A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts
A Ghost Arm Made of Angry GhostsWriter/Colorist: Oliver Mertz
Artist: Alex Diotto
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Designer: Winston Gambro
Publisher: Oni Press
Due Out: September 2026
A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts is one of the most neurotic and personal superhero comics I think I’ve ever read, and I love it for that. In this way, it feels evocative of peak Lee/Kirby and Ditko Marvel Comics — you know, the ones they built the company on — only narrowed even further, made even more personal, and fitted with the experiences of a millennial childhood-to-adolescence spent listening to punk rock music in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
If you are entirely unfamiliar with the book, this may all sound a bit confusing, so let’s do the broad description: as per the book’s solicit text, it follows a 16-year-old who is part of the D.C. punk scene. He also finds himself suddenly surrounded by death, including a potential murder mystery. The text doesn’t really mention superheroing, but the main cover visually establishes that. And away we go.
So that’s the story, and from that story, the creative team of Oliver Mertz (who double duties as writer and colorist), artist Alex Diotto, and letterer Taylor Esposito deliver a charming take on the genre in a way that fully deploys the understated secret sauce of superheroes: making them specific and personal.
This is a superhero story where the highlights are odd banter between two best friends who know each other deeply, the way you really only know your best friend in your teen years. It’s a superhero story where part of life is the archaic bureaucracy that influences life in our nation’s capital (imagine if Storm could only use her powers after her neighbors formally cast votes on how), and it’s a superhero story where most powers cause more problems than they solve.
And that’s why I think it made me think of the early work of Lee/Kirby and Ditko on many of Marvel’s now classic superheroes, which took their creators own hyper interests, insecurities, character flaws, and hometowns, and built the giants of American fiction among them. That’s not to say this is a book that will wow you with big punchy fights or is interested in building long-running superhero characters. It’s actually the opposite of that, but it’s got what to me feels like a similarly personal core.
What A Ghost Arm of Angry Ghosts also does a bit differently, perhaps, is lean more toward our modern comics preference for slice of life storytelling in ways that superheroes don’t do all that often, or at least don’t tend to do well, without becoming dull or juvenile about it. In fact, in this graphic novel, it’s everyday feelings and struggles and mysteries (what’s with that big building in my neighborhood?) that take the lead, and the book is all the better for it.
There are so many little bits in here that feel deeply personal, from a two-page dance spread to the hero of the book being meekly bothered by someone eating hardboiled eggs at a concert, which inspires his more outgoing friend to say something. There’s quite a few non-famous location references, and there’s a deep knowledge of the history of one American city woven throughout. These quiet moments and little details add to the immersion.
This graphic novel also feels supremely playful in a way that seems zany but must have been carefully considered. The story bounces without hesitation into quick non-sequiturs that have some of the cleverest writing and cheekiest artwork in any comic I’ve read all year, doing the audience the favor of not lingering on them or overexplaining.
I am perhaps rambling at this point, but the grand point I’m making is simply that there is so much to like about A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts. If you’ve ever read a comic that Esposito has lettered, you know he’s one of the best working letterers, and this book gives him a chance to flex his range. And Diotto does an incredible job of illustrating fantastical superhero powers while also keeping them mundane, exactly as Mertz’s scripting calls for.
Does this book have broad mainstream appeal? I’m not great at answering that question, but I certainly hope so. It’s as new a take on the most successful type of American comic, the superhero, as we’ve seen in some time, and I would be thrilled if a big, eager audience ends up loving it as much as I did.
A Ghost Arm Made of Angry Ghosts is out via Oni Press in September
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