Comic Review: Ghoster (The Gallowing Part 1)

Ghoster (The Gallowing Part 1)

Oct 1, 2019

Writers: Thom Burgess, Toby Meakins

Art: Joe Becci 

45 pages

Genre: horror graphic novella

A young man attempts to survive The Gallowing, the deadly initiation into the secret Guild of Ghosters, five families of  Malevolent hunters that have protected Britain from evil spirits for centuries. To complete his mission and join the ranks of his ancestors he must hunt down a Malevolent in the most haunted house in London or die trying.

Acclaimed comic writer Thom Burgess (Malevolents, The Eyrie) and award-winning filmmaker Toby Meakins (Breathe,  Floor 9.5) have teamed up to create GHOSTER - A dark, supernatural world with a rich hidden history that spans centuries and reaches across continents. A world where the malevolent spirits that feed on the pain, suffering and death of humans are only kept at bay by an almost extinct band of malevolent hunters, who literally become ghosts to hunt ghosts. 

Part 1 The Gallowing is illustrated by Joe Becci, who’s unique style and use of shadow have set the tone for a sinister and exciting ride into the world of Ghoster.

You can also follow the world of Ghoster and its creators on their Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages. 

Read for FREE

http://www.ghosterworld.com/

"Once upon a time or so it's said, a Ghoster came to hunt the dead."

I was scrolling through twitter when I ran across the image above and this quote. AND it was going to be released online for free! Yeah, I was all over this.

The comic opens with a scene from a horror movie. Eyeballs, why'd it have to be eyeballs?! *shudder* There are two young men preparing for an initiation into The Guild of Ghosters, a secret society of ghost hunters. They've kept Brittian safe from Malevolents (ghosts) for centuries. Ghosters have the ability to enter the tenebrate--a netherworld between the dead and the living--and kill Malevolents. Things go horribly wrong...of course!

The writers have created an interesting urban fantasy and the Gallowing Part 1 gives us a look into this macabre world. There are a few mysteries shown, and a possible conspiracy--we are talking about a centries old secret organization. 

The artwork is what makes this story shine. When Ghosters go into the tenebrate they essentially become spirits with a steampunk look unique to their family line.

See the guy watching them in the last panel? Yeah, mystery and conspiracy! I loved the way the artist uses color and shadow to differentiate between the tenebrate and the living world. The overall tone is haunting and dark in both worlds.  

This is a great start to ghostly urban fantasy I'm ready to experience. Forty-five pages seem like a lot but the story/action moves quickly and it's over too soon. At the end of the comic, there is a glossary of terms.

I don't know how much of this series will be free, but you can download Part 1 for free on their website.

4.5 "Got something in my eye" Sheep

SharonS 

http://www.ghosterworld.com/

Book Review: Voices From Beyond (A Ghost Finders Novel) by Simon R Green

Voices from Beyond (Ghost Finders #5)
by Simon R. GreenPaperback, 304 pages
August 26th 2014 by Ace

Meet the operatives of the Carnacki Institute—JC Chance: the team leader, brave, charming, and almost unbearably arrogant; Melody Chambers: the science geek who keeps the antisupernatural equipment running; and Happy Jack Palmer: the terminally gloomy telepath. Their mission: Do Something About Ghosts. Lay them to rest, send them packing, or just kick their nasty ectoplasmic arses…

In a quiet London suburb, four university students participating in an experiment inside a reputed haunted house hold a séance that goes terribly wrong. What—or who—ever they summoned has taken their minds away, leaving them empty shells.

Enter the Ghost Finders, ready to confront an enraged poltergeist for the students’ very souls.

All in a day’s work—except the team doesn’t know that in another part of the city, a different entity has also breached the threshold between worlds. And this time what is at stake is not four lives—but the very existence of all humanity.

JC Chance the team leader, Melody Chambers the computer science geek and Happy Jack Palmer the telepath who is not really happy, call themselves the Ghost Finders. The Ghost Finders work for the Carmacki Institute which deals with the paranormal. Their mission is to take down the bad ghosts, the ones that cause all sorts of trouble. When the Ghost Finders arrived at their next mission they found four University students sitting around a coffee table who apparently were in a middle of a séance gone bad. Upon further examination the Ghost Finders realize the students to have lost their minds...literally. Their bodies were empty soulless shells. To save the student's souls they had to go into the alternative world, the same world that took the students souls, to bring them back. Little did they know that this was the start to something bigger much bigger.

The world building was very creative, I felt a part of it. I think Melody the computer science geek, always fiddling with her equipment, was my favorite. I loved the idea of the students using the Ouija board. What better way to open the doors to the other side, right. It definitely took me back to my early teenage years with my friends sitting around a Ouija board waiting for something to happen. We eventually got bored of it. I kind of felt the same way with the book. It was very well written and the characters were likable but it did lose my interest at some points. Not that the book was predictable. It was far from it in fact, but it lacked that punch you get when you can’t wait to turn to the next page. The scared/happy/

unsure emotions mixed into one; anticipation of what you are going to find next. As for Romance it was there, the characters had relationships but I would not use the word “Romance” but you could see them building throughout.

All in all it is a good light read, if you can call bad ghosts that take away your soul light.

3.5 Soulless Sheep

TammyK

About the Author:

website-FB-twitter

British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.

His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.