Broken Frontier

Thanks to a darker edge having emerged within the television show, IDW tackles the Jennifer Love Hewitt hit series armed with regular show-scripter Becca Smith.

Much like the recent IDW Doctor Who series, penned by longtime Who  producer/editor/writer Gary Russell, IDW’s The Ghost Whisperer is scripted  by show regular Becca Smith, alongside her writing partner Carrie Smith.  What they produce then is a comic that’s likely in line with the current trends of the show’s most recent season, a book about a girl who can see and talk to ghosts, now tinted with a slightly occult and horror-laced edge.  Melinda Gordon encounters the ghost of a vengeful high school girl while inside a local café, a spirit with an unhealthy fixation on three still-living girls.  Melinda soon discovers that the ghost believes itself to be empowered by the Egyptian god Osiris, and therefore unstoppable.  And she plans a murderous revenge.  But Melinda knows such pantheistic gods don’t actually exist…do they?

Being a comic, The Ghost Whisperer #1 gets to kick-start some things the TV show wouldn’t have the budget to manage, like towering dark gods and the special effects they accrue.  The story still sticks to the show’s guns, nothing too overt or horrific, nothing action-oriented.  The story is largely a parable, about kindness to others, the unforeseen consequences of actions, and the value of revenge, though while the supernatural elements are heavy, they never really move the story into high-thrills territory.  Becca and Carrie Smith have chosen a clever ongoing thread for the comic—that of a possible dark god having descended and taken note of Melinda—but this is no Supernatural.  Don’t expect demons and monstrosities and the undead to be unleashed.

Ghost Whisperer keeps things light, in tone if not in theme, and should prove a marvelous all-ages read, but for the more hardcore amongst us it may be a bit of a let down, at least in the frills department.  The characters are generally flat, though purposefully so, more cliché than complete personalities.  Again, this tends to fit the show’s flavor, having adults that banter like teenagers and ghost-story adventures that are confronted like everyday teen melodrama.  The dialogue is well handled and the pacing keeps things chugging alone, if occasionally awkward and too sudden in its transitions.

Hot off her one-shot solo debut in Star Trek Alien Spotlight: Orions, Elena Casagrande handles the art with colorist Matteo Gherardi.  In compliment to the story, Casagrande’s art is dynamic, and leans toward the hyper-realized, a providential pairing with the Smiths’ low-key script.  It doesn’t help breathe any kind of reality into the characters, but Casagrande’s work does give it a sense of much-needed urgency.  Her layouts are intuitive, her figures expressive: all around a very good choice, a strong book visually.

The Ghost Whisperer, the television show, is not my cup o’ joe, and neither ultimately is the comic, but the comic does remain faithful to the intent of the show, and the one ongoing element I did very much dig (Osiris! Is he real?) is a damn good one.  The Smiths will hopefully offer up a bit more character to the main character in future issues, and not assume everyone reading the comic will require or even desire nothing from them in that corner, but outside of this, there’s little to dislike.  A quality comic, but so far only for the fans.