Warner Bros. has thousands of heroes, but there's one that stands on his own, removed from the others, and in some cases... a ghost. We're talking about Space Ghost.

And now, the nostalgic sci-fi superhero returns for a dynamic new reboot of the franchise that aims to hone in on what everyone liked best about the original cartoon, but mixed with modern storytelling. David Pepose, who recently led Marvel's revamp of the Punisher, is partnering with artist Jonathan Lau on what is essentially an Ultimate version of Space Ghost.

And it's just what we needed.

Ahead of the Space Ghost comic's May 1 debut, I spoke with Pepose about this 'new meets nostalgia' style take on the hero and his sidekicks to get the full story - including what fans of the '90s Space Ghost: Coast to Coast will have to love in this new book.

David Pepose: In a genre that’s been mined in comics as thoroughly as superheroes, Space Ghost is the rare caped crusader who still feels like unexplored territory. A character that’s equal parts Batman and Flash Gordon, Space Ghost has all the ingredients of an A-lister — his brilliant design by Alex Toth; his vast abilities drawn from his Power Bands and Inviso-Belt; his engaging trio of sidekicks Jan, Jace and Blip; and his deep bench of iconic villains like Zorak, Brak, and the Council of Doom — and yet, there’s a generation of fans who don’t know who Space Ghost is as an actual character. And that felt like an incredible opportunity to me: to introduce readers to one of the most compelling superheroes in the genre, to explore who he is as both a hero and a human being as we follow him across a sci-fi universe filled with Alex Toth’s limitless creativity.

From what I've seen, your Space Ghost story with Jonathan Lau is pure superheroics - not revisionist, not post-modern - just earnestly taking the foundation of what Space Ghost was in the 1960s and re-imagining it today with modern storytelling and art. How was it to develop this concept and not be pulled away from pure superheroics?

It’s honestly been an incredible experience. When I was growing up, my first introduction to Space Ghost was as a talk show host in Space Ghost: Coast to Coast — it wasn’t until I got my first internship in the comics industry that I learned who Alex Toth was, and discovered Space Ghost’s superhero roots. Rewatching the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon, the core components of Space Ghost felt so pure and timeless and universal to me, but because the episodes were only five minutes each, there was little room for any continuity or backstory or even character development. It felt like the superhero equivalent of a perfect storm to me — everything about Space Ghost felt like something you could really reclaim for a brand-new generation of fans.

You hit the nail on the head when you talked about imagining the character today with modern storytelling and art. I think every incarnation of Space Ghost has been a product of its time — the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon came out on the heels of Adam West’s Batman, sharing its Silver Age sensibilities, while Space Stars embodied the ‘80s aesthetic of cartoons like Super-Friends and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, while Coast to Coast felt like it really distilled the irony of the MTV generation. Even Joe Kelly and Ariel Olivetti’s Space Ghost origin miniseries at DC felt almost like a lost companion piece to Batman Begins! So being able to take all those elements of Space Ghost and recapture them as a modern superhero epic in the year 2024, it just felt like a natural evolution for the character to me.

You recently led a major revamp of Marvel's Punisher, but Space Ghost seems to be a celebration of what the franchise was, without being too nostalgic. How would you compare your work on Punisher to Space Ghost?

That’s a great way of putting it — celebrating a franchise without being too nostalgic about it. For something like Punisher, there was a degree of really inventing everything whole-cloth — Joe Garrison was a character that we built from the ground up, and so our series didn’t have any inherent rules about who the character was, as much as trying to live up to the expectations of what a Punisher series should feel like. And so with Space Ghost, it almost feels like the opposite is at play — there’s so much fun lore that we get to excavate and reclaim, but there’s very little expectation in terms of what a Space Ghost story “has” to look like. But I think both series are all about reinvention and reinterpretations of a classic, and trying to provide the cleanest jumping-on point for new and existing fans — just coming from opposite directions.

But that said, I think writing Punisher really helped me start to ask the right kinds of questions about the vigilantism inherent in the superhero concept — particularly about the tragedies that inspire them, why they do what they do, the ethics of protecting innocents versus stomping out criminals, and why they operate outside the confines of the law. The Punisher is inherently a tragic character to me — he’s a character where there is no happy ending, this is a man whose purgatory is his never-ending war on crime. Whereas I see Space Ghost as intrinsically a more hopeful character, thanks to his dynamic with Jan, Jace, and Blip, Space Ghost’s mission does come from a place of personal tragedy, but the emotional throughline of our book is Space Ghost reclaiming his sense of humanity after he takes these orphaned kids under his wing. The Punisher is a man without a family; Space Ghost is the ultimate single dad. And I think it’s that found-family relationship that ultimately provides Space Ghost his path to redemption.

