I’m pretty sure Greg Weisman can do it all from television to comics to novels, all while splciing and mixing sci-fi, myth, Shakespeare, mystery and more. Clones, convulated Xanatos gambits, magic and technology tend to be staples of his work.

First off, I’ll talk about his Rain of Ghosts duology that takes place on a stretch of nine islands near the Bermuda Triangle called the Prospero Keys. The locals just call them The Ghosts. Which is a very apt name as readers will discover.

Fiesty, impulsive Rain Cahique feels trapped on the island, she is so ready for the day she can get off the island and travel the world. It’s her only chance to escape the likely fate of taking care of her family’s inn, serving tourists for the end of time. But she’s only 13 so she has a long way to go. But after her grandfather’s death, it doesn’t seem like Rain will be going anywhere anytime soon and she doesn’t need to leave for adventure. Not when she can sudden;y see ghosts thanks to the twin-serpent armband she inherited.

The first book, Rain of Ghosts acts like an origin story, introducing the main characters and their personlities. As I said Rain is fiesty, and impulsive and readers will quickly engage with the girl who is excited and confounded with her new gift and the mystery attached to them as well as a coming of age as she starts to realize there’s a bigger fate/responsibilty in store for her as she gets deeper into the legend involving the zemis.

Then there’s Charlie Dauphin, Rain’s best friend from childhood and a bit of sidekick as he can never resist her wild adventures partly because that’s just their dynamic and partly because of his hopeless crush on her. He’s snarky too and sometimes he is disgruntled with his sidekick role (one that feels further distanced from the adventure as he cannot see or hear ghosts like Rain can) and has a boyish need to prove that he can be more than a follower.

The trio is rounded out by the ghost of Rain’s grandfather, Sebastian “Bastian” Bohique who appears as the suave, airplane bomber of his 20s alternating between grandfatherly concern and love for Rain, and the dashing adventurer of his youth.

The other supporting characters are equally engaging like Miranda the spoiled sweet new girl as well as Rain’s concerned yet reasonable parents even though they don’t understand why Rain keeps running off or seems like she’s talking to herself.

The main mystery of rain trying to help the ghosts she sees, dubbed the Eight, and figure out what they want is well-done, unraveling piece by piece while also hinting at a larger mission even involving a treasure hunter after the nine other zemis and a larger threat in the form of the Hura-hupila. Plus it’s all narrated by an omniscent dog, Opie whose owner Maq may have a larger role in the story which he calls a big immortal chess game.

Also, perhaps it’s because I was on my Gargoyles rewatch while reading these I did notice a few similarities to his other work like the Australian mercenary treasure-hunter, Callahan reminds me of Dingo and the elderly tourist couple, Maude and Ernie remind me of the Gargoyles‘ yuppie couple, Marge and Brandon.

As for the second book, Spirits of Ashes and Foam, Weisman ups the ante (and thanfully the page count) by experimenting more with Bastian ghosthood limitation, and cleverly connecting two big mysteries-a creepy vampire/demon mosquito swarm sucking tourists dry and the kidnapping of three children by a Manatee woman named Aycayia. Not only does it build the suspense as there can be oh-so much time for Rain to figure both out, but it allows more depth in the Ghosts’ background, incporporating Taino cultural legends that give the books an even richer world entirely of its own.

Plus the characters continue to grow as Rain’s excitment of being the Searcher/Healer gives her a sense f purpose but like a typical teenager she wishes she could use as an excuse to get out of school cuz these mysteries are infinately more interesting/important. Not to mention her constant urge to blurt out her secret to show off she’s not just teen girl, but someone important, she’s the Searcher/Healer! Yeah, she’d probably be taken to the nearest guidence counselor but those secrets do present problems when trying to be friends with Miranda while not hurting her feelings with random, unexplained disappearances.

The second book nicely balances school issues like the inclusion of mean girl Renee with balancing her real job, and the mystery only grows as more players enter the game and another zemi is uncovered.

Now onto the Weisman’s comics. As I’ve written in a previous post I’m entirely biased when it comes to YJ comics. They’e literally an extension of the tv show with in-between missions that give extra background to the teens and are indirectly mentioned in the show because hey, with 30-min episodes you can only show so much.

