GHOSTBOX #1 – Is Certainly A Spirited Attempt (REVIEW)
Newly released by Comixology, Ghostbox is a fantasy/horror story by acclaimed writer Mike Carey (Lucifer, The Girl With All The Gifts) and artist/letterer Pablo Raimondi (Sacred Creatures, Books of Doom), with colours by José Villarrubia.
Chloe and Jan Peace are sisters at odds with each other. Jan is successful, organised, and responsible, while Chloe is impulsive and burns the candle at both ends to such a degree she’s consistently unreliable and can’t keep a job. With Chloe facing eviction, she feels like her luck is finally turning when the sisters inherit a small cottage in Cornwall. Hoping to make a quick, but lucrative sale, they instead find themselves in possession of a magical music box inhabited by spirits and hunted by the monsters that want its power.
Though the story has some potential, this didn’t feel like the hook of a first issue. The story takes a lot of time to establish characters and ground the story, but it doesn’t build anything appealing or anything that feels significant or important. Chloe comes off as genuinely insufferably irresponsible, and her sister is barely characterised at all. Beyond a work friend that Chloe sleeps with, there isn’t anyone else introduced as part of their lives. Neither appears to have a social life significant enough to warrant mentioning friends. Their family only consists of their recently deceased uncle, and their parents, who are probably long dead (it isn’t made particularly clear).
They seem to rush their decisions about the cottage and its contents more to hasten the plot rather than anything relating to their lives. Even when Chloe immediately gets a new job, nothing slows down with trying to sell the place. Her sister doesn’t even resist, which contradicts what little was established about her character. Through time-lapses they could have stretched out the timeline, showing them going through the contents of the cottage, and giving more time to flesh out the dynamic between the sisters, and their lives.
Unfortunately, this rushed plot meant there was no climax when the artifact and monsters who wanted it were revealed. There just doesn’t feel like there’s much at stake because there is no real connection with the characters and no depth to their lives.
Maybe this will work with someone who can relate to Chloe and her impatient flightiness, but it left me cold.
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