FIVE

The third arc of Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham’s series continues in “Five Ghosts” #14 as Fabian Gray resumes his search for his missing friend Sebastian, as his quest brings him into contact with more of the undead that he encountered last issue. Barbiere also reveals what’s happened to Sebastian, although the exact circumstance behind it remains a mystery, and steps up the intensity this issue as Fabian fights perhaps his deadliest battle, as well as against one of the five spirits that dwell within him. With over a dozen issues of the series under his belt, Barbiere has learned the best and most dynamic way to tell his story: to put complete faith in his artist and let him cut loose. Mooneyham does exactly that, and as early as the second page, with a dramatic introduction of a character whose identity should be apparent to those who pay close attention to Barbiere’s narrative and Mooneyham’s visual cues. From there, as they have done for every issue to date, Barbiere qui

Picking up where the last volume left off, Fabian Gray is on the hunt — but not for dreamstones. After his friend Sebastian is kidnapped, Fabian alone follows the clues left by the abductor to a small village in Romania, where he finds a town under the thumb of a troubling plague that leaves its victims mindless beasts. Now in its third volume, Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham’s “Five Ghosts” #13 finds itself at home in the horror genre with a fresh take on the monster genre and a delightfully manic new villain. Colorist Affe deserves serious accolades for her gorgeous work in this issue. Right off the bat, she sets the tone with a green color palette; where her previous issues scaled towards soft reds and yellows, this one immediately casts a sickly pale atmosphere on the town and its inhabitants. Although her colors aren’t dark, the mood certainly is, and her washed-out figures, pallid settings, and cheerless lighting are to thank for that. On the other hand, in Fabian’s dream

One of the things I like about Jimmie Robinson’s “Five Weapons” is that it’s dependable. You almost take for granted that every issue is going to have some of the same elements: clues from previous issues revealed to the reader in a different light, likable characters, and a nice twist around the corner. And sure enough, “Five Weapons” #9 doesn’t disappoint, as we are given a reveal on the new storyline’s main villain and head towards a showdown. What’s nice about “Five Weapons” #9 is that it both shows us in full detail the path that up until now we’ve seen bits and pieces of, but also gives us some new information that points to something even further down that road. It’s a good reveal on Robinson’s part; by now, you would have needed to be blind to miss Tyler’s hand in everything that’s happened within “Five Weapons” #6-8. But it would have been almost too simple and too pat to simply call it a day right there. Instead, Robinson adds in a new element, something that will be a sur

Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham’s “Five Ghosts” #10 is another strong installment in this joy of a series. After the frenzy at the end of Issue #9, Issue #10 is more of a status quo setter than an action adventure, but it still delivers with more monsters and more mysteries. This issue shows the creative team’s pulpy, efficient sense of pacing. When Issue #9 concluded, the ship was aflame and pirates were attacking. Issue #10 opens not with a sea battle, not with a shipwreck, but with a crab scuttling along a deserted island. Mooneyham takes his time with these panels, and Affe’s colors give the initial glimpse of the island a muted, quietly tropical feel. One of the strengths of “Five Ghosts” is how selective the creative team is about what appears onscreen and when. The dramatic jumps — from sinking ship to peaceful shore, from peaceful shore to howling jungle — create a sense of anticipation and variety. This story rarely keeps the same pace for more than a few pages, and i

Fabian Gray’s foray across the high seas continues in Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham’s “Five Ghosts” #9. He and his crew find themselves in dangerous waters, and unfortunately that means their swashbuckling exploits give way to a tiresome torture interlude. This series has been at its strongest when it takes overdone action-adventure tropes and adds some new spice, but here it falls flatly into a let’s-have-some-fun-before-you-die scene. Torture scenes like this are dramatic dead space, but at least this one is saved by what surrounds it. Despite this misstep, “Five Ghosts” #9 is full of promise for Issue #10. I’m always fascinated by the elements that “Five Ghosts” brings in, and this issue is no exception. The series seems to exist outside of time. Aside from its anachronistic combination of pirates, samurai and Nazis, Fabian himself seems to be of an eternally indeterminate age. This time around, it’s revealed that he spent an important chunk of his youth alongside Morocca

