Ghost vs. Predator: Plot & Characters
Ghost #5, titled Trophy Ghost, is a 1995 Dark Horse Comics issue written by Eric Luke and pencilled by Terry Dodson and Lee Moder, in which a lone Predator came to Arcadia looking for superhuman prey. It was part of the Hunting the Heroes: The Predators Attack! event, which sent the hunters through four Dark Horse Heroes issues: Ghost #5, Motorhead #1, X #18 and Agents of Law #6, the last of which is covered in Agents of Law vs. Predator. Among the many Predator crossovers, this one stands out for a hunter whose weapons could not touch its target.
Plot Summary
The Predator Hunts Fusion
The issue opened in a moonlit forest, where the narration described a bald costumed man named Fusion as someone who had waited his whole life for this. As a boy he had listened to the first Pink Floyd albums and dreamed of cosmic contact, a dream that faded into Star Trek reruns and the questions his kids asked when they pointed at the night sky. Enough of that child survived to put on a costume after his powers manifested, though he never learned where his plasma bolts came from and only hoped they were siphoned from the heart of the Sun.
Fusion believed he had cornered his opponent among the trees, and he charged in with a crackling fist of plasma, shouting that he had got the creature. The bolt struck the Predator full in the chest as it lunged at him with its claws spread and its dreadlocks flying, but the blow did not stop it. Looming over him, the hunter repeated his own words back in its alien script, Gotcha, You, turning the taunt into the last thing he would hear.
Fusion's Fate
A single sweep of the hunter's spear took off Fusion's head, the two fighters frozen in silhouette as the blade passed through his neck. The narration noted that it was not supposed to be like this. Under a green full moon the Predator turned a skull over in its claw and studied it, while Fusion's severed head lay in a pool of blood on the forest floor. His plasma bolt had left no visible wound on the hunter, and the fight was over in moments.
The hunter's verdict was blunt: What A Disappointment. It walked away into the trees with its spear over its shoulder and left the head behind, a sign that Fusion had not earned a place among its trophies. The issue is titled Trophy Ghost, and several other characters in it were also chasing someone worth keeping, while the hunter had still not found prey that could give it a real fight. From there it headed into Arcadia, where rumors spoke of humans with enhanced abilities.
The Predator Tracks Ghost
In a cemetery in Arcadia, Ghost caught a young photographer taking pictures of a woman posing on a grave, and recognized her as her own sister, Margo Cameron. Elisa Cameron, the murdered reporter who had returned as Ghost, dragged Margo back to her jade chair and lectured her about self-destructive behavior, only to be told to get a life. She took her sister in anyway, sold off the furniture from her old place, used the last of her money to set them up somewhere new and warned Margo that she would kill her if she went back to her old contacts.
Elsewhere the Predator stood on a statue high above the art deco skyline, looking over the city and feeling bored. Tonight it was after something different, because rumors spoke of a new breed of prey in Arcadia, humans with enhanced abilities who would make worthy opponents in battle, the kind of challenge its honor code prized. Its handheld Tracker picked up a signal unlike all the others, strong at first and then suddenly flickering, or ghosting, on the screen. With the words The Hunt Begins, it leaped from the rooftop toward its new target.
The Ghosthunters Attack At Club Foot
Margo talked Elisa into a night at Club Foot, a former paranormal dive turned trendy nightspot, promising to teach her how to manipulate men. Across town, the boy Mister Mole ran to the blind villain Snake, who had refused to be called Eyes since Ghost shot his out, with a tabloid declaring that ghosts were real and the news that the woman in the picture was at the club. Snake sent word to his allies, and the ripples spread across Arcadia as more of the city's underworld read the same front page.
Ghost was ready to leave Margo with a man named Shawn, warning that all he wanted was a trophy, when the ghosthunters closed in. The bloated Fleshpot and the club bouncer attacked her, and Snake used a psychic link to keep her solid so she could not slip through them. When his anger set the room on fire, Margo taunted him as a spineless, cringing little worm until he lost control, and the blast that followed tore out the front of the club. From a nearby rooftop, the Predator watched the explosion over its tracker.
