Dynamite Entertainment's ongoing Space Ghost title has been one of the surprise superhero hits of the last few years, building a mythos around the mysterious sci-fi hero who dates back to the '60s that has drawn in critics and fans alike.
Now, writer David Pepose, artist Jonathan Lau, colorist Andrew Dalhouse, and letter Taylor Esposito are sticking together to launch a new volume of Space Ghost which Pepose describes as "season two" of the ongoing saga.
Newsarama spoke with Pepose just as the new Space Ghost #1 hit shelves on August 13 to look back at the first volume and how it sets the stage for what's next, digging into the new villains, new big bad, and new supporting characters that will join the title.
Along the way we've also got an early look at some brand new covers for the upcoming Space Ghost #5 by Francesco Mattina and Michael Cho, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at some uncolored pages from the just-released Space Ghost #1.
Newsarama: David, this is the second volume of Space Ghost. Do you see this new volume as a kind of Year Two situation?
David Pepose: Yeah, definitely. This is very much a season two. When I was first approached by Dynamite to write Space Ghost, our runway was for a year, and I managed to negotiate that to be 12 issues and an annual. But around, I'd say, around issue 10 with our Space Spectre issue, Dynamite asked me if I had any more stories I wanted to tell.
So us relaunching with our new number one, it very much is meant to really delineate a new storyline. As you saw in that annual, we threw a couple of grenades in the room by the end of it, both introducing Tempus, the Time Master, as sort of our new big bad of the series, but also introducing Dr. Henry Contra, who is Jan and Jason's maternal grandfather, and sort of this idea of if joining up with Space Ghost, if becoming sidekicks to a superhero, is this sort of escapist wish, escapist fantasy, what happens when the grown ups come to take you home and suddenly that fantasy goes away?
It's increasingly rare these days that a creator gets a long run on a superhero title, especially across multiple volumes. What's it been like having that opportunity, and how are you carrying that into the rest of your work?
Space Ghost was my first long term assignment. I think by virtue of having that long runway and being able to sort of structure that first year around the Council of Doom, it really was an enormous learning experience for me in terms of doing these done-in-one adventures or done-in-two adventures.
I kind of rolled the dice on this idea that readers get invested by endings, and so by being able to rack up more and more adventures over a shorter time frame, I was hoping that readers would feel more and more invested with Space Ghost and Jan and Jace.
That seems to have really paid off. Everything I hear, you know, from various corners of the industry, whether it's readers, whether it's retailers, whether it's press, they like these long runs. They like the idea of consistency. They like the idea of knowing that each month they're going to be able to check in on their favorite books.
Looking back on the first volume of Space Ghost, what are you most proud of, and what do you wish you had done a little differently that you're bringing forward now?
You know, I'm really proud of how Space Ghost came together. That first year is almost beat for beat, exactly what I pitched in that outline. I think I made a couple of minor revisions along the way. I love the character beats, particularly with Jan and Jace. I love our first issue. I love our two-parter with Zorak, and the follow up with Moltar might be one of my favorites. Our Blip issue I still have a lot of affection for and, of course, our Space Spectre issue. I think that might be my favorite of the first year.
I think as far as things that I might have done differently, honestly, I'm so thrilled with how it all came together. There's always little bits and pieces in the execution where your ambition might have exceeded your grasp a little bit, but I think that's just always part of the ongoing evolution of being a writer. But I think beyond just sort of like the little individual granular nips and tucks, I don't think there's anything I would have changed about this book whatsoever.
You mentioned the villains that you're bringing into this volume of Space Ghost. In the first volume, the formation of the Council of Doom was the central plot. What's your throughline for the villains in this volume?
I think having a villain like Tempus the Time Master, it really kind of allows us to blow up the sense of scale and stakes. Robo Corp, and Ultima, and the Council of Doom, they were looking to take over the universe. But somebody like Tempus, his goal is to rewrite history as we know it. And so that's been kind of a through line that we're sort of sneaking through this second volume. It's the idea of the past and the future coming to haunt us. You'll see that is kind of a touchstone for every single villain.
So, you know, characters like Dr. Henry Contra, who eagle eyed viewers of the original Space Ghost series will know as the Anti-Matter man, I consider him one of the biggest villains of our second year. Then there are villains like Eclipse Woman who we'll be seeing next month in our second issue.
Or people like Tarko the Terrible, who's a cryogenically frozen barbarian who wakes up in this futuristic world. I just finished writing our two-parter with King Remora and Emperor Glasstor, who are two sort of royal villains from the original Space Ghost run and the Space Stars revival. He's got such a deep, stacked bench of really cool villains, right up there with Spider-Man or Batman.
I want to talk about Jonathan Lau. You're working with the same art team in the new volume of Space Ghost. What's it been like developing that working relationship going into the second year of the title?
Jonathan Lau is just such a superstar. Like you said, it's so rare to have an artist who's able to stay with the book month in and month out in the way that he has. He draws like a damn Terminator. He draws very, very fast and doesn't sacrifice any quality to do that. He really is a unicorn in a lot of ways.
And he plays so nicely with our colorist, Andrew Dalhouse. They've worked together in the past, but this is really, I think, a new high bar for the two of them. And our letterer Taylor Esposito, who fits everything together in such a nice way. And so, yeah, it's nice to have that familiarity.
It's nice to know I can trust that if Jonathan calls an audible and says, "Hey, I'm going to do this," I know it's in service of the greater story. I know that there are ways that I can then lean into that. And he's done such a great job interpreting Alex Toth's designs, the Jack Kirby of the animation world.
I think working with somebody like Jonathan, working with people like Andrew and Taylor, yeah, we're a well-oiled machine at this point, and so that gives us a lot of different avenues to really take risks and try something big with this.
Last time we talked when you were launching Space Ghost volume one, you described the vibe as being like Batman in the Star Wars universe, which wound up being such an apt description. What do you see as the big themes and the mission statement of volume two?
I think the core inspirations are still there in terms of Space Ghost being a sort of Batman figure who is operating in a sci-fi Star Wars kind of universe. But I think it's all about escalation. It's all about increasing the scale. It's all about increasing the threats. Robo Corp and the Council of Doom have been defeated, but it's still a dangerous universe out there, with a lot of villainy operating in the shadows between stars.
Space Ghost, no matter how powerful he is, no matter how what allies that he's brought together, there are forces bigger than him, and through his defeat of Robo Corp and Ultima, he's drawn their attention. He's going to be fighting futuristic killers and cryogenically frozen barbarians and femme fatale energy thieves, and pair of kingdoms locked in interstellar war, and a satellite filled with ravenous space vampires, just to name a few.
So yeah, the future is gonna be a dangerous place for Space Ghost, but it's gonna be very exciting to see him and Jan and Jace really rise to the occasion.
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you want to say about Space Ghost volume two?
I think being able to relaunch a book like this... you can't do this on your own. I think we've had just a real surge of people, whether they are readers, whether they are retailers, whether they are press, whether they are fellow creators, everybody has really come together to support this book.
I really do feel like we're the little indie that could. But I think none of this happens in a vacuum. And I think just seeing how many people have come to champion us, to champion this book, that have pushed for us to continue this series, I'm incredibly grateful for this.
Now that readers know these characters and know this world, and can trust me and artist Jonathan Lau to tell these stories, we've been really able to put pedal to the metal and do some really, I think, cool and interesting stuff. I feel honored to be able to with these toys and show the world why he's the greatest superhero that you haven't heard of yet.
Check out our picks for the 25 best comic book supervillains of all time.
