Ghost Machine: The Official Handbook #1 // Review
Back in the early 1980s, Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter wanted to publish a comprehensive encyclopedia of information about the Marvel Universe. It was such a big success that DC follow with a similar encyclopedic series which started a few years later. The genius of this was that it allowed all of the disparate ends of a breathtakingly huge universe to be brought into focus in a universal format. This month Ghost Machine does similar work with Ghost Machine: The Official Handbook #1. Writer Geoff Johns and artists Gary Frank and Bryan Hitch work their way through The Unnamed Universe including characters from Redcoat and Geiger.
In the course of history, there have been heroes who have had a profound impact on the direction of human history. Though some of them may be legends or icons from the past, their true contributions to the course of humanity have been muted by the history books. These heroes are The Unnamed. Ghost Machine takes a close look at the deeper journey of prominent figures in this war including Albert Einstein, Benedict Arnold, Dolly Madison, George Washington and a two-headed wolf from the near future. Also included are entries on entities such as the C.S.A. the D.H.S. the Founding Fathers and the The High Plains Zoo
Johns and Frank explore the more prominent characters in Geiger and Redcoat. The information in laid-out in a very straightforward manner that includes much of the basic information delivered in a Marvel Universe entry including relatively concise descriptions of superhuman powers, history, first appearance, height and weight. Age is an interesting bit include in a universe that is so heavily impacted by time travel, but it adds a sense of gravity to the march of history. Though it feels refreshingly comprehensive, it DOES feel like something’s missing...something that seems certain to be rectified in the second issue of the series.
The overall layout is appealingly encyclopedic. It’s much more in line with the uniform black sans-serif-on white of the Marvel Universe than the graphically-inclined logos and somewhat creative design ideas that were explored in DC’s Who’s Who. Though there are a few images in each entry that originate from more of a narrative origin, the dominant images in Frank and Hitch’s work tend to be well-rendered portraiture that suits the encyclopedic feel quite well without resorting to the kind of stagnant, full body portraits that The Marvel Universe tended to use.
Laid-out perfectly in text outlines...it’s interesting to see some of the ideas that Johns is working with. The decision to have a supernatural darkness behind the founding fathers is particularly weird given the fact that they were such dark figures historically to begin with. Modern values tend to be rightly critical of things like extreme wealth, forcing others to die for your cause and owning slaves. Why rely so heavily on the concept of some magical fire to explain away the darkness? It’s a bit strange.
