 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2018) |
| Ghostopolis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Date | July 1, 2010 |
| Page count | 272 pages |
| Publisher | GRAPHIX |
| Creative team | |
| Writers | Doug TenNapel |
| Artists | Doug TenNapel |
| Pencillers | Doug TenNapel |
| Colourists | Ethan Nicolle |
Ghostopolis is a graphic novel, written and penciled by Doug TenNapel, colored by Ethan Nicolle and published by GRAPHIX, a Scholastic Inc. imprint.
The story revolves around two main characters: Garth Hale, a young teenage boy, and Frank Gallows, a middle-aged agent of the Supernatural Immigration Task Force, a government partition dedicated to locating ghosts amiss in the physical world and transporting them back to the afterlife (here known as the title Ghostopolis).
Garth is suffering from an unidentified "incurable disease". It is mentioned that the relationship between Garth's mother and deceased grandfather was strained, Garth's mother referring to him as a "drunk".
Frank uses devices known as "plasmacuffs" to apprehend wayward ghosts. On a routine call to remove a Nightmare (a skeletal horse of the afterlife), Frank accidentally ports Garth to Ghostopolis along with the spectre.
In Ghostopolis, Garth unintentionally tames and befriends the Nightmare, nicknaming him "Skinny" due to the horse's incorporeal appearance. Before long, the hostile nature of Ghostopolis is revealed by local fauna that attacks Garth and Skinny. Narrowly escaping an attack by several Velociraptor skeletons, Garth determines that his best course of action is to venture into the main city.
Meanwhile, Frank is fired from his position on the Task Force for his grievous mistake and instead enlists his ghost ex-fiancée, Claire Voyant, to assist him in traveling to Ghostopolis and retrieving Garth.
Dazed and confused by the netherworld around him, Garth eventually happens upon his own grandfather, Cecil. Cecil is younger than Garth in appearance. As explained by Cecil, "There's no physics-based time here in the afterlife ... we get put back to our internal age. It gives us a chance to take care of unfinished business." It is mentioned that an argument about earrings was the source of friction between Cecil and Garth's mother, though he now looks down on it as petty. As Garth's time in Ghostopolis extends, and the closer Cecil comes to reconciling for his transgressions against his daughter (Garth's mother), the "older" Cecil becomes.
Along the way, Cecil explains to Garth the origins of Ghostopolis itself.
It was all built by one man ... a mysterious Tuskegee airman named Joe. He made every mountain you see, laying one chunk of sand at a time. He stacked every brick in Ghostopolis so that ghosts would have a place to live. Some say that it took him six days to build everything. Others say that it took him a billion years ... It's hard to say how long it took since time is all jumbled up in Ghostopolis.
— Cecil Hale, Ghostopolis, pp. 83-85
Now, however, a malevolent character named Vaugner currently rules over Ghostopolis and its inhabitants. Cecil insists that Garth's best bet for getting back home is to find Joe. It becomes clear, however, that Vaugner and his henchmen wish to capture Garth due to his anomalous status in Ghostopolis. Garth has also displayed numerous supernatural powers when in the realm of the afterlife, piquing Vaugner's interest.
In the city center of Ghostopolis, Vaugner addresses the masses alongside the lords of Ghostopolis's various divisions. The Specter King from the South, The Will-o-the-Wisp Queen, the Mummy Pharaoh, the Duke of Goblin, the Bone King, the Zombie Lord, and the King of Boogeymen all hold territory and command citizens in Ghostopolis, although ultimately under Vaugner's reign. When Garth and Cecil arrive at the city center, Cecil recounts the tale of how Vaugner came to be ruler of Ghostopolis.
... The provinces were manipulated into war with one another by Vaugner. He played one side against the other, weakening each kingdom along the way ... Then Vaugner came and presented himself as a great peacemaker. He promised them unity. Under Vaugner's one state of Ghostopolis, of course. Everything was fine ... until he started conjuring up insects from the underworld to do his bidding. Now Ghostopolis is a dump full of crime and bugs. All good ghosts dream of escaping to Earth.
