Night of the Ghoul #2

Night of the Ghoul #2

ComiXology Originals/Best Jackett Press 2021

Written by Scott Snyder

Illustrated by Franco Francavilla

Lettered by Andworld Design

In the film Night of the Ghoul, it’s 1918 and our nation is rejoicing as soldiers return from the battlegrounds of the Great War. But what if something has come back with them? In the real world, a father and son discover the blurred line between fiction and reality.

Ooh child this issue is better than the first one. The opening is creepy as all get out and it does a brilliant job in getting us ready for and back into the swing of things. If you are anything like me you read a lot of books each week (because yes so many are worth reading) and this opening just hits you and we’re back in horror mode. Also now that Kurt and Johnny are back home it’ll be interesting to see how Kurt goes about life now especially with his son being around. Now I’m going to give a little spoiler here but Johnny sticks around and If I didn’t know better it’s like Alex has two dads. Still, that Scott is able to navigate between the then and the now so effortlessly and then to tie them together in such a way that feels so much larger than what’s on the surface is really something special.

I’m a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter keeps their personalities moving vividly and seemingly alive. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more of it I want to see.

I’m really very impressed with the way that we see this being structured. Not to mention how we see the layers within the story continuing to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m liking how we see the layers opening up new avenues to be explored and how the correlation between the film and real life is tied so closely together. How all this adds so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story is extremely nice to see. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

The interiors here are pretty brilliant. Seeing Mr. Merrit’s face throughout the book and how hideously deformed it is now next to Forest, Orson’s father, is striking. We see some great use of backgrounds throughout, though I'd love to see more, and how they enhance and expand the moments. They also work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts, those burned film cels for instance, and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such a masterful eye for storytelling. The pops of colour that we see within the gray scale is beautifully done. The light sources show how that changes the mood, tone and feel of the book.

​

The further we get into this the creepier it becomes and it’s just building up exactly like it should be and I’m more than terribly excited for the next issue already. With what each character is going through, something alone would be terrifying but happening simultaneously so that help isn't on the way is downright horrific. Scott’ writing is damn near brilliant and the characterisation is flawless and Francavilla captures our hearts and fears beautifully.