I hate to say it, but it just isn't good… It doesn't fit the iconic characters, it misses the typical humor… There are some things making GB great as it is, but the author dramatically failed by ignoring them. He is the wrong guy for this title.

I think this is an ok effort. I do think GB Legion had better coloring and inking. Egons hair should be roundish fluff not spiky. I'm not one to gripe too much but it really felt like an RGB story. I think the way the two GB films are, the way stories should be told is that we see the ghost problems or threats to persons or the people, then expand the story from then forth to concern the GB's. What turned me off is that we see the gangster ghosts yapping and don't know why the GB's are getting them or how they got to find them. If its gonna be spinning from the films we need to have the stories told slowly and dealing with a problem plot for the GB's foretold. I don't iknow if what I'm makes any sense, but thats what I think. I know a novel is a different style of storytelling, but I think GB the Return was a good story overall. I guess the detailed storytelling and concepts are what I'd like the comics to be more like. GB: Legion I still thought was under GB:The Return in my ranking between the two.
Maybe Sholly Fisch should write a GB comic? Or get Andrew Dabb to try again. JMS if he's not too busy? Already I'm thinkin new writers. I don't mean to be like this. But I must remind myself its only one issue into the story and I look forward to see how the guys get out of this one. It still has me interested.

I still feel spoiled by the “no, we're the Rockettes. Do you think these sequins pay for themselves?” line in The Zeddemore Factor. That was such a brilliant capture of Murray's Venkman that every subsequent attempt at writing the character feels a little forced.

But, y'know, early days. We'll see.

Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1

Well, the good news, it's a new Ghostbusters story, by a company that has a track record for actually putting stuff out. Compare that to the previous licensee, 88MPH Studios, who took an entire year to release the four issues of Ghostbusters: Legion and never did deliver the hardcover compilation that fans ordered and paid for three years ago.

(Oh, heck, rather than repeat some bitter rants here, I will direct you to a post on the Ectozone Message Board)

The art is okay. Not spectacular, but okay. But I gotta admit, the dual problems of “likeness rights” and “We think most fans want them to look like the movie actors” lead to some weird results. The cover, for example (which is not by the interior artist) feature characters that could, to some extent, be just about anybody. Heck, ironically, on the cover Winston looks like no one more than Arsenio Hall.

The interior art delivers a bit more characterization. Venkman looks pretty decent, with a nice unruliness to his hair that helps distinguish him (of course, he spends most of the issue posessed). Winston didn't do much for me. Ray was pretty good, suitably goofball. Egon? I gotta admit, I really don't like the spiked haircut. It just doesn't fit him. It looks like something Janine drug him out to do under protest to try and “make him more hip” or something.

Of course, I'm the person who thinks current Ghostbuster licensees are missing the boat by not dumping the “make them look like the movie actors, but not enough to force us to pay them” bullshit game and just use the far more dynamic character designs from the cartoons, so take what I say on the matter with a grain of salt, I guess.

Story wise, I found myself in a very “1989 after GB2” state of mind, maybe because not one but two RGB episodes (“Partners In Slime” and “The Ghostbusters Live From Al Capone's Tomb”) and two issues of the Now RGB comic (Vol.1#4, #7) from 1989 involved ghost gangsters.

None of the familiar supporting and secondary characters appear here, or are even mentioned: no Janine. No Slimer. No Louis or Dana. It's just the four Ghostbusters and a bunch of ghost gangsters.

I admit there's a few holes in the continuity, even knowing that (sigh) they're not paying attention to anything from the cartoons. We know Venkman has been kicked out of his body, but there's no reason for Ray and Egon to realize that until after they knock out the posessing entity and Venkman doesn't wake up–over the course of the two movies, Dana, Louis, and even, briefly, Ray himself were posessed, and their spirits didn't depart for the “dark void of dispair”.

A few good zingers, though. I laughed out loud when the entity posessing Venkman claimed he was “screamin' like a little girl” and Venkman's ghost retorts “That's a total lie! Everybody knows I sound like a big girl when I scream”

Points for a shocker of an ending, though: Venkman's posessed and his spirit's in Purgatory. And Ray, Winston, and Egon have been shot with more holes than John McCain's economic plan.