— Cecil Hale, Ghostopolis, pp. 118-121
In the city, Frank and Claire meet up with Garth and Cecil. When they are ambushed by Vaugner's henchmen, Cecil is accidentally sent back to the physical world mid-skirmish, simultaneously expending Frank and Claire's ride back home. The remaining trio is secured by the Bone King, who, as it turns out, is in league with Joe himself. Unbeknownst to Vaugner, Joe is trafficking people from the corrupt Ghostopolis to a more perfect afterlife through a crack in the very wall of Ghostopolis. Garth attempts to leave through the crack, but is told by Joe that it will take Garth "home, but not to Earth".
Having exhausted what they thought to be their last option, Garth, Frank and Claire are escorted by the Bone King to the Firefly power plant, Ghostopolis's main source of energy, in hopes of recharging the set of plasmacuffs that initially transported Garth and Skinny to Ghostopolis. Recharging them would provide enough power to reverse the effect and send the trio back to Earth.
Vaugner ambushes the group and the Firefly is destroyed, yet again extinguishing hopes of returning to Earth. Suddenly, a Supernatural Immigration Task Force extraction team from Earth appears and attempts to collect Garth. Vaugner returns, apparently unharmed, and sends the team's ship back to Earth without Frank, Garth, and Claire. Frank's boss is also left stranded in Ghostopolis.
It is revealed that Vaugner (now known as Dean Vaugner) survived the explosion because he is actually human, accidentally ported to Ghostopolis by Frank's boss, Lieutenant Brock, about 20 years ago, much in the same manner as was Garth by Frank. The situation becomes Vaugner's vengeance scheme, and he and Garth soon break into combat. In the midst of battle, Frank is killed assisting Garth in Vaugner's defeat.
After Vaugner's overthrow, Claire is unanimously elected Lord of the Afterlife. Frank appears, having died and passed to Ghostopolis, and rekindles his relationship with Claire.
In the midst of the celebration, Garth meets his anachronistically-aged son — this is attributed to the numerous time inconsistencies in the realm of Ghostopolis. This also implies (and is also explicitly stated by Garth's son) that Garth's "incurable disease" is, in fact, curable at some point in the near Earthly future. Garth's son informs him that all he must do to return to Earth is imagine that he can do so. Returning home with Frank's stranded boss in tote, Garth is reunited with his mother.
The graphic novel ends with Cecil, now an aged ghost in the physical realm, flying into the nighttime sky, having apparently made peace with his daughter.
The book was published in both paperback ( ISBN 0545210283) and hardback format ( ISBN 0545210275).
In 2009 a film adaptation was announced, with Hugh Jackman attached to star and produce under his own company Seed Productions, with both the Gotham Group and Disney. [1]
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms. The deliberate attempt to contact the spirit of a deceased person is known as necromancy, or in spiritism as a séance. Other terms associated with it are apparition, haunt, haint, phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter, spirit, spook, wraith, demon, and ghoul.
Dormammu is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #126. He is the extra and inter-dimensional demonic entity and deity brother of Umar and the uncle of superheroine Clea who rules over the Dark Dimension. The character has endured as a recurring antagonist of the superhero Doctor Strange.
Mephisto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Silver Surfer #3, and was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema and based on Mephistopheles: a demon character from the Faust legend, who has sometimes been referred to as Mephisto. Introduced as a recurring adversary of the Silver Surfer and Ghost Rider, Mephisto has also endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent adversaries, being responsible for Norman and Harry Osborn's respective transformations into the Green Goblin and Kindred; and for the superhero's loss of his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, considering their future daughter Spider-Girl his archenemy. Mephisto has often come into conflict with Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Scarlet Witch and other heroes of the Marvel Universe, being responsible both for the creation of the Cosmic Ghost Rider and the descents of Phil Coulson and Otto Octavius into villainy.
