Ghostbusters #1
Written by Erik Burnham
Art by Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Andrew Harmon
The short of it:
Three months ago the Ghostbusters were abducted by ghostly versions of themselves, and New York hasn’t been quite the same since. In the wake of Ron Alexander’s Ghost Smashers fiasco, there are city ordinances set up to prevent paranormal start up companies from stepping in to replace the Ghostbusters, and that’s creating issues. Especially when Janine gets together a group to go bust a ghost for a repeat customer, and the NYPD is waiting to take them in. Enter the hero of the people, the man who wants to save New York and monetize his worst nemesis….Walter Peck.
See, here’s the thing about the Ghostbusters. You can’t just take their equipment away and hand it over to someone else and call it job over with. Cops and firefighters have no intention to go and try to fight paranormal entities that may have grudges against them. On top of that? Peck knows one thing that the city keeps overlooking, and it all goes back to the first movie. The containment unit, and how you just don’t screw with it. You let someone who’s allowed to access it do that for you, and with the Ghostbusters gone? There’s only one person that has that kind of access.
Janine.
It’s a new day for New York as PCOC sets the new team up in the firehouse, but will they be able to find the guys and save them? Or are they going to be too busy being media darings?
What I liked:
- Kylie Griffin is a Ghostbuster! Again! For the very first time! I was actually a fan of the Extreme Ghostbusters when I was in middle school, and she was the best character on the show. I’ve absolutely loved her in the comic as the manager of Ray’s Occult Books, and seeing her suited up with a proton pack? Awesome. Just awesome.
- Walter Peck’s transition from obnoxious bad guy in the movies, to manipulative and opportunistic government employee with no issues exploiting his rivals is brilliant. He can’t stop the Ghostbusters, can’t license new organizations, and is stuck with Janine. So what does he do? Turns her and her new group into a license to print money for the city.
- The Peoplebusters. Really. I honestly never expected to see them again in any media, especially with how difficult it is to actually watch the Real Ghostbusters cartoon legally without offering up an arm and a leg for the regular DVD sets. They were the stuff of my childhood nightmares, and now, as someone just shy of thirty, the memories freak me out as much as the prospect of them being back makes me grin ear to ear.
- Agent Ortiz’s question about how the Ghostbusters ever did their job without causing tons of damage was great. Janine’s answer was even better.
- I can’t believe that I was cheering on Walter Peck with his verbal bitchslappings. PCOC turned the most obnoxious villain ever into a great charismatic jackass.
What I didn’t like:
- Damnit, I don’t want to wait for more!
Final thoughts:
I grew up on the Real Ghostbusters cartoon, with a full collection of action figures, and a love for the Ghostbusters movie. I was a Ghostbusters kid when others were into GI Joe and Ninja Turtles. My early memories of cartoons? Pretty much all Ghostbusters (some Ninja Turtles), but the most vivid of them? The Peoplebusters. When a giant tornado pulls a bunch of New Yorkers, as well as Egon, Ray, and Peter, into another dimension. One where Ghosts and ghouls are the populace, and humans are the ones that scare them. The opposite world. A world where people are hunted down by ghostly versions of themselves. It gave me nightmares. I loved it.
For as many comics as I’ve read, movies that I’ve watched, TV shows that I’ve sat through, etc…the first time I ever saw the evil alternate reality versions of a character? Ghostbusters. The Peoplebusters.
Ron Alexander was a great new addition as an antagonist earlier this year, and him being forced on to the team as a way out of jail keeps that going. There will be natural animosity, and his own resentment and way of doing things, but he’s not dealing with Ray and Peter anymore. He’s dealing with Janine. He does not yet know the meaning of fear.
I remember when I picked up the last Ghostbusters number one and wasn’t sure if I’d get accustomed to the art of Dan Schoening, but now here I am after sixteen issues of that run, and one issue of the new one, and you know what I have to say? Dan’s pencils are the perfect fit for this, and the book is nothing short of gorgeous, but I have to give a LOT of credit to the coloring of Luis Antonio Delgado, because the colors perfectly mesh with Dan’s cartoonish art style. Again, the book is gorgeous, and I wouldn’t have it looking any other way. Perfect art style.
I actually groaned little bit when I saw the backup story was going to be out of The Real Ghostbusters. I got the Mars Attacks one shot, and realized while reading it….I haven’t watched that cartoon in a LONG time. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, I grew up on it, but I can’t tell you the last time I saw an episode. I just know that the one shot seemed very…not the Ghostbusters I had been reading for two years, but the backup here is a different story. I remember the containment unit and the weird world inside, so the two page an issue backup about a ghost in that world has potential to be great nostalgia.
So Agent Ortiz is the new Winston, since she’s the member whose abilities begin and end with ‘good with a gun’. Kylie is a cross between Ray and Egon, bringing the knowledge of the paranormal to the table. Janine is Venkman, period; she’s the mouthy one. Then you’ve got Ron, who wasn’t in this issue really, but he’s going to be he d-bag that crosses Ray and Egon, but unlike Kylie, he’s going to be the engineer that keeps everything running. I can dig it, mix and match the archetypes and give Kylie a proton pack, total money.
Overall: 10/10
