You gotta love this premise: adventurer Fabian Gray has been possessed by five Literary Ghosts, all of whom want to wreck havoc on his life: The Wizard, The Archer, The Detective, The Samurai and The Vampire. But at the core, this is just a backdrop to Fabian’s real quest, which is to save his sister’s soul.  And he’s doing a pretty shitty job of that so far.

Here’s the word from Image:

A BOLD NEW ERA OF PULP ADVENTURE COMICS BEGINS HERE. After a tragic encounter with an artifact known as “The Dreamstone,” infamous treasure hunter Fabian Gray was possessed by five literary ghosts and has been granted access to their unique abilities.

You’d think that as we near the end of this Indiana-Jones-meets-Old-School-Horror run, Five Ghosts would finally start to wrap things up. So far we’ve had three of issues of great premise, but with very little forward momentum when it comes to the comic’s main agenda. Fabian’s sister Silvia, whose very soul has been imprisoned and who’s supposedly at the center of this drama was only mentioned once last issue — and that was just to remind us that she’s the most important thing in Fabian’s life. Really? Because in issue #4 we only get a brief glimpse of her again. And it’s just a tease.

This is all to say that writer Frank Barbiere seems to keep forgetting that a comic needs more than a great premise, or cool dream sequences, to keep readers engaged.  As a reader I’ve been hungry for answers from this title for a while now, or, at least, short-term resolutions with the introduction of even bigger questions.  But so far Five Ghosts feels an instrument that keeps on playing the same note.

The art is the saving grace of this issue. Chris Mooneyham nails it. Again. His illustrations look both classic, and revamped, which is hard to do and essential for this title.

With very little attention given to the central drama of this story, Five Ghosts #4 has painted itself into a corner. The concluding issue of this series will have to do a lot, and have very little time to do it.

3/5