In the solicit for the second issue, Dynamite says there's a year of stories here. How far have you got plotted out if this thing is as big as it seems to be?

I’ve got a whole year mapped out already, with room to slot in more adventures if the demand is there. I tend to go pretty in-depth with my outlines, often pacing every issue on a page-to-page basis before I even start scripting. Dynamite and Warner Bros. have been incredibly encouraging and enthusiastic about it, giving me and Jonathan a ton of latitude to follow our instincts and develop Space Ghost in the most dynamic and character-driven way possible.

And to help maximize the sense of scale behind our book, we’re going to be telling the majority of our run through done-in-one adventures, echoing successful series like Ryan North’s Fantastic Four, Steve Orlando’s Scarlet Witch, and Jed Mackay’s Moon Knight. That approach allows readers to get up to speed with Space Ghost quickly, and allows us to rack up the maximum amount of cool villains possible — it also lets us play around with a ton of different genres and tons, letting us jump from blockbuster adventures to heist stories to horror and even time-travel. That’s the beauty of a character like Space Ghost — he really does allow us to tell a wide variety of stories in a way that always feels natural and organic.

Is there a big bad lurking in Space Ghost? Who is the big villain, if any?

Yep, we’re building to something big across our series — there’s a massive conspiracy that Space Ghost and his family find themselves in the center of, a threat so dangerous that it could consume the entire galaxy if left unchecked. And that’s not all — even if Space Ghost can survive his gauntlet of enemies, can he survive an entire Council of Doom? And that’s not even touching upon the shadows of Robo Corp looming over everything. When these dark forces start to converge, it’s going to take every ounce of bravery and heroism for Space Ghost to save the day — and every bit of heart and ingenuity from his courageous sidekicks Jan, Jace, and Blip to make sure their mentor and the universe as a whole makes it out alive. This is the story of the greatest superhero in the galaxy, and how he found his humanity again. Space Ghost is truly a dream project in every sense of the word, and I can’t wait for readers to get to dive in.

In reading interviews you've done, I've noticed you compare Space Ghost in many ways to Batman - even calling Jan, Jace, and Blip similar to Bruce Wayne's wards. What do you think are Space Ghost and Batman's biggest similarities... and biggest differences?

That’s a great question — it’s easy to refer to Space Ghost as a “space Batman” as sort of a shorthand, but you can also make comparisons to franchises like Superman, Star Wars, even shared elements with Iron Man or Punisher. But of course Space Ghost’s debut came out on the heels of Adam West’s Batman, and you can see the shared characteristics — the superheroic camp, the prominent sidekick(s), the rogue’s gallery… even elements like the Power Bands, Phantom Cruiser, and Ghost Planet evoke Batman’s utility belt, Batmobile, and Batcave!

But I’d say Space Ghost has enough differences to him in both his core concept and where he’s landed over the years that ultimately allow his character to stand apart. The space setting is a crucial element, one that allows Space Ghost to traverse sci-fi and superheroism in a really seamless and organic way. And I’d say Space Ghost’s vast array of powers add a lot to the mix, making him feel larger-than-life in a way that feels equally like Superman to me — you can still hurt Space Ghost if you hit him hard enough, but by giving him that layer of durability, it opens up a question: how do you give stakes to a character like that?

And the ultimate answer is three of my favorite characters: Jan, Jace, and Blip. Batman’s original stories had Robin as his primary sidekick, but by virtue of only having one sidekick living under his roof, you’ve had adventures of Batman flying solo over the years that don’t feel out of place. But rewatching the original cartoons, Space Ghost having three sidekicks felt like a really pointed statement to me — I don’t think there are many rules to the character, but I don’t think you can tell a Space Ghost story and have it feel “right” without Jan, Jace and Blip present.

There isn’t a generational component to them like the Robins — it’s not like Space Ghost can recruit a new Jan or a new Jace if one of them dies or quits or goes to college — but I think that makes their stories and their character arcs that much more impactful.

We’re going to be seeing Space Ghost and his mission through Jan and Jace’s eyes, as the kind of point-of-view characters that Kitty Pryde was for the X-Men. And that’s really the secret for our entire run — in a genre that so often is about the illusion of change, we get to watch Space Ghost grow and change thanks to these kids, who are simultaneously his greatest redemption and his biggest vulnerability. They say being a parent is like having your heart walking around on the outside — and when you wind up being in the crosshairs of interstellar criminals, that makes the stakes behind Space Ghost’s adventures become even more emotionally fraught.

Like many, you pay tribute heavily to Space Ghost designer Alex Toth. How much did you go back to his original notes and design work on Space Ghost and the cast for this?

