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Ghost of the Badlands
Arizona Territory, May 1896
Canyon Diablo is a reascendant Gomorrah.
With rail bridge construction halted by hellfire and tragedy, and railroad companies warring with local land owners to complete it, the town becomes an open boil on the Arizona Desert.
Gamblers proliferate. Prostitutes ply their trade. Brigands roam on the roadways, waylaying the innocent for an unknown purpose.
But the bandits are not alone.
Something stirs in the Painted Desert. Someone systematically exterminates coach robbers and murderers. Dealing out a deadly reckoning to all who assail the weak.
Gunfight after gunfight. Coffin after coffin. Legend soon grows of this phantom of the high desert.
A lone pistolier dispensing God's judgment. A one-man vendetta ride, wielding a strange mechanical weapon of the Old World. Baptizing the heathen in hails of gunfire.
Eventually, folk find a name for this masked missionary of death...
The Ghost of the Badlands
Canyon Diablo is a reascendant Gomorrah.
With rail bridge construction halted by hellfire and tragedy, and railroad companies warring with local land owners to complete it, the town becomes an open boil on the Arizona Desert.
Gamblers proliferate. Prostitutes ply their trade. Brigands roam on the roadways, waylaying the innocent for an unknown purpose.
But the bandits are not alone.
Something stirs in the Painted Desert. Someone systematically exterminates coach robbers and murderers. Dealing out a deadly reckoning to all who assail the weak.
Gunfight after gunfight. Coffin after coffin. Legend soon grows of this phantom of the high desert.
A lone pistolier dispensing God's judgment. A one-man vendetta ride, wielding a strange mechanical weapon of the Old World. Baptizing the heathen in hails of gunfire.
Eventually, folk find a name for this masked missionary of death...
The Ghost of the Badlands
110 pages, Paperback
First published April 18, 2024
1 person is currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
RazörFist
3 books48 followersRazörFist was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. He produces several web series, including Film Noirchives, Metal Mythos, and the popular Rageaholic review and commentary series. Prior to that, he studied Political Science at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.
The Long Moonlight is his first published novel, but not his first published work, having previously illustrated short stories in various anthology magazines as a comic artist.
The Long Moonlight is his first published novel, but not his first published work, having previously illustrated short stories in various anthology magazines as a comic artist.
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 20, 2024
A fairly quick read that ends a bit too soon, but this western pulp graphic novel goes hard. Continuations with this story are a must.
The Iron Age cometh.
The Iron Age cometh.
November 24, 2024
Read this practically in one sitting. Huge fan of Razorfist and his YouTube channels, and this is the first of his books I’ve read.
Ghost was such an awesome western that basically has The Shadow as its lead character. Such a brutal, emotionally engaging read that I’d recommend to everyone, even if they aren’t fans of westerns.
And, frankly, I’d say this may be my favorite book I’ve read this year.
God bless Razor.
Ghost was such an awesome western that basically has The Shadow as its lead character. Such a brutal, emotionally engaging read that I’d recommend to everyone, even if they aren’t fans of westerns.
And, frankly, I’d say this may be my favorite book I’ve read this year.
God bless Razor.
March 12, 2025
A decent story with some really solid art, although a bit on the short side.
June 8, 2024
Westerns, as a genre, are purely American. They almost always deal with the base concept of good versus evil. The good ones leave you with a sense of mystery. Remember Who Shot Liberty Valance? We didn’t know until the end what had actually happened. Westerns bring about clashes of culture and the kind of justice that can only be administered with vicious brute force. It is men’s adventure. There’s no wokeness, no forced diversity. Good westerns simply tell incredible stories against the backdrop of one of an untamed frontier where law is driven more by reality than writ.
I enjoy good westerns, and despise bad ones. Naturally, when I saw this graphic novel, I picked it up.
RazörFist managed to avoid the first mistake of writing comics, which is writing too much. He lets the visuals tell the story, with his words merely guiding the reader along. This is tale of a man that makes the right decision at the right time, and becomes drawn into a larger battle between good and evil. The title is misleading in some respects. While the Ghost is omnipresent figure that guides the story, it is more about another character that is drawn into the world of the Ghost; where the coin of the realm is vigilante justice.
There are elements of religious mysticism in the tale as well, along with an almost V (from V for Vendetta) like character that is roaming the Arizona deserts, administering justice via hot lead and an eerie knack for delivering biblical verses that sends chills up your spine with almost pinpoint foreshadowing.
There’s a Shadow-esque slant to the Ghost that makes his time off-screen almost as frightening as when he appears. I have no doubt that was in influence here, making the book all the more better.
The flow of the story is perfect. There is a balance and pacing here that almost feels as if you are watching a movie.
The artwork – stunning. I like the fine lines that George Alexopoulos brings to the table. A lot of this story takes place in darkness and some artists struggle with portraying that. Alexopoulos has mastered it. My favourite image, is one where someone is shot in the forehead and you see the ripples of the impacting bullet. Absolutely vicious and stunning at the same time.
My only critique is a minor nit. There is a scene where a character is drinking and has ice cubes in his glass. This feels out of place, given that ice in the 1800’s was harvested out of frozen lakes and stored for later use. I don’t see that happening in the locale of this story. It had zero impact on the overall tale. Honestly, I almost missed it.
I purchased the black and white edition. I like having my imagination fill in the colours. In fairness, I’m tempted to pick up the colour version simply because I enjoyed it so much.
