Let’s talk about comic books. We read, enjoy, collect, trade, re-read, and respect them. Like anything, comic books can be a medium for expressing principles, ideals, hopes, fears, and other big, knee-trembling emotions. There are all the usual suspects that evoke fear and dread. The significant themes are due exploration: war, nuclear annihilation, a disaster of planet-shaking proportions, mayhem, and the witness protection program. There are mutations, mercenaries, and an immortal. There are interior tests of fortitude. There are interactions with others. There is family and all that that entails. There are the Founding Fathers, as you’ve never seen them before. Wait, was that immoral or immortal? Oh, never mind!
Enter the Machine!
The thing is, this is where the Ghost Machine comes in. This is a collective, collaborative, creative universe of writers, artists, letterers, colorists, and other collaborators. It’s what one individual termed a “murderers’ row of creative talent.” Yeah, some might say they’re a team of incredibly skilled, talented, and committed creatives who bring their unique perspectives and expertise to the table, but it wouldn’t sound as cool now, would it? The Merry Creatives are led by Geoff Johns, a fan of the pictorial narrative art form we’re talking about in comic books. He may be recognized as the former DC Chief Creative Officer. Assembled just like a league of heroes, the creators use their powers to serve the cause of truth and justice by working together to inspire a shared universe of plots, themes, characters, and settings called The Unnamed.
The Universe of the Unnamed
The Unnamed is the fantastic merging of stories from the G Machine, including works such as the story of “Devour” in It Happened On Hyde Street, a terrifying tale of Miss Goodbody, a bride, The Dress, and one very twisted legacy; Junkyard Joe, a post-service adventure; Hornsby & Halo, a work of fantasy and speculative fiction–don’t worry–it’s only a comic. Or so you tell yourself in the lonely dark of your room at night. Another way to examine the previously innocuous question is to ask, “And how is your family?”
And then there’s Rook: Exodus, a speculative fantasy journey, not a future roadmap. There’s no need to worry; an overzealous fan probably started those rumors. Speaking of hope, this brings us to the coattails of the tale Redcoat, a historical drama based on the sort of bad boy, bill-dodging, ex-paramour-evading, louche, manqué slacker immortal for hundreds of years after a run-in with a secretive cadre called the Found Fathers–the kind of bro who gives mercenaries a bad name. This leads us to The Rocketfellers, a superhero family saga–if the family in question were in the witness protection program and slunk back to the ghetto of our times. Geiger is a supernatural thriller that will leave readers glowing. Each independent, unique, fascinating work/world is self-sustaining yet merging in a fashion that showcases the G Machine collective’s distinctive style and gifts.
