Alright. Once again the only comic shop here in Amarillo completely sucked it up and received absolutely NO copies whatsoever. Luckily I still have a connection to a shop in Dallas that pulled both of the regular covers for me. I didn't know about the incentive/virgin cover until I looked at Proton Charging this morning. I hoped on GrahamCrackers.com and quickly ordered myself a copy.

What I find interesting is that GC lists the incentive cover as being art by Nick Runge, while the regular “B” cover by someone else. Maybe they just got that wrong.

Got mine yesterday. You can read my full review Here with full plot summary (beware: SPOILERS).

As for my review portion, well, here it is (again, SPOILERS):

Review:

So, wow, this was pretty bad.

I consider IDW’s last Ghostbusters miniseries, “The Other Side”, to be quite possibly the worst piece of Ghostbusters fiction ever written. However, I was willing to give the folks at IDW some slack, as the series had been written by a largely unproven amateur in Keith Champagne, so I figured it was just a fluke. When IDW announced that their next Ghostbusters miniseries would be penned by longtime comic book professional Scott Lobdell (Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four), I felt my worries subside.

Then I read the book and, yeah, it’s just about as bad as what Keith Champagne had churned out, though bad in some different ways.

The over-the-top violence is still prevalent, as Peter chops a zombie-ghost’s head in two with a tomahawk, sending gore and maggots and rotted flesh flying all over the place. I guess that might leave you with an “OMG awesome!!11!” reaction…if you’re in middle school. The whole “Wow, Peter, you are incredible in bed” bit seemed like it was trying too hard to be “mature” in the most juvenile way possible, too.

But what really makes this issue bad? Well, a couple things. First, the exposition is…crude. And that’s being polite. Peter’s longwinded and laughable description of how he came to be trapped in the Old West was pretty bad, but nothing compared to Rachel’s explanation of why “I’m the best new character ever!”

And that brings us to the other element that ruined this issue and looks to spread its pestilence across the remaining three installments: Rachel. There are lots of snappy terms to describe characters like her: “Mary Sue”, “Poochie”, etc, and they all fit the bill. She strikes every “awesome new character” cliché in the book as she shows up out of nowhere to save the life of an established character, is totally better than all the older characters at what they’ve been doing for years (she fixed a problem in the proton packs even Egon couldn’t figure out), is totally rocking hot and doesn’t mind letting the world know it, and last but not least, is apparently a super genius who has figured out the secrets of time travel as a convenient plot device to save all the characters.

She is every horrible fan-character ever conceived; “totally awesome” and flawless in every way with an introduction that’s so poorly delivered you’d think it was a joke. IDW seems to have a mad-on for these sorts of “original characters” being pushed hard into their licensed series lately. Anybody who reads their “Transformers” comic has no doubt had to endure the horrors of Drift-sama.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be an IDW comic if it didn’t boast their standard set of editing errors, such as type-os and continuity screw-ups (the train arrives at sundown when it was supposed to arrive at midnight). At least there were no repeated speech bubbles, mis-cropped panels or characters running around with six fingers, all editing mistakes Ryall consistently lets slip through the cracks in his other books. Of course, rather than make sure these sorts of mistakes don’t happen by, you know, properly editing the book, IDW’s solution is to “fix it in the trade”. So remember folks, it you at least want a semi-coherent product, always buy IDW’s trades, because they certainly don’t encourage folks to buy their single issues.

In a way, this was actually worse than “The Other Side”. At least that mini started out with potential and then dropped a letter grade with each subsequent issue. “Displaced Aggression” starts out at rock bottom and I don’t have much faith that it’ll move up from there.

Grade: F (as in, “For what it’s worth, though, Kyriazis’s art is pretty good”.)

This was not a good comic.

Spengs85;154505
Got mine yesterday. You can read my full review Here with full plot summary (beware: SPOILERS).

As for my review portion, well, here it is (again, SPOILERS):



This was not a good comic.

Ok, I agree it wasn't fantastic, but I think you're WAY too hard on it. Its an ok story, and its put forth in a very “ok” way. Its not an A+, but by no means is it an F. I'd grade it probably a C. The art is about a billion times better, and you can tell that these writers are 1) talented and 2) actually grasp the Ghostbusters franchise, unlike Champagne. There are some errors, and there's some “convenience” to the story, but grading it an F is just being ridiculous. That, and for even one second suggesting that The Other Side is better than this, even if TOS started out with promise, is shocking. Nothing is as bad as The Other Side. Absolutely nothing.

