Ghost Projekt, Vol. 1

by Joe Harris, Steve Rolston (Artist)

Russia is often remembered from the shadow cast during the Cold War-era when every stranger was a spy. But now that the Cold War is long over, some things left behind from that era may not stay lost. An abandoned Soviet research facility somewhere in Siberia has been home to a strange and dangerous weapon that is now in the hands of thieves claiming it for their own. U.S. weapons inspector Will Haley has been assigned to find out what dangers the weapon poses, and with the help of Russian agent Anya Romanova they will find the answers... but it will be far from easy.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fiction, Adult, Science Fiction, Comic Book

136 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

JOE HARRIS is the co-creator and writer of original comics and graphic novels such as the Image Comics rock ‘n’ roll thrill ride, Rockstars, and the environmental sci-fi epics, Great Pacific and Snowfall; along with the supernatural thrillers, Ghost Projekt and Spontaneous, and the children’s fantasy, Wars In Toyland, for Oni Press. In 2013, Joe began a long stint writing the officially-licensed continuation of the paranormal investigations of Agents Mulder and Scully in The X-Files comics at IDW to the enjoyment of fans around the world. The X-Files: Cold Cases—the best-selling audio dramatization of Joe’s comics scripts featuring the voices of David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson and the entire original X-Files cast—and the follow-up, The X-Files: Stolen Lives were released by Audible beginning in 2017.

As a young creator at Marvel Comics, Joe launched the cult-classic Spider-Man spinoff, Slingers and the Bishop: The Last X-Man series. He has written for just about all major comics publishers including DC Comics, Marvel, Image, IDW, Dark Horse, Valiant, BOOM! and others.

A horror screenwriter and filmmaker, Harris conceived and co-wrote Darkness Falls for Sony Pictures—after his short film, Tooth Fairy was acquired by Revolution Studios and he was hired to develop it into a feature—along with the politically farcical slasher movie, The Tripper for FOX. In 2018, he co-wrote the live-action web series, Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe for Valiant Entertainment.

His latest project is Surviving Nuclear Attack, a paranoid sci-fi thriller, set to launch in 2019 as part of John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction from Storm King Comics.

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of SPCtYPDKED!*

Small press comics have some things going for them. They aren't bound to decades of title history. They don't have exact schedules that they absolutely have to keep. And they can attempt storylines that won't make it into Spider-Man any time ever. Most importantly in my view, if they have a small story to tell, they can just tell it and be done. There are lots of 4-comic series out there because that's what the story was, so they told it and stopped. That's when things go well.

Other times a series just dies without being completed due to those same freedoms. The reason they can do much of the above is because they don't have a zillion people expecting the next issue of Iron Man from them. So my latest foray into the world of small press comics is, as always, fraught with uncertainty. If you see an interesting work from ten years ago, you can't just start reading it. You either need to go lookup if this run actually finished or just prep yourself for a story stopping in the middle.

Anyway, Ghost Projekt falls into the first camp, where the writer had a five-issue story to tell and told it. Done.

This story follows an American chemical weapons inspector working with some Russians to track down something stolen from the long defunct Dosvedanya Project. Of course, that was decades ago and no one actually knows what they were creating, so no one knows what they're looking for. The art is fine, not great. The writing is pretty good, though the random sprinkling in Russian words was odd, and the overall story was interesting. Anything earth-shattering here? No. But it's a good time. Unlike a lot of small press comics, it actually wraps up well. And there is at least one ghost. Perhaps not something you should specifically hunt down, but if you see it at your library (I'd be stunned, first of all), give it a read.

3.5 stars

*edit* - Here on GR, this says "Vol. 1". As far as I can tell, there is no Vol 2. There were five issues, one story arc, and they are all in this HC. Just FYI.



* Small Press Comics that You Probably Didn't Know Existed Day

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

So during the Cold War, Russia was cooking up all types of crazy for weapons. Since the Cold War never turned into actual weapons war, these crazy creations never got put to use. Years later, some kids are exploring the old facility where everything went down looking for stuff of value they could sell. But unfortunately, they unleashed something they had no business messing with. This was a cool concept that I found was not executed that well. To me it came across kind of bland. Not creepy or suspenseful enough. Not enough cool mystery. The art was really clean tho. Book looked really good and it had a cool glow in the dark cover.

