The Creators – David Pepose – Writer, Jonathan Lau – Artist, Andrew Dalhouse – Colours, Taylor Esposito – Letters

The Players – Space Ghost, Jan, Jace, Blip, Brak

The Story – An attack on a space station leaves Jan and Jace fatherless and on the run with his research, a monkey named Blip. They have no one and nowhere to turn. Thankfully Space Ghost happens upon the scene.

The Take – It is a strange thing to see a Space Ghost title on the stands once again as it has been quite some time since his last series from DC was released. The character is a natural fit for the printed page and, oddly, he has not had more books under his belt with this issue proving exactly why. Having a great creative team at the helm does not hurt though and David Pepose delivers an exciting tale filled with drama and action while Jonathan Lau puts down some of the best pencils he has ever done on a book yet. The book moves at quite a fair pace, the action starting right off the hop on the first page and it does not let up until the last. It opens with Jan and Jace along with their father and Blip, under attack and looking to make an escape. Their father does all that he can but he is shot down while pirates look for his research, not realizing that it resides in the monkey called Blip. Now Jan and Jace are on the run, trying to make for a ship out of there and just when it seems like all hope is lost, a very imposing figure makes his presence known and starts taking out the bad guys. Space Ghost makes an entrance and while the kids rightly think he might be just as bad as the previous villains for they have no way of knowing otherwise, he is there to help and manages to save them from Brak and his brother, though not without a little help from the teens. The action is fantastic and if caught, Jan and Jace can expect little mercy from the pirates so it is a good thing that they never are. Interesting to see is that Brak has a brother, though he does not make it to the end of the book. Even more intriguing is the fact that this could lead to some long-term storytelling as it sets up Brak to be a true villain instead of just someone after a bounty. Whether this all pays off remains to be seen but readers can probably be reassured that should this series last a dozen issues or more, Brak will be seen again at some point. Readers will also notice that the seeds have been planted to have Jan and Jace join up with Space Ghost just like they do in the animated cartoon, though whether they play an ongoing part in fighting criminals and the like remains to be seen but given this first issue, they are sure to remain front and center at least for a while. This issue has everything that one could want and Pepose and Lau make sure of it while making it as absolutely captivating as they possibly can. This was both a win for Dynamite and readers everywhere.

Worth It? – Yes