Nothing is as bad as The Other Side…so far. : )

But my comparison was between Displaced Aggression #1 and The Other Side #1, not the series as a whole (which would be ridiculous, since Displaced Aggression is only 1 issue in). The Other Side #1 started off well enough, opening with a classic ghostbusting scene and ending on an abrupt “how're they gonna get outta this one” cliffhanger (albeit, an uncharacteristically violent one). The first issue, when taken completely on its own, wasn't so bad. It's where the story went from there that reduced The Other Side to the worst piece of Ghostbusters fiction ever printed.

Displaced Aggression #1, when taken by itself, has few redeeming qualities other than the rather nice art (which, admittedly, I could've spent more time praising in my review).

It's just a string of bad writing cliches that most professionals should know better than to fall for; the crude exposition and info dumping, the “omg so awesome” scenes of ultra-violence, the continuity errors in the story-telling and the Mary Sue of a new character.

What bothers me in addition to all that is that I know Scott Lobdell is better than this. I've read his X-Men work and enjoyed much of it. These sorts of cliches are, quite frankly, beneath him. At least with Champagne there was the excuse that he was an amateur. Lobdell doesn't have that out, unfortunately.

The series has just started and I'm hoping it improves, but if this first issue is an example of the type of writing we're going to get for the rest of the series, I'm not holding my breath. I'll just try and enjoy the art, I guess.

My review may have been pretty harsh toward IDW as a company, but I've read quite a bit of their titles (particularly their Transformers books), and these sorts of editorial mistakes are something they have been doing frequently for years. The problem is that they don't learn from their mistakes and simply respond with a “Meh. We'll fix it for the trade”. At this point, it's practically become their motto.

I just think that Ghostbusters as a franchise deserves a lot better than what we've been getting from IDW and I simply can't fathom what their marketing tactic for the license seems to be.

But I'll buy it because it has “Ghostbusters” printed on it, so perhaps that's a problem of my own I need to work out. I just want to support the brand in hopes of better things to come.

I enjoyed the first issue and so far better than the previous mini. Not epic but knowing how ‘The Other Side’ went, I hope this doesn't make a U-turn to whatever the heck ‘The Other Side’ turned into.

I've been reading the Angel series since it moved from Dark Horse to IDW. Art wise, IDW has never blown me away so far from any books I've read from them. Though the Transformers trades has had some very good art.

Doctor Venkman;154375
LOL, its GHOSTBUSTERS… what's not weird and crazy about it? A 100-foot Marshmallow man wasn't weird and crazy in the first movie? A possessed painting wasn't weird and crazy in the second movie? LOL. Ghostbusters is weird and crazy man. Its a fantasy story. If you want to call something weird and crazy, I wouldn't choose something in a franchise that deals with scientists creating their own nuclear-powered ghost catching equipment.

Lol I get what your saying. But time traveling and dieing and coming back to life is a different kind of “crazy” , ya know?

If I was going to rate issue #1 on a scale of 1-5 stars I'd have to give it at least one star for being a Ghostbusters comic. I'd give it a second star because the artwork is decent (unlike “The Other Side.”) But that's about where it ends. I'm with Spengs85 100% on all the complaints about the story. It just seems like lazy writing. IDW hasn't done enough Ghostbuster's stories to start dredging up time travel as a plot point. Why can't they just bust some badass ghosts in NYC while throwing around wisecracks? The Real Ghostbusters managed to do it for 5 years, and they had at least 2 to 3 great seasons before they started to get silly. This concept is silly and does not fit the feel/universe of the property. The uncharacteristic violence is more reminiscent of Evil Dead then Ghostbusters. If I wanted Evil Dead I'd buy the Army Of Darkness comic that I saw on the rack next to this comic. If I wanted a time travel story I'd go watch Back to the Future. I bought Ghostbusters because I want to read a Ghostbusters story. I could write a better GB story in my sleep.

