By Francisco Cos – 21st July 2019 – http://www.jornalopcao.com.br

Work launched in 2014, in Brazil, features the art of Brazilian Eduardo Ferigato

I’ve always liked the idea of Lee Falk’s Ghost character. The “walking spirit,” as it is known, operates in the fictional Bengal country of Africa and is apparently immortal. This impression, which causes terror to its enemies, is due to the fact that the mask and the ring are passed from father to son.

The story was created in February 1936 as a daily newspaper strip, and in a colorful Sunday version from May 1939 to 2006 – with Lee Falk, its creator, until 1999, and later with Tony DePaul (screenplay) and Mike Manley (art), Monday through Saturday, and Terry Beatty (Sunday). Other names have passed through the strip between the original author and the current ones, but it is not about these media publications we are going to talk about, but about The Last Ghost – The Journey of the Spirit.

The Last Ghost

The series, originally released by Dynamite Entertainment in 2010 as “The Last Phantom” arrived here by Mythos Books in 2014. In the script, Scot Beatty, featuring Brazilian Eduardo Ferigato’s artwork and beautiful painted covers by Alexa Ross.

“The next Phantom may well be the last! For over twenty generations, Kit Walker’s sons have taken on the weapons and rings of the Walking Spirit to defend defenseless Bengal and the world. For reasons to be revealed, the younger Kit Walker – the last child of his heroic lineage – chose to move away from the Phantom’s self-imposed mission. But as external and internal forces conspire to control Bengal, Kit discovers that he and all his loved ones are now targets. Is being the Phantom an inescapable choice or destination? ”Questions the blurb.

The work, which invigorates the character in captivating form, format 17 x 26 cm, 176 pages and hardcover. There is a sequel entitled “The Law of the Jungle”, but this is for later.

Story

After a charity dinner hosted by the current Kit Walker – which owns a profitable philanthropic institution – in New York, he and the Bengal Prime Minister catch a flight back to Africa. What he had no idea was that his plane would be sabotaged at the same time as the hero’s family was murdered in a village. All this for your friend Peter Quisling.

That was the fuse Kit needed to take on the ghost’s ring, weapons, and mask. But now everything is more technological.

Camouflage is scientific, automatic weapons have all been suited to modern times, but of course villains have the same resources as well. And the fight for survival begins in the jungle, where he and the prime minister survived the crash of the plane (and at this point he only has “walking spirit” training and his briefcase).

With a painting on his body, he faces about half a dozen camouflaged / invisible mercenaries and triumphs with only the other senses. The prime minister is not so lucky.

The businessman’s plan to kill Kit and the prime minister involves giving power and a lifetime presidency to General Jaali Kiboko, but the Phantom’s persistence obviously becomes a complicating factor.

Other points

It is important to say that perhaps the best moments of the plot, which is already interesting, are the flashbacks. Stories of Kit’s training as a child by his father the previous Phantom.

The scenes, which appear during the main narrative, show a little of the Ghost heir’s life and explain why he doesn’t want to follow her – a fate from which, as the comic shows, it’s hard to escape…

This, which seems like a journey of revenge, can simply be a journey. The story depends on the sequence, but it honors the original ghost and can win new fans for the character.

“I was a father, had a son and a beautiful woman… This place, this mission was in front of my true path. I broke the tradition and now… I’m just a ghost. ”

And for those who think that a character from the 1930s has nothing more to offer… “Bengal resists”.

Eduardo Ferigato

Born in Campinas in 1976, Brazilian Eduardo Ferigato is also known for organizing the comic version of the satire Feira da Fruta (parody that republished an episode of the Batman series of the 1960s), the science fiction comic books Quad, and, more recently, by the work Piteco, which is part of the Graphic MSP label, by Maurício de Sousa.

Ferigato has also been awarded the HQ Mix Trophy. He won the Best Independent Author Publishing category in 2017 for HQ Opal 76. His already good trait has changed a lot – and for the better – from “The Last Ghost” here.