AWESOME-tober-fest 2017: Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray (2013)
Today I’m going to talk about a comic book called 5 Ghosts. It was first published by Image in 2013. It’s written by Frank J Barbiere and drawn by Chris Mooneyham.
The premise is pretty interesting. Fabian Gray is an adventurer and master thief. After an accident, he was infused with an artifact called The Dreamstone. It allows him access to the abilities of five ghosts; the archer, the wizard, the detective, the samurai and the vampire. However these abilities have a cost. In not only his body, but his mind. Plus, the accident also robbed him of his sister who he’s determined to find and bring back from wherever she is. All while being chased by a shadowy group of supernaturals.
That’s a pretty great premise. And it mostly lives up to that premise. The art is fantastic. It’s drawn like an old book or pulp novel.
There’s lots of action. Lots of flashbacks. You don’t get much of Fabian’s backstory and when you do it isn’t until midway through the book. But there’s some good, snappy dialogue and great action. I like how the ghost abilities work and that the actual process of using the abilities seems to cause Fabian a lot of problems. However, I do wish they had filled in more backstory. Like, a fuller version of the story of how Fabian ended up with the Dreamstone embedded in his chest. And maybe even more background on the ghosts that inhabit Fabian. But, conversely, I also like that the exclusion of these stories allows the reader to fill some of that story in themselves. But I also assume these story aspects will probably be told at some point.
It all boils down to this, I guess, this comic is definitely worth a read if you’ve been considering it at all. Fun adventure, supernatural elements, cool throwback style art. There’s something for everyone.
Also, check out the blog Countdown to Halloween for more Halloween-y, bloggy AWESOMEness.
Cavalcade of Awesome 
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