I enjoy good westerns, and despise bad ones. Naturally, when I saw this graphic novel, I picked it up.
RazörFist managed to avoid the first mistake of writing comics, which is writing too much. He lets the visuals tell the story, with his words merely guiding the reader along. This is tale of a man that makes the right decision at the right time, and becomes drawn into a larger battle between good and evil. The title is misleading in some respects. While the Ghost is omnipresent figure that guides the story, it is more about another character that is drawn into the world of the Ghost; where the coin of the realm is vigilante justice.
There are elements of religious mysticism in the tale as well, along with an almost V (from V for Vendetta) like character that is roaming the Arizona deserts, administering justice via hot lead and an eerie knack for delivering biblical verses that sends chills up your spine with almost pinpoint foreshadowing.
There’s a Shadow-esque slant to the Ghost that makes his time off-screen almost as frightening as when he appears. I have no doubt that was in influence here, making the book all the more better.
The flow of the story is perfect. There is a balance and pacing here that almost feels as if you are watching a movie.
The artwork – stunning. I like the fine lines that George Alexopoulos brings to the table. A lot of this story takes place in darkness and some artists struggle with portraying that. Alexopoulos has mastered it. My favourite image, is one where someone is shot in the forehead and you see the ripples of the impacting bullet. Absolutely vicious and stunning at the same time.
My only critique is a minor nit. There is a scene where a character is drinking and has ice cubes in his glass. This feels out of place, given that ice in the 1800’s was harvested out of frozen lakes and stored for later use. I don’t see that happening in the locale of this story. It had zero impact on the overall tale. Honestly, I almost missed it.
I purchased the black and white edition. I like having my imagination fill in the colours. In fairness, I’m tempted to pick up the colour version simply because I enjoyed it so much.
July 29, 2024
Razor writes a solid story. Prime's artwork does the heavy lifting, but Razor did his job too.
Video review: https://youtu.be/AEfNqFPgSZM?si=Xc8Zo...
Video review: https://youtu.be/AEfNqFPgSZM?si=Xc8Zo...
August 16, 2024
For as bad as this could have been, it came out pretty great.
The premise and execution is very close to the opening stories of Walter B. Gibson's 'The Shadow,' but that works to its strengths. The premise is simple, the characters are solid but lean more toward action than heavy description or poetic dialogue, and that dialogue does exactly what it needs to. Righty's rough-and-tumble speech is a great contrast to the Biblical verses spoken by the Ghost, yet they both add gravitas to the setting and give weight to the events the characters are living through. It doesn't get particularly deep into Righty's desire for redemption or the Ghost's mission, but it's also only the first title in the series.
Where this first title really shines is in the artwork. I got the colored version and George does a fantastic job with shades and shadows and color tints to add terrific atmosphere to each frame. He shows a great grasp of perspective, depth and scene angles to get the most of what he wants to get across, and the details in stance and movement, whether gunfights on horseback or Righty in the saloon, have more weight to them than, say, a set of manga frames. The art really is excellent, and it's on quality paper that captures everything just right. As a product overall, it's worth being excited for.
All in all, this is an excellent start to the story, and I'm interested to see where it goes next. With the right choices and additions, it could be something fantastic.
The premise and execution is very close to the opening stories of Walter B. Gibson's 'The Shadow,' but that works to its strengths. The premise is simple, the characters are solid but lean more toward action than heavy description or poetic dialogue, and that dialogue does exactly what it needs to. Righty's rough-and-tumble speech is a great contrast to the Biblical verses spoken by the Ghost, yet they both add gravitas to the setting and give weight to the events the characters are living through. It doesn't get particularly deep into Righty's desire for redemption or the Ghost's mission, but it's also only the first title in the series.
Where this first title really shines is in the artwork. I got the colored version and George does a fantastic job with shades and shadows and color tints to add terrific atmosphere to each frame. He shows a great grasp of perspective, depth and scene angles to get the most of what he wants to get across, and the details in stance and movement, whether gunfights on horseback or Righty in the saloon, have more weight to them than, say, a set of manga frames. The art really is excellent, and it's on quality paper that captures everything just right. As a product overall, it's worth being excited for.
All in all, this is an excellent start to the story, and I'm interested to see where it goes next. With the right choices and additions, it could be something fantastic.
September 13, 2024
I got the black and white edition and while I normally like color better, this seemed like the more authentic copy (apparently it was originally planned as a B&W comic.) The format is very nice, the artwork is at times, stunning, and the story was very well done. It wraps up maybe a tad too soon for my taste but in hindsight, I think that's because it's very much meant to be the first of many, laying the groundwork for the future. The character design is great and between the writing and the art, you can practically hear their voices as you're reading. As others have pointed out, you could argue that the main character really ends up being someone other than the titular Ghost but that adds to the mystery and the Ghost does get plenty of time. Sometimes you might be tempted to buy a product just to support someone you already follow and that's how I started off here. But the book more than delivered, no matter who the author might be.
May 23, 2024
I'm super happy with this. The artwork is exquisite, the story is full of brutality, mystery, corruption, vengeance/justice, redemption- and makes me want more of this to read. It had everything I wanted from an old western comic and I would highly recommend.
November 29, 2024
An old fashioned Western reinforced with Christian theology, well worth your time.
November 17, 2025
Better than Death Mask and The Long Moonlight. Art was very goofy at points. The right-wing, Christian proselytizing was obnoxious.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews