There’s a reason for the monkey. It took decades before David Pepose and Jonathan Lau figured it out. But that’s not important at the start of Space Ghost #1. Blip is there hiding with Jan and Jace as their father’s lab gets attacked by space pirates. The work being done on Space Colony Omicron may be valuable to the galaxy, and Dr. Keplar did not count on law enforcement corruption.
Then again, those pirates didn’t count on Space Ghost.
Though the urge to fill in backstory on Space Ghost must have been strong, Pepose and Lau ignore it. After all, the series that introduced Space Ghost to the world already had his cast in place — Jan, Jace, and Blip riding along with him in his Phantom Cruiser. The creative team doesn’t waste time in building out that cast. If this first arc from Dynamite is an origin story, it’s the origin of a family forming.
And it’s the right instinct. We shouldn’t learn more about Space Ghost than Jan and Jace know. At least, not yet. Because at this point, they’d definitely blab. If you pay attention, Jace tells us exactly why they have a monkey. Unfortunately, he also tells a couple of pirates. In turn, those pirates make way for one of Space Ghost’s classic villains, dynamically re-imagined by Lau.
Almost just like those Saturday morning cartoons, we’re in the midst of action at a breakneck pace. Though Pepose and Lau have obviously gone more serious than Hanna-Barbera did, it’s still fun. A little scary, but fun. Since we barely know anything yet about the characters, it just means there’s so much more to build. I am on board for the construction.