Blackheart is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an adversary to the superhero Ghost Rider. Created by writer Ann Nocenti and artist John Romita Jr., Blackheart first appeared in Daredevil #270.
Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Raymond Stantz, PhD, is a fictional character from the Ghostbusters franchise. He appears in the films Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Casper, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024), the animated television series The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, and the video games Beeline's Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters: The Video Game (2009), Planet Coaster (2019), Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022) and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (2024). He was portrayed by Dan Aykroyd in five live action films, and voiced by Frank Welker in the animated series. He is a member of the Ghostbusters and one of the three Columbia University professors of parapsychology, along with Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Egon Spengler.
Ghosts Can't Do It is a 1989 romantic fantasy comedy film, the last film written and directed by John Derek, and starring Bo Derek and Anthony Quinn, with Julie Newmar and Leo Damian in supporting roles.
The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper is an American animated television spin-off series and a sequel of the feature film Casper, which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character of Casper the Friendly Ghost.
The Scream Team is a 2002 American comedy horror television film directed by Stuart Gillard from a story by Robert Short and Dan Berendsen, who also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Mark Rendall, Kat Dennings, Robert Bockstael, Eric Idle, Tommy Davidson, and Kathy Najimy and premiered on October 4, 2002, on Disney Channel as part of the network's series of original movies.
Phantom Investigators is an American children's animated television show that aired on Kids' WB in 2002, premiering on May 25 and ending on August 17 for 13 episodes. It was created using a special mixture of stop-motion, puppetry, and live-action. The show was created by Stephen Holman, known for his work on Joe Normal for MTV's Liquid Television and Life with Loopy for Nickelodeon's KaBlam! which ran during all the duration.
The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is a novel by James Patterson and co-author Michael Ledwidge, written in the same vein as his Maximum Ride series. Patterson returns to the realm of science fiction in this novel. It was released on July 21, 2008.
Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King is a 2008 American animated comedy horror musical film, and the twelfth in the series of Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It was dedicated to Paulette Oates, who helped resurrect Warner Bros. Animation in the late 1980s. The DVD was released on September 23, 2008. This is the first Scooby cartoon produced entirely without either one of the original producers, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.
The Cockeyed Miracle is a 1946 American fantasy film directed by S. Sylvan Simon and starring Frank Morgan, Keenan Wynn, and Cecil Kellaway. The film was based on the play But Not Goodbye by George Seaton. The film is about a ghost who, with the help of his father, stops his best friend from leaving his family penniless.
Chinese folklore features a rich variety of ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural creatures. According to traditional beliefs a ghost is the spirit form of a person who has died. Ghosts are typically malevolent and will cause harm to the living if provoked. Many Chinese folk beliefs about ghosts have been adopted into the mythologies and folklore of neighboring East Asian cultures, notably Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Beliefs about ghosts are closely associated with Chinese ancestor worship, where much have been incorporated into Buddhism and in turn influenced and created uniquely Chinese Buddhist beliefs about the supernatural.
Laufey is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted usually as an enemy of the Asgardian king Odin, father of Thor. He is the King of the Frost Giants, the biological father of Thor's adopted brother and archenemy, Loki. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, he first appeared in Journey into Mystery #112, and was based on the goddess of the same name who in Norse mythology was actually the mother of Loki.
Spiritual Love, also known as Ghost Bride or The Phantom Bride is a 1987 Hong Kong fantasy comedy film directed by David Lai and Taylor Wong and starring Chow Yun-fat, Cherie Chung, Pauline Wong and Deanie Ip.
Roberto "Robbie" Reyes is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the fifth Marvel character to use the name Ghost Rider, after Carter Slade, Johnny Blaze, Danny Ketch and Alejandra Jones.
Cosmic Ghost Rider is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. His physical appearance and origin are an amalgam of Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Silver Surfer, with his personality inspired by Deadpool.