********SPOLIERS*********
I'm at a lost with this mini series. Its again not Ghostbusters. So the guys are sent out to 4 time periods? Why doesn't Koza'rai just get rid of them forever? Its as bad as TOS's the guys are dead and their bodies full of bullet holes in the waters, yet can come back to life ‘cause their souls are going back to the bodies? That was alot right there not answered for in TOS. This new girl is just unbelievable. Peter in bed with her was just more than we needed to be seen. Sex was never seen in the films so this shouldn’t have been in the comic. I'm not too perturbed about the axe hacking a ghost. Not like the TOS's Peter ripping out a spine. The time travelling is hard to grasp ‘cause I could never see how the guys would get out of this. Using the girl as the be all answers for their dillemma is too easy of a plot device to give the reader. Ecto-10? Why is it Ecto-10 and the girl made it time travel!? Why not just bring in the Delorean from Back to the Future? Also how can Peter make use of the GB equipment in the ol’ West with no modern resources (trap and containment in a well?)? Peter was also never seen to have the techno intellect of Egon and Ray with the equipment. But this Rachel girl is better then them all?
They really need the GB comics to be about the guys busting ghosts and be in NYC. Some sort of basic plot storytelling, a beginning, middle and end. The best Real GB episodes did this. Legion at least stayed within these parameters and so did the GB Manga comic book and GB: The Return novel. The IDW comics so far, are way off on these in story. I give GB: DA #1 a 2/4. Its somewhat OK with too many straying moments in its execution. It barely feels better than TOS so far. Its not what I expect a GB comic to be about. They should really get JMS or Micheal Reeves or Andrew Dabb to take a stabb at these GB comics.

I'll give my honest opinion: I enjoyed quite a bit of it. I sort-of enjoyed TOS also, but that sucker did have a lot of lame problems toward the end. TOS from the beginning, though, read like a bad episode of RGB (with the coherent ghosts of gangsters and all that), not to mention the contrived, sudden and unexplained resurrection at the end. Most of it was okay, though.

This story is (so far) better than TOS. Only Rachel is a problem. Like everyone has said, she is contrivance incarnate. I don't have a problem with the idea of a lady ‘Buster, but her origin is lame (though it carries interesting ideas) and the fact that she’s the “best EVAR” is lame as all Hell. Her characterization is pedantic, too. Converting the Ecto-1 into a time machine? I could buy it if Ray and Egon did it. But her? She even says in the story earlier that, although fascinating, she can't exactly keep up with Spengler's lectures. And we're expected to believe she's capable of building a time machine and upgrading the Ghostbusting equipment? Are you kidding me?

Rachel aside, I liked it, though. I don't get the hate for the axe-into-head thing. Sure, the movies never did anything like that, but it's not necessarily unright for the property. The spine-ripping from TOS, I can see complaints on that, as that's a little more gratuitous than GB should go. But the axe-hit is prettymuch par-for-the-course on GB.

Yes, Venkman putting Ghostbusting equipment together seems a little out of character, but I've always liked to think that Venkman knows more than he lets on (As we saw in GB:TVG), he just doesn't want to be percieved as “stiff.” So I can suspend disbelief enough to accept that Venkman could rig up a Pack and Trap. I wish he'd have talked about how he makes the Containment Unit work, though.

For the plot: I like the idea of the it. I was worried when I heard about it, but I ended up finding it interesting. The big baddie feels that death cannot stop the GBs (probably because of the events of TOS), so sticking them away from present day would be an effective deterrent. And Rachel coming from a present-day NY that's been toppled by the demon is a cool idea.

The Rachel problem could have been fixed by making it Roland or Kylie from EGB. Just claim they're from an alternate future so it doesn't tie EGB down into strict continuity. That would give the character a much-needed pre-defined personality, and it would be a fun easter-egg for hardcore Ghostheads. Not to mention the fact that I could buy Roland or Kylie doing the things Rachel has done.

Egon Spengler;154621
She even says in the story earlier that, although fascinating, she can't exactly keep up with Spengler's lectures. And we're expected to believe she's capable of building a time machine and upgrading the Ghostbusting equipment? Are you kidding me?

Jeez, that one actually made it past me. You're right; she admits that she couldn't keep up with Egon's lectures, yet was able to fix a technical problem he wasn't able to figure out and built a ****ing time machine.

Scott Lobdell wrote this story on his lunchbreak, I swear…