Tokyo Ghost #9 Review

Writer: Rick Remender / Artist: Sean Murphy / Image Comics It’s official, y’all. Tokyo Ghost has elevated from an exciting, ambitious sci-fi thriller to an absolute revelation. Rick Remender makes it look easy toggling between state-of-the-art action rollercoaster and sardonic parable about the dangers of techno-addiction. The Black Science writer assured us two issues that would turn things up and so far, he has kept his word and then some.

Issue #9 picks up with Davey Trauma enjoying a victory lap after #8’s brutal ending when Debbie returns for a rematch the likes of which nobody will see coming. There’s a couple of transitional moments that feel a little rushed in the service of getting right down to the big climax, but the story is tight enough that this can be overlooked. This issue also takes a brief but insightful look at Davey and gives us a pretty good idea of what makes him tick as a villain. The action beats here are ridiculously stunning, well paced and could not have been executed with such success if it hadn’t been for Sean Murphy being at the absolute top of his game. His love for gorgeous splash pages serves him well here. The attention to detail and insanely epic scale he works on makes this one of the best looking books on the shelves. Bottom Line: This book is quickly becoming the most fun series on the shelves that nobody is talking about. Remender has raised the stakes consistently every issue for the past few installments and shows no sign of stopping….