Ghost #12 has Elisa confronting those responsible for Tommy’s death while trying not to lose herself in the process. It opens up with Elisa recounting the time when she and Tommy were hunting for ghosts in a cemetery as part of a recording for his show. Despite being a ghost herself, Elisa isn’t buying into Tommy’s belief that ghosts have been seen and recorded in the area. It’s the fact that she isn’t actually dead so the belief in an afterlife is something different to her. But Tommy does believe that there is more after death, and his search isn’t just to find ghosts haunting a cemetery but for hope for life. So Elisa is reflecting on this time to try to find comfort after Tommy’s death, and in order to control her rage the hope that there’s more after death is all she has. Well, she also has targets and the first one is the mayor, who was directly involved in the trap set for Elisa. But instead of taking out everyone in her way she just passes through them  while leaving them a message to remember that she didn’t hurt them. And the message isn’t just for them but her attempt to do things differently, to remember that Tommy wouldn’t want her to just kill aimlessly. However, she’s not so kind to the mayor as she destroys the office almost phasing her and her assistant into the floor until they give up the name of the other who helped them. His name is Mr. Park and he has powers too. Can Elisa contend with the mysterious Mr. Park or is this confrontation all part of his plan?

Last issue was a tipping point for Elisa with Tommy’s death, and despite the questionable development with Vaughn, I felt this story arc was progressing overall. It was fun in the last story arc to see Elisa coming face to face with her past as Ghost before being brought back and finding new ways to unleash her power. This story arc has dealt with her learning how to find the balance with those powers with full knowledge of her past life as Elisa. And I’ve felt it’s been an interesting situation with the harder Elisa has been fighting crime the more it seemed like crime just kept increasing and threatening those she cared about, and that’s what Tommy warned her was possible. Elisa’s struggle to not cause physical harm to the mayor or any of the cops there was her way of coping with Tommy’s death. So this issue would do a good job in bringing that to a head by making Mr. Park the embodiment of the complexities of having a corrupt police force and culpable mayor when trying to fight seemingly endless crime. Mr. Park did indeed have powers but his would be fueled by Elisa’s rage as well as the crime in the city. Their battle would be entertaining, and not just in terms of the artwork and blows landed but also on a philosophical level questioning Elisa’s continued desire to fight crime and whether it was hopeless or not to clean up the city. In terms of him being the final villain she would face in this story arc, it was worth it.

But this issue would also continue to deal with Elisa’s personal journey with her complete memory being back, and that was mainly with the flashback with Tommy. Part of this issue would deal with Tommy’s funeral but since Elisa was monologuing throughout most of the issue, it wouldn’t feel as impactful for other characters such as Sloane. I mentioned in my review of the last issue that Elisa has been running away from situations in her personal life almost as fast as she would rush into situations when fighting crime, and this issue finally has her coming to terms with her new situation, her new reality. And as this story arc concludes, I’m interested in seeing what lies ahead for her in this situation.

SUMMARY

Ghost #13 provides a satisfying conclusion to this story arc as Elisa triumphs over Mr. Park, and in doing so, comes face to face with her new reality. I enjoyed the battle between the two, and even though Mr. Park’s powers wouldn’t be shown until this issue, what he represented made for an entertaining scenario. Despite Sloane being the closest to him, the impact of Tommy’s death on others was still done in a cursory manner compared to Elisa. However, the flashback story and the conclusion of it was a great touch, and I’m looking forward to see her new reality going forward.

Release Date: 2/4/15

Writer: Chris Sebela

Artist: Harvey Tolibao