I loved checking out Alex Toth’s design sheets while I was putting my pitch together — seeing the evolution of Space Ghost’s design was particularly eye-catching. (Who’d have thought ditching the boots and changing the cape’s shape would make such a statement!) It was just another reminder to me that Space Ghost’s enduring popularity comes from one man’s unparalleled creative genius — and that I’m the latest to join a pretty small group of creators in carrying the torch of Space Ghost’s adventures. Working on superheroes in general, you often feel that reminder that you’re working on something larger than yourself — but for a character like Space Ghost, you feel that honor and responsibility even moreso.

And in working with Jonathan Lau, what was the kind of language you'd use to communicate your vision for Space Ghost?

When we first brought Jonathan Lau onto the book, I gave him a copy of my 31-page pitch document (!!!), which had a comprehensive summary of my plans for the book as well as in-depth treatments of each issue, plus character bios and explanations of the different villains, how Space Ghost’s powers work, and more. And then I also start out each script with a mission statement, just to fill him in on where my head’s at with each issue, with any relevant inspirations or story landmarks or goals that I might have for any of our core characters.

Having worked with him now on several issues already, Jonathan is a true artist’s artist, and he’s honestly raising the bar with every single installment of our series. He’s got a style that can sometimes evoke Tim Sale’s, but he’s got a real kinetic energy to his pages that is uniquely his own. I’ve known Jonathan’s work since he teamed up with Kevin Smith on Green Hornet back in the day, but Space Ghost is honestly Jonathan delivering the work of his career — he’s able to switch gears seamlessly between these breathtaking blockbuster action moments and these really heartfelt character beats, which I think will go a long way towards making you care for Space Ghost, Jan, Jace, and Blip as much as I do. And the sheer ambition he’s brought to his designs for all of Alex Toth’s classic villains is absolutely out of this world!

I also want to take this opportunity to shout out colorist Andrew Dalhouse and letterer Taylor Esposito, who have been the unsung heroes of our entire project. I just looked at another batch of Andrew’s colors just this week, and he’s adding so much amazing energy to Jonathan’s pages — he really is channeling the sensibilities of the original Space Ghost cartoon and updating them for 21st century comics in such a powerful and beautiful-looking way. And I’m thrilled to finally be working with Taylor Esposito on a Direct Market series — I owe Taylor my career, with him having introduced me to my very first colorist, the late Jasen Smith. So being able to work with Taylor on a full-length series has been a long time coming — but he does such a great job at making our series flow (and particularly making my dialogue hit correctly). Led by our stellar editor Joseph Rybrandt, I consider myself really lucky to be working with such a stacked creative team, that’s inspired all of us to bring our A-games each and every month.

Space Ghost is known as much for comedy with Coast to Coast as he is for straight-up action. This comic seems to lean more towards the action, but what can you say about the comedy in the series?

I see our run on Space Ghost as very much a study in contrasts — we’ve got all the action and drama and suspense of a modern superhero story, but you can’t be too grim or gritty when you have characters like Jan, Jace, and Blip as prominently as we do. This actually tapped into my own upbringing more than I expected — my younger siblings are triplets, so I know all too well the kind of bickering and in-jokes that happen between people who were born only a minute apart. Watching Jan and Jace play off each other is one of my favorite elements of the entire series — Space Ghost is an expert in dealing with interstellar criminals, but you can tell pretty quickly that he’s in over his head after taking in these two kids. But I wouldn’t just describe Space Ghost as purely the straight man to Jan and Jace — sometimes he’ll sneak up on you with a real zinger that speaks to his discomfort with his new role as begrudging single parent.

That being said... any chance for Brak to show up here?

Absolutely — and you will not have to wait long to see him. I love writing Brak. When I was watching the original series, he struck me as sort of like Marvel’s Taskmaster — there’s something almost blue-collar about him. Brak isn’t a guy looking to conquer planets or take over the universe, he’s just a space pirate hanging out with his brother, just looking to knock over the nearest gold freighter, y’know? I saw something very mercenary and opportunistic about him, and we’ve added in a cool new wrinkle to the character that I think speaks to that. And that ultimately speaks to my approach for all of Space Ghost’s villains, including Zorak, Metallus, The Widow, and more — I’m taking the qualities that really stood out to me as I watched each of these characters, and trying to find new and interesting ways to play them up.

Interested? Here's where to find your closest local comic store, courtesy of Sweet, and here's a guide to how (and where) to read comics online. If you're looking for the best comics in recent memory, check out the Eisner Awards winners and the Harvey Awards nominees. And if you like free comics, here's everything we know about Free Comic Book Day 2027.