Invincible #105
Written by Robert Kirkman
Penciled by Ryan Ottley
Inked by Cliff Rathburn
Colored by John Rauch
Lettered by Rus Wooton
Covers by Ryan Ottley & John Rauch
Image Comics
Release Date: September 4, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

Invincible #105 starts out in the middle of the action. Rex, manning the control center for the Guardians of the Globe orbiting space base, is shouting into his headset, commanding drones. While down on Earth, Invincible is casually chatting on the phone while stopping a bank robbery. All the while, on the Moon, Thragg is sentenced to exile.

Kirkman’s writing in this particular issue is great, flows well, and is easy to understand, even without having read previous issues. Dealing with the issues of lost power and adjusting to change, the focus of this issue is more on the characters trying to deal with their fears and feelings of being overwhelmed.

Ghosted #2
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Goran Sudzuka
Colored by Miroslav Mrva
Lettered by Rus Wooten
Covers by Sean Phillips
Image Comics
Release Date: August 14, 2013
Cover Price: $2.99

In several pre-release interviews, Joshua Williamson described Ghosted, his six-issue miniseries for Image Comics/Skybound, as “Oceans’ 11 in a haunted house instead of a casino.” As intriguing as that idea sounds, the first two issues haven’t delivered much on that promise. Typical for the first issue in a new series or miniseries, issue #1 was all set-up, introducing the lead character, Jackson T. Winters, a convicted felon serving a ten-year stretch, who’s broken out of an unnamed prison by Marcus Schrecken, an elderly eccentric with very specific tastes and an ample bank account to satiate those tastes. Schrecken collects paranormal objects and wants Winters to capture and bring back a ghost from a haunted house, actually a mansion.

That mansion, once owned by the long-gone Trask family, wasn’t only the site for a few mysterious deaths, but the site of brutal, vicious murders by various members of the Trask family. They used their wealth and power to evade the legal implications of hunting and murdering whatever stray homeless people crossed their paths. Schrecken believes the mansion offers the best chance at capturing a ghost. Williamson sidesteps what, if anything, Schrecken plans on doing with the ghost, but as anyone familiar with haunted house stories, specifically influences like The Haunting, The House on Haunted Hill, and The Legend of Hell House (the first and third well-regarded novels before making the jump to the big screen to equally well-regarded adaptations), will guess, Schrecken’s (probably) up to no good.

Fear Agent #31
Out of Step Part 4 (of 5)
Written by Rick Remender
Pencils by Mike Hawthorne, Tony Moore
Finishes by John Lucas
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Letters by Rus Wooten
Cover by Tony Moore
Dark Horse Comics
Released October 5th, 2011
Price: $3.50

Fear Agent has always been a series that I think would appeal to a lot of Geeks of Doom readers who maybe don’t read comics. It doesn’t deal with any of the standard superhero tropes of other comics, instead focusing on sci-fi action with smart writing and excellent art. Fear Agent has been chugging along for a few years, and is coming to an end next issue (at least for a while), so it is amazing to see that Fear Agent #31, part four of the Out of Step mini-series, is the best issue of the series so far.