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REVIEW: Neon Ghost
4.00/5.0 Stars
Rating if the Book Were a Movie: R
Creative Team
Writer: Nigel Lynch
Art: Juan Carlos Francisco
Colors: Matheus Huve
Letters: Pete Moss
Cover: Juan Carlos Francisco, Michael Watson
Editor: James Powell
Publisher: Wise Acre Comics, Beyond Publishing Caribbean
Ratings
Story: 4.3 Quills
Interior Artwork: 4.2 Quills
Cover Artwork: 4.2 Quills
Dialogue: 3.9 Quills
Mechanics: 3.6 Quills
Editing: 3.8 Quills
About the Book:
Neon Ghost is the origin story of the character Gazala “Gaz” Cruz. This story is a prequel story to the book The Stray Dogs: The Wounded 2. Going into detail about the character and how she became the person that she is at the time of The Stray Dogs: The Wounded 2.
Reviewer’s Notes:
This is a story about a specific character from the book The Stray Dogs: The Wounded 2. That said, if you picked up this book without reading that one first, you really are missing out on something truly special, this entire series is top notch. The story itself is set on the character Gazala “Gaz” Cruz and how she became the person she is, the trials and tribulations that defined her, molded her and defined her.
Going from the innocent little girl to the very not innocent young woman that is part of the greater universe established in the aforementioned book. Life has a way of changing people for the good and the bad, and while the changes are entirely individual based and choice dependent sometimes the choices presented to an individual are choices that have no good outcome or ending.
I think that this story does a wonderful job of addressing that directly for this individual character and while there is still no clear outcome of how this character will end up the story does a very good job of making the reader relate to the character and understand that what was presented were not really good choices to begin with despite how they might have been presented. But only time will tell if this character comes out of the situation as a good person or a bad person, and only the individual reader can make that determination based on their personal view of the story. Regardless of how the story unfolds I look forward to more.
The cover art is very well done showing a basic color background with the character in an attack position and highlighting the characters that helped shape who she became in the silhouette of her frame. While the initial image does not make sense, once you read the story it makes perfect sense. Because I mentioned the past of the individual and the choices made by said individual are what define a person and whether the creators behind this comic intended that direction or not, that is how I am looking at it based on my understanding of this book.
The interior pages themselves can also be seen as artwork. The colors are vibrant and stand out where they need to, and are subtle when they do not. The futuristic appearance matches the other books across the board highlighting the high’s and low’s of the individual environment and what the character is going through as the story continues, bringing an understanding of the character that defines the temperament and actions of how she functions.
Overall the entire book is a wonderful addition to the ongoing series, the character depth that is portrayed brings new life into an otherwise quieter character that is in the aforementioned book. I look forward to more stories from this universe, the immersiveness of the writing and the visual representation that follows makes this an easy title to enjoy.
I hope you enjoyed this escapade into the archives. If you like this review, support the creators of this story. Thanks for reading!