[Wandering Librarians · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will Haley, an American weapons inspector and Anya Romanova, a Russian detective are called in to examine an abandon Siberian research facility where something, possibly a weapon of mass destruction, has been stolen. After the weapon disappears, people who once worked on the project during the Cold War start turning up dead. There's nothing to show how they died, aside from a strange red rash. Will and Anya must figure out what's going on as fast as they can, and what was really happening behind the Dosvidanya Projekt.


This was a bit dark, and definitely for an older, more mature audience. The weapon that is unleashed goes around killing lots of people, which are graphically depicted. There's also disturbing images because of what happened to a little girl named Natalia. I found that more upsetting then the people dying.


This is the first in the series, and it mostly felt like a set-up for the rest of the series. It gets the story moving, but not a whole lot happens in terms of plot, and I'm still not totally clear what exactly Natalia is, and how it seems she can both kill and heal people. I'm interested to see where this goes though.


I would recommend this for grade 11 and up.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... different. A buddy cop movie between an American viral field investigator and a Russian police woman trying to track down missing canisters with a mysterious load in them. Throw in Ancient Tartars, mysterious ghost children and a tour-director cat and you get a dense story with some intense action and mystery, but it left me cold. Sometimes literally - the art captures brutal winters of Russia with a chilly perfection as it deals with corruption, legacies, and cultural clashes. The art is effective and the story works well enough, but I never felt particularly invested in it, especially as it gets into weirder territory. The characters have their moments but aren't particularly unique or memorable. The ending is a little underwhelming, mainly as it leaves open space for a sequel that doesn't appear to have happened (and really doesn't need to). It's not a bad story but there's nothing here that would lead me to recommend it over any number of other books.

[Garrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well illustrated drama about Cold War consequences and personal betrayal. Good characters, nice moral ambiguity. I liked this. And the covers glow in the dark.

[Ashkin Ayub · Rating 3 out of 5]

২০১৬ সালের প্রথম বই শুরু।

ওয়ার্ল্ড ওয়ারের পর রাশিয়ার প্রত্যন্ত অঞ্চলে অনেক বায়োকেমিক্যাল অস্ত্র তৈরির কারখানা খুঁজে পাওয়া যেগুলো একেবারে অফ দ্য রেকর্ড ছিলো। সরকারের খুব উচ্চতর পর্যায়ের লোক ছাড়া কেউ এইসব কারখানা সম্পর্কে জানত না। হুট করে এই ধরনের একটা ল্যাবরেটরি আবিস্কার হয়। আমেরিকান বিশেষজ্ঞ। একটু প্যারানরমাল ঘটনার অবতরন। কমিক্সের জগতে এই ধরণের গল্প কিন্তু নতুন না। তবে স্বীকার করতে হবে নতুনত্ব আছে। আসলে নতুনত্ব বা আকর্ষণের জায়গাটা হচ্ছে সুপারন্যাচারাল আর পোস্ট-কোল্ড ওয়ারের সংমিশ্রণ। গুড স্টোরিলাইন। ডার্ক মোমেন্টস। রেট্রো কালারিং। এক বৈঠকে পড়ার মত বই।

হরর বা সুপারন্যাচারাল ব্যাপারটা ঠিক সেভাবে জমে নাই যেভাবে আশা করেছিলাম। স্পুকি আর্ট বা গোর আর্ট হিসাবে এই কমিক্সটা একেবারে জিরো। আর্টওয়ার্ক অনেক মিনিম্যাল, লাইট। সোজা কোথায় বলতে গেলে খুবই সাধারণ।

হ্যাপি রিডিং

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of an X-Files style book that takes place mainly in Russia as a research team looks into the Cold War super soldier program with the usual results. All hell breaks loose and it is an enjoyable ride. I read this almost in one sitting. Recommended

[Eddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the art a lot, and there were some good story ideas, but this was ultimately disappointing.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the cartoony artwork fool you into thinking this story is funny or goofy. The subject is focused on the repercussions of an unethical research project into the paranormal. Many characters are killed both in the past when the research facility was closed off and in the present when the former researchers start turning up dead.

