DC’s Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun #1 – Ellen Tremiti, Kenny Porter, Michael W. Conrad, Christopher Sean/Laneya, Gregory Burnham, Alex Galer, Adam F. Goldberg/Hans Rodinoff, John Arcudi, Writers; Tyler Crook, Riley Rossmo, Christopher Mitten, Dexter Soy, Javier Rodriguez, Fabio Veras, Danny Earl, Shawn McManus, Artists; Ivan Plascencia, Veronica Gandini, John, Patricio Delpeche, Dave Stewart, Colorists
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: This year’s Halloween anthology brings us eight new tales of terror. How do they stack up against past years’ installments?
“A Look to Die For” by Ellen Tremiti and Tyler Crook puts Renee Montoya in the middle of a disturbing Fashion Week mystery. When a ton of beef sides crashes down on a group of models, the first suspects are radical vegans—but as she digs deeper into the mystery and finds the horrifying secret of the survivors, it becomes clear that the actual villains have far bigger plans. The star attraction here is the fabulously creepy art by indie sensation Crook.
“The Shadow Over Coast City” by Kenny Porter and Riley Rossmo teams Green Lantern with Jason Blood for a story that finds Coast City under attack by monstrous, shape-shifting alien menaces. The two heroes don’t initially get along, with Etrigan quickly making himself known. This isn’t really a Halloween story—just a fun tale of two mismatched DC heroes taking on a massive threat, with very different tactics. Rossmo’s art is perfectly suited to the monsters.
Michael Conrad and Christopher Mitten return to the world of Animal Man in “This Day, Anything Goes,” with a tale focusing on Maxine. Conrad is the only writer who seems to want to address the death of Maxine’s older brother, and this story focuses on Maxine as she prepares to go out on Halloween and protect some smaller kids from bullies—as well as make a new friend. All the while, Buddy is keeping watch—not all that stealthily. It’s great to see this snapshot of the Baker family, as we’ve only seen them as supporting players in Flash recently.
Christopher Sean and Laneya team up with Dexter Soy on “The Dark Bite,” a Nightwing tale that finds a Bludhaven resident attacked and showing up with a strange bite on his neck. The mystery of who—or what—attacked him pulls in Jason Todd, who has a full supply of supernatural tools to help identify the monster. This is an action-packed story, but it doesn’t feel self-contained—it ends with a lot of unanswered questions.
“The Spoils,” by Greg Burnham and Javier Rodriguez, is a gorgeous Superman tale that finds the Man of Steel investigating a supposedly haunted prison with a dark secret. This is a classic Halloween ghost story, with a truly loathsome villain and a tragic phantom seeking either absolution or release. The moodiness here is through the roof, with shades of a Stephen King tale in places. I’m not familiar with Burnham, but he’s excellent, and Rodriguez is one of the best artists working today.
“Not Fade Away” by Alex Galer and Fabio Veras, turns the spotlight on Robotman of the Doom Patrol. This story starts as a tale of Robotman memorializing his own death—which he survived—at an odd themed party. But when he returns home, things take a dark turn as he’s haunted by all the Doom Patrol members who died and didn’t come back. This is obviously written by a creative team with a deep knowledge and love of the property, and it has every bit the strangeness you’d expect from a tale like this.
“Happy Hal (Lobo) Ween” by Rodinoff, Goldberg, and Earls turns the focus on the DCU’s most dysfunctional father-daughter duo, Lobo and Crush. In characteristic Lobo style, he introduces himself back into her life by blowing open her door, threatening her girlfriend, and seeking her help for… the perfect Halloween costume for a party at the House of Mystery. In the end, Crush gets her revenge on her father and she and Katie get to reunite, but Lobo is just so utterly vile that it sort of undermines the broadly comic tone of the story.
The final story, “Man-Bat: Out of the Shadows” by John Arcudi and Shawn McManus, is probably the most well-suited Halloween installment, focusing on an older woman obsessed with Batman. She’s out looking for him once again when she encounters a very different kind of Bat-man. Except the fearsome Man-Bat isn’t out to prey on her—he’s trying to track down a very different Halloween monster. This is a fast-paced story with creepy visuals, but a surprisingly upbeat ending focusing on the difference one citizen can make in Gotham.
Overall, a few misfires, but a fun and spooky Halloween anthology with some gems.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
