Ghostbusters: The Other Side

Posted by Skwerl

October 17, 2008

NEW COMICS!

Beside the new comics, Wednesday was good and bad day for Ghostbusters fans.

Good News: Dan Aykroyd let slip that Ghostbusters: The Video Game has been picked up by Atari.

Bad News: We're going to have to wait at least a year to see the game because of the transition from Activision/Blizzard to Atari.

Good News: TokyoPop's Ghostbusters Manga and IDW's Ghostbusters comic came out on the same day!

The Manga is like a 6 chapter book and as of yet I haven't had time to sit down and read through it, but I have read IDW's comic, and I thought I would write up a little review of it. The Review contains spoilers so if you want to be surprised, don't read it. If you don't care, on we go.

Ghostbusters: The Other Side
Written by Keith Champagne
Art by Tom Nguyen

I found it interesting that a few months back Keith Champagne said that he wasn't a fan of "The Real Ghostbusters" so he wouldn't be including Slimer and other things that the cartoon made popular, yet he wrote a story that was very much a PG-13 episode of the cartoon.

The story starts some time after Ghostbusters 2 (As the villains make reference to Gozer AND Vigo) and a group of intelligent ghostly 30's style mobsters are plotting against the Ghostbusters. When our heroes bust in on one of their meetings, the head ghost leaps into Venkman's body and displaces his soul.

Venkman's soul can't get back into his body quickly enough to not be sucked into limbo, where he is stuck because his physical body is not dead. The head boss ghost thingie then goes ut and finds his army of mobsters to take down the Ghostbusters. He once again uses Venkman's body to lead the Ghostbusters into a trap where the team is gunned down.

Now, I personally don't find any problem in it being a more grown up episode of the cartoon, I loved the cartoon. I do have a problem with the writer denouncing the cartoon only to write something that feels so similar to it. Other then that the story seems to work within the realm of Ghostbusters, the only story problem I have is they seem to be taking away the every-man aspect of Winston by having him learn more of the technical terms, at one point even calling him DOCTOR.

I always liked Winston as the one who could better explain to the common man what Ray and Egon would typically babble on about. Like in the second film when he had to take the mayor aside(and the audience) to explain to him what the river of slime was, compared to Egon's explanation of "Psycomagnetheic plasm." By making him another "Doctor" in the team, I feel kind of runs the risk of taking that every-man aspect away from him. Also I don't feel they need another character that knows the scientific part about ghosts. Winston's mythos explains that he's a military man, and I feel that should be his role in the team. A field tactician. Let Ray and Egon worry about the class, and analyzing ectoplasm, let Winston be the guy who knows how to maneuver around a creature that ran phase threw walls.

Also the part about the Ghostbusters literally being shot down in the streets. I realize they're trying to go for something a bit more hard-edge than the cartoons, but I think having them being shot down by actual guns is a bit too dark for Ghostbusters. Having stuff thrown at them by the ghosts is fine, but gun-toting poltergeists (Which Ray expressly curses their ability to interact with the physical realm as they run into the gang.) is a bit more serious than I like my Ghostbusters to be. The only guns I want in my Ghostbusters shoot proton streams or slime, not bullets.

As far as the art, it takes a strange and windy road, going from great to incredibly bland. Egon especially, from his first appearance looks like an overly detailed young Clint Eastwood, and de-evolves through the comic to being a geeky 20-something. But the biggest thing I have a problem with is the HAIR!

Winston's sort hair is hard to fuck up. But it seems that artists have a problem with Egon, Ray, and Peter's hair. And this is no exception. Egon has something of an aggravated porcupine on his head. I guess it's better than the blonde vortex from the cartoon, but in the movies it was kind of poofy and combed back, not a spiked mess. Ray's is even worse as it seems like he tried to emulate Egon's porcupine, but failed as the spikes droop down all over his head.

And Peter, if you look at the Ghost-version of him from above, he's got something I've taken to referring as the Venkmullit.

All around it's a fun comic, a decent first chapter, but something that I thought was a bit too much of the cartoon for people who don't like the cartoon, and a little too dark for those who liked anything else Ghostbusters. It's a strange middle ground where I don't love it, don't hate it, but won't feel bad about picking up the next issue.

-Skwerl

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