I lost interest in reading this after the second issue. It just didn't seem like Ghostbusters to me. I really hope they get another writer for the next series.

GB3;134177
Why does Winston have his moustache? He didn't have it in the 2nd film so it should'nt have been there if were to follow after the 2nd movie. This is a minor thing but it just made it look like this was ignoring the 2nd movie.

He has it in the new game, which is shortly after the old game.

Dr. Stantz;134924
He has it in the new game, which is shortly after the old game.

I think you mean, shortly after Ghostbusters II.

Doctor Venkman;134940
I think you mean, shortly after Ghostbusters II.

No, he means after the SEGA Genesis game, where he tried to remove it with some vanishing cream that also made the rest of him vanish. :p

Dr. Stantz;134924
He has it in the new game, which is shortly after the old game.

If you mean the Sega one, well, he didn't even make an appearance that game. In fact, the only games I can even recall having Winston are the GB2 Gameboy Games and the New Ghostbusters 2 for NES. The other GB2 game did too, but all the characters looked the same lol.

I reviewed all 4 issues of the series over at my site. You can check them out Here, if you're interested.

Like a lot of you, I was tremendously let down by this series. I decided to head over to the IDW Forums and summarize my thoughts in their Ghostbusters thread. I dunno if they actually read any of the feedback on the messageboard, but I figured I'd at least try to make my voice heard.

Here's what I wrote:

My overall thoughts:

I don't like to be negative, and really, I am happy to have some new Ghostbusters fiction to bite into after so long a drought. But at the end of the day, The Other Side was not the kind of Ghostbusters story I was looking for.

*Gratuitous gore that was tremendously out of place,
*The Ghostbusters acting out of character,
*Unnecessary and meaningless characters like Jiff,
*An overall lack of humor,
*And, perhaps most importantly, scarcely ANY actual ghostbusting.

I think Keith Champagne was just the wrong man for the job. I was left with the impression that he really wasn't interested in writing an actual Ghostbusters story, and so for all intents and purposes, he really didn't. Swap Peter, Winston et al with any other Joe and you wouldn't miss a beat.

Now, there is no rigid formula on how Ghostbusters stories “should” be written, but there are wheelbarrows full of excellent examples. Just for the sake of not sounding like a nostalgia-hound, I won't even bring up The Real Ghostbusters for examples.

Personally, I think the folks over at TokyoPop got it down pat and perhaps their approach should be looked at for structural inspiration.

Yamashita and co. went about the “Ghost Busted” graphic novel with an approach similar to how Americans do cartoons. Each chapter/episode tells an isolated story with a separate plot and conclusion, but the events of the story contribute to an overall story arc, resolved in the final chapter/episode.

I felt that was a structural approach which really played toward the strengths of the Ghostbusters universe. The overall tone balanced the darkness with the humor, something that is very important when it comes to Ghostbusters (and something Champagne neglected). Lastly, their stories offered new and fresh material with a welcomed sense of familiarity. The stories were new and exciting, but still felt like “Ghostbusters”.

Champagne's approach simply bucked everything we knew and loved about Ghostbusters with the express purpose of being “totally different”. Redefining a property is one thing, but there must be a limit.


Anyhow, food for thought. As a Ghostbusters fan, I will always support the property in any way I can, but I will support it with the hope of better things on the horizon. And I hope that IDW's next Ghostbusters efforts will be an improvement.