Ghostbox: Black & White #2 Review
Writer: Mike Carey
Artist & Letterer: Pablo Raimondi
Publisher: Comixology
Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 24, 2026
Chloe sacrificed for her sister. But after four years at
university, she hungers for the good life. Unfortunately, her employers dislike
how her partying hampers her work performance, and her landlord objects to her
payment schedule. So, when Uncle Max leaves his cottage to them, Chloe and Jan
head down to Cornwall.
The cluttered home boasts many dusty treasures. But when
Chloe lists them for sale, she attracts the wrong kind of buyer. What strange
power does the broken music box contain? And what possessed Chloe when Anton
Mésser attacked her sister? Let’s leap into Ghostbox: Black & White #2 and
see!
Story
Anton Mésser lies on the ground. The rich man, who purported
interest in an old lamp, won't be getting up again. Although Anton shot her
sister, Jan reaches out for her. Then Chloe realizes that the Jan standing
before her is a ghost, while Jan's body lies still on the ground. And next to
her sister's spirit, another woman stands. Was she the woman who took over her
body, turning Chloe into a master fighter who killed Anton?
In Ghostbox: Black & White #2, Chloe doesn’t stick
around to find out. The situation is so beyond her understanding that she
flees, leaving the visiting spirit to remain with Jan. She introduces herself
as Mary Field and explains that she belongs to the Ghostbox. Mary assures Jan
that, with Anton dead, Chloe is safe. So, Jan doesn’t object when Mary asks
someone called Li Xhu to bring them home.
Mike Carey interweaves Chloe's flight with Jan's discovery
of a new realm. Jan glimpsed this world when she touched the box in her uncle's
house. While Chloe seeks justice for her sister's death, Jan meets other souls
who call the Ghostbox home. She also meets the god of this realm, who seems
reluctant to protect them.
While she will not age, Jan learns that she and the others
are at war with the Estival. She and Chloe imperiled them by listing the
Ghostbox for sale. Like Mary Field and Anton Mésser, the Estival can possess
anyone. And if they capture the box, they can attack not only Jan’s new home
but also threaten the inhabitants of Earth in Ghostbox: Black & White #2.
Art
Shadows cloak Chloe as she runs through the forest. Mary
Field, dressed for the Old West, stares down at Anton’s corpse as the flesh
melts away. Jan kneels before her corpse. But unlike Chloe and Anton, Mary and
Jan are faint, barely there. Pablo Raimondi's Black-and-White art portrays
foreground people and objects darker than the backgrounds. The detailed art
imbues depth and reality to this intersection between Cornwall, England, and
the realm beyond.
Inset panels provide close-ups of Mary and Jan as energy
explodes from the Ghostbox, propelling the two women to their otherworldly
home. There, Jan meets people from other eras who died within the Ghostbox’s
field of influence. As Jan beholds steps leading up the steep mountains to
homes and temples, Chloe sits inside a rectangular building. The frightened
woman speaks with people in a room devoid of interest, aside from a large
mirror on the wall behind her in Ghostbox: Black & White #2.
Black, lowercase letters fill white dialogue balloons among
the living, while Mary Field and Jan speak into balloons with permeable
backgrounds. When the spirits return to their realm, each inhabitant of the
Ghostbox utilizes a different font. Words grow bold for intonation and grow
uppercase for raised voices. A malevolent force speaks white uppercase letters
into black balloons, as it plots the destruction of Jan’s new home. Thanks to
Comixology and Superfan Promotions for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Chloe had a chance to attend a top university. Instead, she
sacrificed so her older sister could secure a promising career. After
graduating from a less respectable school and scrambling to get by in
entry-level jobs, a dead uncle's legacy offered Chloe a measure of security.
Instead, she's lost her sister and may be the only person alive who can protect
her world from malevolent spirits in Ghostbox: Black & White #2.
Rating 9.6/10
To look inside see my preview of Ghostbox: Black & White #2.
For how this series began, see my preview of Ghostbox: Black & White #1.
