A brief look at IDW's "Ghostbusters" comics

- by Señor Editor, 25 June 2012

Last year IDW Publishing launched their new "Ghostbusters" ongoing series. While I'm a big fan of the movies (not so much of the animated show), I didn't pick up these comics until just recently, based on Ross' recommendation and the fact that Ghostbusters kick ass. And after reading the first 7 issues (the series is currently at #10) I can honestly say this is a pretty fantastic comic. Allow me to share some of my initial thoughts on it.

Now I didn't really see this series get much coverage on comicbook news sites, so I didn't really know what to expect. The first thing that got my attention was the art... Now let me just say here that I'm not a big fan of the more ''cartoony'' style of drawings. And Dan Schoening's art is cartoony all the way. And it works really well. You can immediately tell who's who, Venkman looks like Venkman, Egon looks like Egon etc. and it fits the light, comedic style of the franchise perfectly.

Cartoony or not, the personality of each of the Ghostbusters is preserved perfectly.

The writer of IDW's "Ghostbusters" is Eric Burnham, a man that I can't say I've ever heard of before. However, if you're anything like me, you'll read the first couple of pages of #1 and decide that the man must be some sort of a genius. Why? Because he brought John Belushi back from the dead and into Ghostbusters.

I didn't even know how much I wanted to see this until I saw it!

That's right, that's a Blues Brothers reunion in a Ghostbusters comic. Belushi isn't even named here but it's obvious  who he's supposed to be.  He appears in Ray Stantz's dreams and he's actually quite funny.  Now, as any good Ghostbusters fan knows, the role of Peter Venkman was initially written for John Belushi, but he died before the script was even finished, so Bill Murray got the role. I love Belushi, I love Ghostbusters and you're damn right I love Blues Brothers so this is how Burnham won me over in a matter of just a couple pages.

And that's just the the first issue. In the following ones you get to see some brand new ghosts and demons that fit seamlessly into the aestethic eastablished by the movies. You get to see Venkman defeat a ghost by psychonalazing him in his trademark smug style and it's a joy to read. You get to see all the major characters back in action and the beauty of comics is that they never aged here. The story continues right after the events of the movies and most likely the events of the 2009 video game, too, since there are some references to it. It's a joy to read.

Winston, Venkman and Slimer. Some familiar faces and some brand new stories.

But this series isn't just a nostalgia fest. Sure, there's some nostalgia involved but it's not what makes you wanna keep reading it. It's rather that the characters and the atmosphere we all know from the movies is so perfectly represented here by both the art and storytelling that it's hard not to feel really good about Ghostbusters again. I'm not gonna spoil any of the storylines here, you should go and buy the book and support it. All I'm gonna say is they're good, funny and they feel fresh while at the same time evoking that unmistakable Ghostbusters vibe. You can almost hear the Ray Parker Jr. theme when you read it.

Tagged: comics.

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