Reviewer: “Starman†Matt Morrison
Story Title: Legion: Part Two
Written by: Andrew Dobb
Penciled by: Steve Kurth
Inked by: Serge LaPointe
Colored by: Blond
Lettered by: Ed Duheshire
Editor: Sebastien Clavet
Publisher: 88 MPH Studios
I’ll admit to a slight bias here at the beginning. Ghostbusters is one of my favorite movies of all time and the animated series based on it was one of my favorites as a kid. So I picked up the first issue, read it, and loved it instantly. The characters were spot-on perfect. Venkman was just as smarmy and sarcastic as Bill Murray made him to be, Egon as intellectually oblivious as ever and Winston as… well, there as ever.
And now after a slight delay, Issue Two has hit the streets and continues the fine work of the first issue. The characterization is spot on, even as we continue to find the familiar characters developed even further to humorous results. The first issue had the moment where they discussed the reasons why Peter always spoke to the press beyond feeding his own ego (Winston and Ray won’t talk to reporters and Egon isn’t allowed to after “the incidentâ€). This issue has Winston attacking the clown emblems in the Krazy Clown fast-food place they are protecting, explaining his deep-rooted fear of clowns and then screaming in terror as they return to the office where Jeanine has just finished putting into practice the theories of “Make Up & Make Him Yours†into practice in yet another attempt to get Egon’s attention.
Fun as this all is though, the comic has been a little slow in getting a big plot going, focusing half upon character scenes and half upon action scenes with a lot of smart dialogue. For those of us who know these characters and want to read about Ray’s crisis of faith regarding their work, Dana’s annoyance that Peter’s fame is interfering with their dates and Louis Tully becoming a sex symbol in the wake of nerd chic becoming the new big thing, this is good. For those of us more concerned with the plot involving ghosts becoming more intelligent and an old colleague of Ray, Peter and Egon who apparently nearly killed Ray after going crazy being on the loose… well, we’re going to have to wait another issue. This slow development is the greatest and only flaw behind this title and while it might be forgivable in a regular series, it is somewhat worrying in a four-issue miniseries.
Still, the artwork is top notch despite any problems with the speed of the story. All the characters are easily recognizable compared to their movie counterparts, despite the cartoonish style. The ghosts all look sufficiently slimy and scary. And Steve Kurth has a real gift for visual storytelling that flows well from panel to panel.