A set of potentially dangerous containers is stolen from a closed-off Russian facility. One of the original researchers is suspected after his colleagues turn up dead with strange markings on their skin. Anya Romanova of the Russian police and Will Haley of the US department of defense are sent to investigate the matter. They mistrust one another like their countries normally do, but they will be surprisingly effective in uncovering this mystery and preventing the research from getting into the wrong hands.

The weapons project was named Dosvidanya and it had some gruesome psychological tests perfomed on its subject. She was a young girl named Natalia who was designed to control the spirit of a Tartar warrior who was the weapon developed in Dosvidanya using science and the paranormal. Konstantin, a skilled hypnotist, controlled the project, but the escaped spirit of Natalia exacted revenge on him and his former coleagues.

[Josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really, I give this ★★★½, but don't want to round it up and just give it 4. This was enjoyable and entertaining, but, for me, the "ghostly" aspects of it were a little ineffectual; they just never came off as very spooky, and seemed employ probably the wrong kind of ambiguity that's appropriate for spooky storytelling. Regardless, it's pretty well-tailored, and had a good mood and overall feel to the visual narration and cultural details. Last "but": the art didn't lend itself to the story. It seemed a bit too light, or clean, or something that basically made the spookiness seem watered-down, or juvenile, despite the mature dialogue, which makes me feel it's almost aimed at youth-ish age groups, but cuts itself off from the younger groups simply because there's an... "odd"... moment when the lead female is "acceptably" nude (read: carefully covered, but basically necked). I don't regret this book at all—I do like it—it just made me feel like giving a more honest review instead of the "hands-down, too-awesome-to-give-it-less-than-★★★★★ because it's a new favorite" type of review. This book is simply "good," and I would read "Volume 2," (at a very discounted rate to be worth my time and money) even though I don't believe this will ever make a series. Last thing, the glow-in-the-dark cover was a very nice touch.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story-wise, this was pretty good for a supernatural thriller-type story. I wouldn't say that the story was entirely new, but it set out what it intended to do and I don't recall it dragging on that much. I never really thought of the supernatual and the post-Cold War era going together, so I applaud Joe Harris for attempting that. Furthermore, the story moved along at a generally decent pace, which suited the plot and mood of the story. It did have its dark moments, yes, but the mood was well-balanced because of the gallows humor moments between Will Haley and his buddy.

In terms of the art, since Steve Rolston has a cartoony style, I felt that Dean Trippe's color scheme, for the most part, complemented Rolston's style. Usually I don't make a big deal out of colors, but I'm doing so in this instance because the almost, should I say, pastel look was an aspect that I found to be aesthetically pleasing. I'd have to look over the book's bonus material again to know for sure how Trippe went about coloring and what kind of medium he used, but it seems like the word "pastel" was mentioned, so I may not be far off. The only real gripe I have with Ghost Projekt is that the cliffhanger ending would've worked better if there was news of a sequel.

[Bert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fantasy combined with sci-fi plus post-Cold War Russia makes for an interesting combination that unfortunately never rises beyond the plot-levels of an okayish TV-movie.

The mystery at the core of this book is not that hard to figure out (the title spoils it, too) and I was actually a bit dismayed at the relationship between two of the characters, but I guess there is a reason for it (it is part of the plot).

Not bad, but also not that great. The ending hints at the potential for further developments, but I gather this collection of the first five issues is all there is.

(Please note that I read the individual issues, not the HC Trade Collection.)

[Samantha Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read this book in a single sitting. It was a page turner that definitely gave me chills, and was very fast paced. I was a little confused by the background information, but granted I was also reading it late at night. I am definitely going to reread this book in about a week to catch bak up on the background. Definitely recommend. It is one of my first graphic novel reads. Looking forward to reading much more in the graphic novel category.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Steve Rolston`s art; would have enjoyed this more if the cover + title didn`t spoil the core reveal.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rolston's art was great. The binding and the glow-in-the-dark cover were clever. The story itself was a great idea, but plotted in a manner that proved to be entirely lacking in suspense.

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty cool. The cover glows in the dark--freaked me out after I turned the light off! Anyway, it'll be interesting to see where the story goes after the massive cliffhanger at the end of this one.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha! The cover glows in the dark!

[Mandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not enough to make me want to read the next one.