Ghost #23 - cover

It's occurred to me that much of my collecting has been about vicariously trying to re-obtain pieces I've sold with regret. Once upon a wondrous time, to illustrate the point, I owned two gorgeous Ghost splashes. One was not only penciled but inked by Adam Hughes, from his prime pen and ink period.

Acquiring this Ghost cover, then, is probably an attempt to fill that collecting ache and void. As the rock urban legend about Marianne Faithfull supposedly has it, "A Mars bar fills that gap!"

None of which is intended, thought it may sound like it, to slight what John Cassaday and inker Randy Emberlin have rendered here. I think this image has a cool vibe, and one that reminds me somewhat of underground comic art.

When I decided to buy this piece, I was unaware that John Cassaday had passed away at a tragically young age last September. Learning of this was a shock. For another splendid example of John's work, see the Rorschach illustration in my gallery.