Elisa Cameron worked as a reporter until her murder. But she returned as Ghost, who phases at will while packing an automatic. Remembering nothing of her life as Elisa, Ghost tries to piece together her past and even reconnects with her younger sister, Margo. But too often clues turn to ash, an enemy who has known her since childhood emerges, and the secrets to Elisa’s past turn out to lead a more twisted path than a reporter on a dangerous story.
I originally started reading the Ghost comic series when it came out. At the time I was reading Wizard and I believe they had an interview with the writer. When I saw the Ghost omnibus was available through my library, I happily devoured the entire series, and the collected reboot. Much as I love comics, in general I prefer to buy the graphic novel of a collected story arc or series. There are plenty of series I was following that I lost track of with life (and wallet) changes.
Elisa is a character who kicks butt and also has a heart. I think the second series does more to emphasize her need to do the right thing, no matter the cost. Margo, her little sister who appears to be bon Vivant drowning her vulnerabilities in bad choices ultimately turns out to be more powerful than Elisa. The character also has a lot of legitimate anger—when the series reveals how she was used it is easy to see why Elisa goes for the automatic. Reading It again as an adult, I can’t help but wonder how much of her actions is a trauma response. She reacts to her past by refusing to let another woman be victimized, even when she doesn’t remember precisely what happened.
The original series was basically headed in one direction toward revealing Elisa’s past—then totally veered off into a completely different direction that contradicted the first. At the time I was originally reading I didn’t know the term retcon. I will state for the record retcons have only been successful a handful of times. In the Ghost series, I preferred the original direction the story was going and was angry that the retcon destroyed all the carefully laid character development and breadcrumbs. A part of my disappointment was Elisa was turned from a murdered reporter who came back with powers to a secret agent part of an experimental program that gave her powers that wreaked havoc with the ability she already had. I think because the story line that ultimately happened was one that has been seen (maybe not with these exact details.) “Superpowers as the result of shady government experiments” is a trope I think its hard to pull off and seem fresh.
When I saw retcons in comics, it always frustrated me. I suspect the real life reason is change of creative team, but I feel disappointed whenever a new writer decides to destroy what is already laid down rather than build upon it. Taking in a new direction is fine, but the retcon completely contradicted what happened before.
The revelation about Peter—a lonely widow Elisa befriends by chance—being a secret agent disappointed me. From a craft perspective, I didn’t buy it. Once again, I preferred the relationship that was developed before the revelation. But the fact the series ends with Elisa ultimately not dating anyone felt complete. Elisa is never defined by anyone else. She may be too quick to violence in some situations, but she guards her heart of gold with a loaded automatic. Which is good comics and good stories.