Hey, gang,

I know I'm relatively new to the forums but wanted to share something that I've seen online lately. I hope this is acceptable to post here as I didn't see a thread dedicated to the opinions about art.

During a trip to SDCC I came upon a very cool self-published series of books called Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa. The reason I bring this up is because I ended up buying the entire series and the story and art are superb!

Now, I'm a Ghostbusters fan or I wouldn't be here, right? I'm buying the IDW comic books, as I've said, to support the Ghostbusters franchise even though I'm just not happy with the art and the stories aren't the best I'd expect. I feel they could have a writer who is better in tune with blending the comedy and horror of Ghostbusters.

But, the art is what makes a comic book. We love The Real Ghostbusters because it's part of our fandom history. Even though the characters were really stylized and nothing similar to the look of the actors (the closest by far was the 88 MPH “Legion” series–I'm still waiting on my $30). Still, we love RGB.

Comparing that with what we're getting from IDW and RGB is still better. Here are some comparisons:


Now, all this has been posted because I was visiting the deviantart.com page of the creator of Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa (I'm a fan of this book, obviously) and found this Ghostbuster art. I don't know if this is submitted for a book, or if he is working on a book or what–but, WHY IS HE NOT?? This is what I want in a Ghostbusters book!! This is the art and look of the characters that I want to see when I open these IDW comic books.

While I hope they work on their writers, if they can get Martheus Wade as an artist, then I would be happy.

Sorry, I'm still trying to get a handle on the forum! Here are the Ghostbuster pages by Martheus Wade.

Yeah I've seen some of Mr.Wades peices at DeviantART aswell. Like you, I agree his art would be really be amazing to see for a GB Comic series. His skill for details are something short of astonishing. And he seems to be able to blend both live and cartoon characteristics just fine. The big one for me is the Proton Pack, it looks very RGB based?

I wanted to refresh my memories of the RGB proton packs, but Wade's rendition appears to be more like the movie than the ‘toons (to me). I may be missing something, or it could be the detail that hides for me what you see.

Either way, his detail absolutely blows the others out the water. I hope IDW will make me a happier purchaser of their books and put him on their comics.

In the meantime, I’d like to see his take on some other views of the characters from the film. Or, perhaps some ‘busting going on!

Slimer didn’t like that, see? —> :-O

And how about his Gozer? WOW!

(BTW: From one guy who's seen his art, wouldn't you like to see a Jetta/Ghostbusters crossover? HA HA, kidding–although, Venkman might like a visit with her…)

Okay, I won't knock the stories being written for the comics at all. Displaced Aggression is really a tight woven narrative that really brought out the characters' personalities and, as it would be expected of Peter his quips worked very well, mixed with his nonchalant take charge workstyle.

While the art wasn't what I would have asked for, it was great in that you know which character is which throughout the book.

The art in Janine's story was hard to swallow for me, neither appealing or consistent. There were parts of it in which Janine's head had to have the elephant man syndrome to use the perspectives given.

Then, touching on Past, Present, Future: another strong story. The art is a style that I personally don't like; but, the designs stay consistent and, again, you can tell the characters apart from one another, not jus because Egon is the one in glasses and Winston is colored brown. Each character has his own design.

(*rant)
All this to say that the art by Nguyen is the Ghostbusters art that I personally dislike enough that I will not buy another book that he illustrates. I don't believein censorship and so welcome the book's publication for those who do love his Ghostbusters art. There could be a good story attached to the book, but his art is too distracting.

Now, let me be a hipocrite (a word which I likely spelled wrong): I've seen his art in other projects and it works fine there. He is not a bad artist.

But, he is not right (in my opinion) for Ghostbusters. When the only way I can tell characters apart from one another is by who wears glasses or is colored brown then there is an inconsistency in good design. All the white guys have the same style hair and look exactly alike.

The writing in The Other Side was also problematic: low on ghostbusting, too much life in the ghosts, too dialogue heavy for the ghosts, and it seems the author just did not have a grasp on who the characters are.

Yeah I've seen some of Mr.Wades peices at DeviantART aswell. Like you, I agree his art would be really be amazing to see for a GB Comic series.