If you haven’t seen the show you might not have much interest but you should. If you enjoy intrigue, espionage and coming of age superhero pathos Young Justice is a great intro to the DC world with a compelling first Team made up of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Artemis. They each hold their own secrets close to their chest as they learn to work together and get out of the shadows of their famous mentors.

The first three volumes contain two-parter or three-parter stories while volume 4 Growing Up, covering YJ: Invasion and volume 5, Targets are 6-part series. It sill blows my mind with Jones’ fluid art and Weisman’ blend of humor and superheroics that he managed to make the two-dimensional medium feel just like the tv show. I could just imagine them leaping off the page and hear their voices in my head.

Some of my favorite issues are Rabbit Holes/Wonderland which is Artemis’ semi-origin story detailing how she found the Team during her late-night clean-ups of Gotham Streets. But that’s to be expected as Artemis is my favorite character.

Cold Case/Hot Case: An excellent demonstration of the Team’s dynamic and investigations as they try to find who framed Nathanial Adams for murder in a decades old cold case. Not only does it feature a sword that can cut the industracibtle Superboy but also gives Weisman a chance to flex his Captain Atom lore which he previously worked on in college.

Under the Surface/Here They be Monsters: Remember when I was telling you the comics dive into missions they don’t have time to delve in the show? This is one of those cases as you may have heard about the Atlantean purists but this two parter shows Aqualad, Superboy and Miss Martian dealing with them directly as nasty prejudices, encouraged by Ocean Master against Atleanteans who do not like as human as others so he may be able to overthrow the throne.

Torch-Songs: A two part story set after Invasion that delves into Superboy and Miss Martian’s break-up. I highly recommend as it gives more depth to Miss Martian’s regrets about her attempted mind-rape beyond getting caught. I think it wil ease feelings about whether or not Conner should go back to her. Plus it has a musical number and classic 90s sitcom jokes! You can also see it being read live at the Gathering which is a con dedicated to my next subject.

Finally, Gargoyles: Clan-Gathering and Gargoyles: Bad Guys is the same deal, continuing stories after the tv show. After the unfortunate cancellation of Gargoyles, Weisman delivered the first two voumes of Clan-Gathering to show fans what season 3 could have been like. The comics pick up the aftermath of New York finding out the existance of the Gargoyles, but also dives into the personal drama of Goliath and Elisa’s long-awaited kiss and their decision to try to date other people because of the whole-interspeices thing. Delilah and the California-themed clan return as well to assert their superiority and we get more glimpses of the Illumanati Society that Bluestone is infiltrating.

The second volume has some timey-whimy shenanigans brings Brooklyn back through time thanks to the Phoenix Gate (aka the plot of another proposed Gargoyles spin-off entitled Time Dancer) which has him teaming up with Demona to both’s charign!

It also has my favorite fourth wall break: “You never know when a giant flaming magical time-traveling bird is gonna swallow you whole and spit you out in the tenth century! So hit those books, kids!” I swear it makes sense with context.

Bad Guys was another spin-off idea that didn’t get greenlighted but these six volumes certainly make me wish that it was. Centering on four “bad guys” looking for redemption. Headed up by former hunter, Robyn Canmore, she recruits Australian new hero, Dingo with his matrix buddy, Yama of the Japan clan trying to regain his bushido and the greedy, aggressive mutant who is mainly in it for the money and because he was blackmailed. They’re called the redemption Squad which you can easily surmise that it’s a Gargoyles version of the Suicide Squad as they face up against Dr. Sevarius again, the fantatical Canmore and even Dingo’s adopted father.

Despite the short volume, Weisman manages to pack a believable progression of character development for the characters especially Dingo, create a working group dynamic and hint at the eventual romance between Dingo and Robyn. Very well-done mix of action and covert ops.

Best yet, Dynamite Comics is bringing Gargoyles back. there have been conflicting reports as to whether they’re repackaging the original Clan-Building/Bad Guys volumes alongside new stories or if it’s just new stories, but either way I’m eager to see more of the Manhatten Clan.

As you can see Weisman is a talented, versatile writer whose work will appeal to those who enjoy twists, myths and a dash of the unexpected. Now go read some before the time-travelling phoenix eats you.