished, until another blast from the flamethrower appears as his wife and daughter, turning on the shooter, saving him. After that, J'onn takes the militia's information from Washington's mind, and stifles them with no loss of life. Karen is just vivid, though, feeling like J'onn's been laughing at her. Pissed, she lights a cigarette, and Rachel and J'onn's family appear in the flames again, this time to say goodbye.

This is probably the best of the Ghosts annuals so far! Since I'm not real up on the New 52 continuity, I'm not positive if J'onn's family's death is still a big part of his origin. I'd assume so, but can't say. Their deaths were pretty well established, though. That Wonder Woman Annual referred back to a supporting characters death from ten years earlier in 1988, and next week's annual refers to three deaths that same year...
Read more!

A "Ghosts" Annual titled "Ghosts." Green Lantern Annual #7!

This issue has the same title as the crossover, and I wonder if it'll be the only one that does: Green Lantern Annual #7, "Ghosts" Written by Steve Vance, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Doug Hazlewood and Kim DeMulder.

While taking care of a highway accident, new GL Kyle Rayner is moping over his dead girlfriend Alex, missing the days when his life was a lot less complicated. Things don't get any simpler today either, since dead GL Abin Sur shows up to help him out. (At this point in continuity, Hal was dead but a Hal from the past was still around...) Abin tells Kyle something is bringing back the dead; and while Kyle wants to see if Alex is back, Abin tells him to put aside his personal concerns and deal with the problem. Then Abin disappears, leaving it to Kyle.

After recharging his ring, Kyle follows the ring's scan into space, finding a planet reforming itself with green energy: Mojo. And other GL's are rising from Mojo's surface, including Kilowog! Kyle's freaked out by the "Green Lantern Corpses," who immediately attack him. Kilowog points out Kyle had recently been to the past, and maybe could've given them a heads-up about Hal Jordan destroying the Corps and killing most of them. He might have a point, but really the dead GL's are being controlled by Nekron, in what I think was his first appearance since the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps miniseries in 1981. Kyle is sucked into Nekron's death-realm, forced to listen to a lot of recap, then fights his way back, where he realizes he has to re-kill the dead Lanterns.

Mogo and Kilowog give Kyle the most trouble, but Kilowog tells Kyle "Thanks, poozer. Ya set us free." Cool even in death, although I don't know how this reconciles with their later return. (A common problem in this type of comic; you'd see the same sort of thing in Avengers "Legion of the Unliving" issues.) Kyle tells Nekron to bring on anything else he's got, and Nekron's...got nothing. Whatever brought back the ghosts wasn't his doing, he just tried to capitalize on it. After the portal to Nekron's realm closes, Kyle flies back to earth and visits Alex's grave, and finally lets her go. (Maybe.)

We'll continue our look at the Ghosts crossover...at some point, when I find where I put those...

Read more!