Review: ‘Adventureman Ghost Lights’ #1 Does Not Fully Light The Way
by Benjamin Hall
Summary
When classic heroism returns so do classic villains. Can the current versions of Adventureman and the Crossdraw Kid (Claire and Chris) stop the villains return before they get too far? Or will the world face a turning point? Also what about the heroes’ respective families?
Overall
6.5/10Writer Matt Fraction does fine with most of the dialogue and plot. His use of exposition is another strong point in this issue. A particular thing that makes the exposition work well is how it fills in details that continue narrative elements from Adventureman #1 (2020). However, the opening page relies too much on one reading, and remembering, Adventureman #9 (2022). Also the cliffhanger for this issue falls a little short of sounding dramatic.
Artist/colorist Terry Dodson and artist Rachel Dodson provide the visuals for the interiors and cover A. The color palette for the interiors is wider ranging than that for cover A. However, the hues on cover A arguably enhance the art in a way that shows it off better. This is not to say that the Dodsons do poorly on the interiors just that their high quality work looks less solid inside than out. On the not debatable plus side of things one can see that Rachel Dodson is still excellent and confident with inking. Finally Terry Dodson only has a few bits of minimalism that could see improvement.
Cover B is a creation of artist Joshua “Sway” Swaby. The hues are absolutely beautiful in selection and application. In particular the browns and blacks create almost physical feeling to the horse. While the design is overall high quality there are a few lines that seem to have no obvious purpose and lower the quality just a bit. Also the white stars seem like an odd aesthetic choice to this reviewer, but they do somewhat balance the palette out. Speaking of elements that work well together the colors and design work well with the trade dress.
Letterer Clayton Cowles does an amazing job with placement. Notably this is cause of having to deal with certain odd page layouts by Terry Dodson, specifically one introducing some characters.
The credits page is the work of designer Leonardo Olea. With the exception of a few new visual elements it does not differ in style from the previous versions of this page.
Adventureman Ghost Lights #1 is out now from Image Comics.
