Review — ‘Space Ghost’ #9 Is An Effective “Part 2 Of 2” For Better And Worse

If last issue read like the penultimate episode of a TV season finale, then Space Ghost #9 continues the trend, reading like the second part of the two-part TV finale that closes out a season. Or, if you prefer, the first episode of the next season that resolves the previous season’s cliffhanger.

Unfortunately, while this issue does its job well enough — resolving that cliffhanger, defeating the villain, restoring the status quo — it also can’t escape the simple fact that the second parts of these kinds of stories are always a bit of a letdown compared to the first. It’s simply more entertaining to see stuff get broken than to see it all put back together. 

Space Ghost #9 opens more or less where #8 left off, with General Metallus laying siege to Cetia-7, the homeworld of the Galactic Federation. But after reports of a minor malfunction in his command ship, Metallus sends a goon to check it out.

This reveals that Metallus, for all his power, has fallen for the classic super-villain blunder: he seemingly killed his foe, but stopped short of making sure there was a body. Because, of course, you can’t kill…a ghost [insert David Caruso putting on his sunglasses.gif]. Meanwhile, Jan and Jace are doing what they can to help the Federation fight back, most of which takes the form of them fighting a big robot spider thingee. 

The Jace/Jan material is actually the stronger part of the issue. Not only is their continued fight in the face of overwhelming odds a great bit of superhero storytelling, but writer David Pepose uses their micro-battle with the spider robot as a vehicle for them to learn a crucial piece of information that allows them to sway the larger macro fight against Metallus. It makes for smart storytelling. 

Less effective is Space Ghost fighting his way back to Metallus. The notion of revealing a hero’s true power by stripping them of their gadgets/support system is a common but effective one. Here though, Space Ghost’s efforts are both too easy and too vague. This is a case where maybe stretching this story out into a third issue would benefit things, as it would give Pepose more room to more gradually unfold Space Ghost’s counterattack — and more room for him to craft a more intricate “final move”. 

At the same time, the Space Ghost counterattack does allow artist Jonathan Lau to cut loose a bit. By hitting some familiar narrative beats, Lau gets to roll out some iconic superhero panel constructions in certain panels. His lines also get a bit looser the closer Space Ghost gets to Metallus, using the haze created by Space Ghost’s actions to justify scratchier, more rendered images heavy with lines.

By the time Space Ghost straps a hunk of metal to his arm and starts beating Metallus with it, the pages look like something out of an early 90s comic. It’s an effective technique to get across the raw fury animating Space Ghost at that point.  

In the end, it’s hard to argue this isn’t an entertaining read and a suitable conclusion to the two-part Metallus tale. Aside from a somewhat rushed and non-specific “fight back” sequence from Space Ghost, it largely succeeds at what it is attempting to do. At the same time, there’s no denying that when it comes to these kinds of two part epic tales — regardless of the medium — the set-ups are almost always more engaging than the payoffs. Space Ghost #9 is a pretty good issue, but it ultimately can’t escape the limitations of its narrative structure.