Casper and the Spectrals #3--at last!

[skjam]

Somehow this managed to come out while I wasn't looking.



Gotta love homage covers.

To recap, since it's been a long time since issue two...Casper the Friendly Ghost, Wendy the Good Little Witch and Hot Stuff live in Spooky Town, an extradimensional space "next to" New York City. Their people practice strict segregation, but the young folks have defied the norms of society to become good friends. Meanwhile, the powerful Volbragg, whose previous tyrannical rule was responsible for the oddities of Spooky Town, was kept captive by a force field fueled by "scares" extracted from humans. But thanks to a series of events including an Earth mad scientist trying to use the Netherworld as a power source, well...





The trio discusses what to do next. Casper believes that Volbragg is just misunderstood and lonely, and they should try offering friendship to the big guy. Wendy believes that Volbragg is far too gone in evil and insanity to be negotiated with. They're unable to come to an agreement, and split up, with poor Hot Stuff stuck in the middle because he's no good at this philosophy stuff.



The older witch, Wistenia, provides Wendy with a package. She explains that he'd taught Volbragg magic because he seemed so lonely and in need of a friend...and so was she.

Meanwhile, Casper is also regretting his harsh words, but is determined to prove his plan of befriending Volbragg will work.




The Earthlings explain that Volbragg's overriding of their device has allowed him to continuously suck electrical power out of New York, leaving it in a blackout, and with the various Spooky Town residents desperately waging a campaign of terror to avoid being zapped. And they can't turn the machine off.

Casper has some success getting through to Volbragg, but the villain's pride and self-pity prevent him from believing that anyone would actually ever be friends with him, and Volbragg's paranoia kicks in when Hot Stuff teleports in.

The trio gets back together to share what they've learned (and apologize off-panel), and with the help of the scientists come up with a plan. But it will take all of their skills and special abilities, working together, if they're to have any chance at all.

And I won't spoil the actual ending, though you surely know enough about the genre to guess most of it.

There's some coloring issues that lessen the effectiveness of the big fight, but otherwise it's pretty good.

I'm sorry to see this end, but at the very delayed rate it came out, there's no way this is a continuing series.



Your thoughts and comments?

Tune in tomorrow, when I post for manga/mahnwa/etc. day!

suggested tags
char: Casper the Friendly Ghost
char: Hot Stuff
char: Wendy the Good Little Witch
creator: Leanne Hannah
creator: Pedro Delgado
creator: Todd Dezago
publisher: Ardden Entertainment
title: Casper and the Spectrals

Comments

[badficwriter]

Hot Stuff is so cute..I'm just partial to devils, I guess. :)

[nezchan]

Of the three of them, his design is the most appealing. Casper is downright creepy, and Wendy is nice enough but generic in a "Hot Topic" sorta way.

As for Volbragg, he's clearly been watching too much Gargoyles for his own good.

[bluefall]

As for Volbragg, he's clearly been watching too much Gargoyles for his own good.

I protest this nonsensical oxymoron! There's no such thing as too much Gargoyles.

[nezchan]

You deserve a prize for using "nonsensical oxymoron" in a sentence.

[silverzeo]

Need to see this for myself when I can...

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, Casper - I know you're a naive little squirt and all, but the old 'wanna be friends?' gambit NEVER WORKS. The best you can do is throw someone off guard - much more likely is that they'll go 'No! I don't wanna be friends! I don't even know you! I've never seen you before in my life, and I have no reason to suspect that you're even someone I want to be casually acquainted with, let alone be friends with! Buzz off!'
Orrrrr, they... might just skip to the end. But that would be what they were IMPLYING.

[skjam]

In all fairness, this is the first time in this continuity he's really tried it.

[psychopathicus_rex]

True enough - doesn't change the fact that it's DUMB, though. Even if the great big scary warlock-thingy DOES secretly just want some friends, you're going to need to be more subtle than THAT.

[nezchan]

Presumably that's how he ended up dead in the first place.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I'd think that was a brilliant idea, except... well, this is Harvey. Harvey comics has WEIRD, and stunningly inconsistent, notions about just what a ghost IS. Two-thirds of the time, they seem to think they're a whole separate species from humanity, or were essentially never 'alive' in the first place, as they've basically always been ghosts and think regular humanity is just plain weird. They have ghosts eating cereal, ghosts taking naps, schools for ghosts, ghosts doing all sorts of completely non-ghostly things. I mean, I know this is a revamp, but still, with that sort of track record, I'd be leery about assigning the little ecto-blob an origin.

[blackruzsa]

The art is awesome, imho

[icon_uk]

So did Hot Stuff appear in Spooky Town after some sort of weird interdimensional incident... which also might explain why he thinks his name should be Eddie and that he has to get back to someone called Megan, or M'Gann or something?

[skjam]

Hot Stuff has parents and an older brother in this version. (In the Harvey Comics material, he was being raised by an aunt or two.)

[aelflar]

Man, New York is a magnet for all kinds of trouble...

[aelflar]

OK.."Spooky Town" is next to NY. Still...nice neighbors!

[skjam]

Back in the first issue, it was established that NYC is the most haunted city in the world because of the whole "Spooky Town" thing.

[aelflar]

Heh. I think that roughly 90% of everything must happen in NYC. For one reason or another (possibly because of Spooky Town)

[halloweenjack]

"Volbragg"? They'd better not be making fun of the Lion of Asgard, is all I'm sayin'.