I was a big fan of Jimmie Robinson’s “Five Weapons” mini-series last year, which introduced Enrique, a young man undercover in a school for assassins who is doing his best to not use any weapons, ever. While “Five Weapons” had a beginning, middle and end, the setup and characters were strong enough that I’d hoped for more — and clearly I wasn’t alone in that respect. “Five Weapons” #6 has Robinson find a way to bring the series back in a logical manner, and sets up the series for a lot of fun down the line. I love the idea of having Enrique (no longer under a false identity) working at the school as a medical assistant — not only because it fits with his non-fighting character, but also because Robinson addresses the fact that Enrique really knows nothing whatsoever about medicine. It would have been easy to just install him in that new role and call it a day, but instead Robinson’s made it a plot point. In many ways, that sums up “Five Weapons” as a whole. Nothing’s ever by chance

Fabian’s adventures have taken him all over the world in search of Dreamstone, bringing him face-to-face with Nazis, ninjas, and now… pirates? In “Five Ghosts” #8, Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham set their swashbuckling storyline sailing with a new, wonderfully diverse crew and dashing action sequences filled with high-flying fun. Although this new exploit features some problematic historical slips, Barbiere and Mooneyham present a delightfully rollicking tale with a few intriguing developments. So far, Barbiere and Mooneyham have proven themselves more than capable of taking cliches and using them in clever ways — a device, in fact, that gives the series a bulk of its pulp-inspired charm. Unfortunately, their use of it in “Five Ghosts’ #8 runs a little thin as they attempt to bring in sword-wielding, parrot-owning pirates who deal their business out of wooden ships… in the mid-1900s. Having already established Nazi-related plot lines, Barbiere and Mooneyham employ a distinctly

“Five Ghosts” #7 by Frank J. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham kicks off a new storyline featuring adventurer Fabian Gray, who still houses the ghostly essences of five classic literary figures that give Gray some pretty useful powers just when he seems to need them. The first chapter of “Lost Coastlines” builds on the events from the previous arc while presenting itself as a welcoming introduction to those just coming aboard, and Barbiere keeps things lively by introducing new characters, new locales and an intriguing new plot that builds upon an already fascinating premise. Barbiere’s idea is attention-grabbing, but Mooneyham is the first of the creative team to seize readers’ attention, initially with his swashbuckling, adventurous cover that’s an attractive homage to the very notion of high-seas exploits, and one that’s just as beautifully yet simply colored by S.M. Vidaurri. He then crafts a wonderfully laid-out introductory nine-panel, three-page sequence whose relevance is puzzling

When Fabian Grey receives a letter from an old friend, he travels across the world to come to her aid, only to find her dilemma more tied to his own than he could have imagined. Frank J. Barbiere’s “Five Ghosts” comes swinging back with more adventures in its sixth issue, seeing a slight change in pace as Garry Brown replaces Chris Mooneyham on art for an issue. In this one-shot story arc, Barbiere expands Fabian’s history and training by introducing two fascinating if underdeveloped characters, while Brown struggles with heavy shading and undetailed figure work. Fabian’s trip implies more about his past than it actually spells out. While this ambiguity is ultimately effective by allowing more room for story development, it does draw away from the plot in its insistence on glossing over necessary details. For instance, the story’s villain goes unnamed for the entirety of the issue, even though her tie to Fabian and his sensei is implicit. Likewise, Hisano’s name isn’t revealed until

Here’s the good news: Jimmie Robinson’s “Five Weapons” #5 provides a satisfying conclusion to this mini-series with an imposter trying to survive in a high school meant for young assassins. Even better, it returns in January as it gets upgraded to an ongoing series. Robinson tackles the situation he used as a cliffhanger, and quickly moves the book towards a conclusion of all the dangling plot lines — and it works. After the middle issues of the opening storyline of “Five Weapons” introduced readers to even more hidden identities and mysteries, Robinson shows how he’s lined up all of the pieces of information to date and brings them together for a satisfying wrap-up. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a certain level of finality in “Five Weapons” #5, with all five of the different clubs finally cooperating with one another even as Vera finally makes her move. It’s an old-school conclusion with Enrique (still posing as Tyler Shainline) having brought them all together inadvertently througho