Final assessment: Frankly, I didn't get nearly as much of an “Oh, Yeah!” zing out of this one as I did with Legion #1. I think the writers and artists of the earlier project had a much greater sense of familiarity with the property and characters at the outset. But I think The Other Side is still not a bad start, and plan to stick around and see where it goes.

I must say I agree mostly with what's already been said. I'm intregued, but the ending seemed really dark for Ghostbusters. And the preview for the next one, still kind of freaks me out. At this point, I'm hooked to see where it goes. I know, especially if hoping for an on-going series, that they will find a way out of this, but still.

On a side note, did anyone else who pre-ordered from Graham Crackers to have it shipped find that it's taking a long time to get it? (I had my dad pick me up a copy of the first issue in Dallas, since the ONLY comic shop here in Amarillo screwed me over). I had to get the exclusive cover from GCC though, and I've been following the tracking on the USPS label, only to find that it went from Illinois to Rhode Island to Massachusettes to North Carolina to Arkansas. Supposedly it left Little Rock yesterday. I have a feeling this is just the USPS as work, so I'm not blaming GCC, but that just seems nuts to me.

Sp9543 Wrote:

I think that this is because so much of the story is reminiscent of an RGB episode

*And two separate comic series based on RGB as well [NOW, and Marvel UK respectively]:



*I'm surprised Fritz didn't say something about this…



*Cheers.

GhstbstrLMLIII;130413
On a side note, did anyone else who pre-ordered from Graham Crackers to have it shipped find that it's taking a long time to get it? (I had my dad pick me up a copy of the first issue in Dallas, since the ONLY comic shop here in Amarillo screwed me over). I had to get the exclusive cover from GCC though, and I've been following the tracking on the USPS label, only to find that it went from Illinois to Rhode Island to Massachusettes to North Carolina to Arkansas. Supposedly it left Little Rock yesterday. I have a feeling this is just the USPS as work, so I'm not blaming GCC, but that just seems nuts to me.

Well of course thats USPS, not GCC. If the address info was correct, its not GCC's fault.

That said, my pre-order came in on Monday of this week I think, so it was like 5 days. Not bad at all.

More or less the same comments as everyone else: the cover is a much better piece of art than the interior images; the lack of humor and sharp characterization makes this not feel like a GB story; Ray looks about 22 years old, even though this is long enough after GB2 for Winston to have gotten a doctorate (so Ray should be 30-ish at the lowest); Egon's hair is not his best look; and the ending is too dark for this franchise – Winston's “last words” are right on the money.

Moreover, Janine's absence helps robs the story's darkness of any real emotional impact. Ray, Egon and Winston are so focused on getting Peter back to normal that, as a reader, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be worried, upset, darkly amused, or just mildly intrigued. If this were an RGB episode or a fanfic, Janine's reactions to the situation would have helped give us those emotional cues – although the other three GBs could have done the same if they were better written. Omitting Slimer was probably a knee-jerk reaction to him being a symbol of the franchise's “childishness” – but just look at the skillful way JMS and other writers used him in some of the best episodes of RGB, and you'll see that the character shouldn't be dismissed that casually. (He is, after all, one of the prime symbols of this franchise in the minds of the general public, along with the logo and the song…)

Also, although the full page panel revealing the four mob bosses is a good piece of art, I was irritated by the apparent assumption that readers would instantly recognize Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano, and whoever the other two guys were – not everyone is a student of the history of organized crime.

I'll withhold final judgment for a few issues, though.

Hey Gang!

Finally got around to reading The Other Side, Personally I enjoyed certain parts of the comic. Like other people here, I felt it lack in areas such as characterization and the art wasn't top notch. But other then that I felt the story is comming along good, not great but enough to get me intrested. The only concern I have is at the end of the comic book when our heroes litterly DIE. I mean im looking at the last panel and totally stunned and shocked, wondering how the hell is this going to work? How are they going to come back from death and live once again? Can't believe im saying this, but when I finshed the comic book, I sat there feeling as if my childhood had been attacked and bomb. Seeing that last page with them lifeless left me somewhat stuck in between sad and angry.

Does anyone know how the comic sold? Maybe this was mentioned elsewhere and I just missed it (and if so, I apologize). Legion #1 completely sold out and was given a second run. Coming after that fiasco though, I was wondering how this one faired. If it did the same, it would definately help nudge an on-going series.