The Predator Attacks Ghost
Ghost and Margo walked out of the burning club, and Elisa admitted that her sister had taken a big chance, since nobody could have known Snake would go ballistic and lose his hold over her. Margo shrugged that life was a gamble. Elisa thanked her for saving her and apologized for walking out on her earlier, and Margo answered that she was glad they had a place to go back to, somewhere safe. The sisters clasped hands in the firelight, unaware that the Predator had crept up beneath them with its spear ready.
The hunter thrust its blade straight at Ghost, but the weapon passed harmlessly through her as she ghosted. It tried again with the same result, while Margo covered her mouth in horror behind her sister. For the first time that night the Predator faced prey its weapons could not touch, the same quality that had made her signal flicker on its tracker. Elisa had no idea what the creature was, but she drew her pistol and decided that the latest thing stalking her through Arcadia would get the same answer as everyone else.
Ghost Fights Back
Ghost answered with a trick only she could perform, ghosting the tip of her gun through the hunter's faceplate before pulling the trigger. The shot went off inside its bio-mask, and the Predator reeled back with its claws grasping at empty air as the narration simply noted that it worked. The hunter that had come looking for a strong signal had found prey able to strike from inside its own armor. Ghost dismissed it as an ugly sucker and wondered why everybody and his brother seemed to be after her that night.
With the street still lit by the burning club, Margo babbled on, high on adrenaline, insisting that she had really saved Elisa's life. She added that the first thing to learn about men was that they love trophies, and that you could kill them with that one every time. Ghost smiled inside at the comfort of having her sister back, but the darkness closed in with new questions about who was sending these hunters after her. Too tired to think about it, she decided she was simply Dead Tired as the sisters headed home.
Key Characters
- Ghost is Elisa Cameron, a murdered Arcadia reporter who returned as a spirit, survived the ghosthunters at Club Foot and shot the Predator through its faceplate.
- Margo Cameron is Elisa's reckless younger sister, who moved in with her, tricked Snake into losing control and saw the Predator's attack up close.
- The Predator came to Arcadia looking for superhuman prey, killed Fusion, tracked Ghost's flickering signal and attacked her outside Club Foot.
- Fusion was a costumed hero with plasma powers, beheaded by the Predator in the woods and left behind as an unworthy trophy.
- Snake is a blind villain, formerly called Eyes, who gained a psychic link and fire powers after Ghost shot out his eyes, and led the attack at Club Foot.
- Fleshpot is a bloated ghosthunter who tried to smother Ghost during the club fight.
- Mister Mole is the boy who spotted Ghost at Club Foot and brought the news to Snake.
Behind The Scenes
The credits name Eric Luke as writer, Terry Dodson and Lee Moder as pencillers, Gary Martin and Ande Parks as inkers, Steve Haynie as letterer, Chris Chalenor as colorist and Teena Gores as book designer, with Michael Eury and Marilee Hord as editors. The cover by Adam Hughes shows Ghost with three red laser dots on her forehead under the event banner, and the indicia dates the issue August 1995. The story was later collected in the Ghost: Nocturnes trade paperback in 1996 and in the first Ghost Omnibus in 2008.
The Ghostcards letters column explained that Hughes had found it too hard to draw 22 pages a month at his usual level of detail, so he would stay on as cover artist while a new regular team, Scott Benefiel and Jasen Rodriguez, took over from the following issue. The editors thanked Dodson, Moder, Martin and Parks for what they called the issue's exciting Predator battle. Ghost's family drama takes up most of the issue, leaving less Predator action than in the other Predator comics of the event.
Conclusion
Ghost #5 used the Hunting the Heroes event as a backdrop for Elisa Cameron's attempt to rebuild a life with her sister, setting a bored hunter loose on Arcadia while the ghosthunters tore Club Foot apart. The Predator beheaded Fusion, dismissed him as a disappointment and followed Ghost's flickering signal, only to find a target its spear passed straight through. Its reward was a bullet fired from inside its own mask, and the issue closed with Margo joking that men love trophies.
External Sources
- Ghost #5 product page at Dark Horse Comics
- Ghost #5 at the Grand Comics Database
- Ghost #5: Trophy Ghost at Comic Vine
- Ghost #5 at League of Comic Geeks
Tag Categories: Predator Comics | Alien And Predator Crossovers | Hunting The Heroes Predators Attack
