The Good
Jackson deals with old friend Oliver King. Oliver and Agent Creed have a new mission for Jackson, find out why there's so many hauntings happening. All of this connects back to one of Jackson's closest friends.
GHOSTED does something few other comic book series do: it forces the reader to go through earlier issues to take another look at how those events played out. Fans won't do this because they've forgotten about what's happened. They'll do it because writer Joshua Williamson leaves clues, in each issue, that connect back to previous moments in the series. Everything is done with a purpose and there's no filler scenes. This book is plotted out incredibly well, better than most titles.This may sound grandiose, but it's the Breaking Bad of comics.
There's a lot going on in this issue and mentioning a lot of it will spoil it, so we'll try to dance around specifics. The person Jackson is now hunting for someone who may or may not be connected to these strings of hauntings, is connected to someone who was close to Jackson. This is exciting for fans of the series and it introduces a pretty cool new character to the series. Again, don't want to spoil anything.
In this issue, a new concept is thrown at the reader which deals with a side story in the issue. A woman is stalked by a man who dies, and that man is now haunting her. At first, it's a pretty cool concept. Later, however, it's revealed that this guy had a "death wish," which, from my understanding, with the help of a character connected to the supernatural, allows people who die to haunt others. Conceptually, it's genius and a great driving force for this story.
Artistically, the book is solid. It's sad not to see Sudzuka's name on the cover, but Davide Gianfelice has a style that's very in tune with the tone of the book. At certain times, he hits suspenseful moments out of the park and he really knows how to fill a scene with elements that don't distract from the story.
The Bad
Trick isn't returning as a ghost, according to the letter section. My heart is broken.
While this is a brand new arc, it's still not very reader friendly. So much of what is going on here connects to the first arc. If you're interested in this series, do yourself a favor and buy the trades.
The Verdict
GHOSTED #12 is easily one of the best month-to-month reads from any company. This book is incredibly engaging and compelling. Williamson really knows what he is doing here and the attention to detail is wonderful. Storywise, this issue has some concepts that already have me hooked. The past two issues of this series have been unbelievably good, and this is a series you need to be reading.