GFT Retrospective #101: Ghosts In the Myst
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
Will the spatial continuity make any more sense? Will Zenescope be able to write a kickass chick without making her a victim of perceptual misogyny, an emotionally volatile simp, or tragic cuck fodder? Will I see the face of Hopeful Sela in my nightmares? To find out, Stay Tuned because I don't remember in detail what happens next, and please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read so I don't succumb to the ghosts of my past failures, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
Ticketmaster,
Out Of the Swamp.
a.k.a. The Pun-master.
Those who work with me know that I love puns, which playwright John Dennis once called "the lowest form of humor," and which the modern generation refers to as "Dad Jokes." But perhaps more cringeworthy than the pun itself is the teller's subsequent need for someone to "see what I did there," as if the thought behind, and telling of, a pun, is an accomplishment as worthy of witness and documentation as a billionaire's wedding or the approval of a bloated, economically cancerous bill by a bloated, economically cancerous approximation of a human being.
But on a lighter note, did you hear who won the footrace in Bangkok?
It was a Thai (tie)!
SEE WHAT I DID THERE‽ (I am particularly proud of that one, though, so please clap).
I bring up this scathing commentary on what can only be Donald Trump trying to fatigue Congress with a litigious paper burial only because the Big Butt-full of Billshit affects me personally. And I bring up the comedy stylings of Mitch Hedberg and Jay London only because the title of today's issue up for review is a pun on the ethereal nature of spiritual entities (or unseen eldritch horrors in Stephen King stories), and also the title of a recent song by power metal band, Unleash the Archers.
GFT #73: Ghosts In the Myst
Yes, that is a Stjepan Šejić cover you're seeing, and if you've been wondering what's up with all of the elves on the covers in Volume Twelve so far, this issue holds the answer. But first, let's talk about the other covers. Nivangune and Qualano are split up this time, with the former benefitting from Falk's boundary-defying coloring, and Qualano helping enhance Zenescope's "Grimm and Disney, but with pinup girls" aesthetic in Anthony Spay's Free Comic Book Day cover with his vibrant coloring. Rounding out the collection solo is Nei Ruffino with Sela in sexy aviator cosplay for the Mile High Comics retailer exclusive because aviation in Denver, I guess, plus cute animals because Sela got Snow White and Pocahontas powers from Oz. The fanservice exclusives have nothing to do with the story (as is to be expected) and the animals on Ruffino's cover seem like an afterthought, but it's all good work otherwise.
The interior work by Allan Otero (The Piper One-Shot) and his two colorists (including the previously maligned Ramon Ignacio Bunge) is reminiscent of early Zenescope issues, strong on detail, and expressive to the point of ugliness (which I mostly mean as a good thing).
What isn't a good thing is how confusing the paneling and establishment text have gotten since last week's issue. And because someone has to try making sense in this world (not that I'm a paragon of coherence most of the time in real life, but at least I try), let's go in logical order instead of according to what annoys me most.
So, remember how I said in The Winter Witch review that there was a mysterious blonde watching Sela in the bar? And remember how I said at the end of my Curse Of the Winter Witch review that the bar was probably an illusion and the bartender and blonde were Corruption and the Innocent (two of the five cosmic concepts from the Epilogue Realm who were introduced in The Dream Eater Saga) in disguise? Well, the paneling kind of made it look that way, but it turns out that the mystery blonde was a new character, after all.
As Sela reenacts that one scene from The Neverending Story (journeying through a cursed swamp on horseback), we are at last introduced to Elden (though I think she has a different name in later issues?), an elven warrior sent into exile by the Council because her entire character is a mashup of Tinkerbellle and Tiger Lily, and Malec is hot, manipulative, and has magical plot armor in his pants.
In the midst of Sela and Elden battling the titular spectres of their past failures (where the coloring becomes flat and sickly, which I don't like except that it fits the context of this portion of the issue really well), featuring cameos by doppelgangers of Shang (kill it with fire!), Erik, and the Dark One, things cut away to something I didn't expect would happen so quickly, but I totally called it.
The "Elsewhere in Limbo" text box makes an unwelcome return (again, suggesting wrongly that Sela's journey and Elden's flashback are set in Limbo and that all events are happening concurrently when we know the opposite is true), directing us into a conversation between Baba Yaga and the Goblin Queen. Surprise! They plan on joining forces to betray Venus and take the crown (which the Goblin Queen has proprietary knowledge of) for themselves! Me could have seen that coming‽ I mean, who could have seen that coming‽
Anyway, elsewhere and not in Limbo, Sela figures out what the title is because "my Erik" (whom we've barely seen her spend any time with) "would never say something like that!" She and Elden manage to defeat the awesome-looking guardians of the swamp with the power of Heather Langenkamp and Macaulay Culkin (and maybe Sela terrifying the wraiths into submission with whatever this monstrosity of a facial expression is),
and our new duo make their way to the Tomb Of Death (which sounds equal parts redundant and metal AF) to put an end to the Winter Witch in the next issue.
Ticketmaster,
Out Of the Swamp.
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