Printed Perversions: IDW’s Ghostbusters #1

When there’s something strange on your comic store selves, who you gonna call?

STORY BY: Erik Burnham
COVER AND ART BY: Dan Schoening
PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing
COVER PRICE: $3.99

Earlier this month comic publisher IDW release the first issue of what some fans feared would never come… a brand spanking new (ongoing) GHOSTBUSTERS series! Spearheaded by the creative team of scribe Erik Burnham and illustrator Dan Schoening the new series not only looks like what I’d imagine a rebooted animated series might (TV producers take note!), but it also finds the perfect balance between the films and the original cartoon.

The issue kicks off inside Ray’s head (a dangerous place by any stretch of the imagination) and manages to simultaneously re-introduce us to the rest of the cast as if they were some old friends we simply hadn’t seen in awhile. Burnham and Schoening even manage to sneak in an appearance by the late John Belushi in an all-too-clever Blues Brothers attire cameo. It’s one of the more evident Easter Eggs by the team with others popping up all throughout the book.

From there we get a glimpse of a new ghost (referred to in the afterword as Idulnas) which sets up a sub plot before jumping straight into the “main story” with Winston and Peter investigate a pro bono case for a kid named Alan (who happens to be related to Janosz from Ghostbusters II – poor kid). The action sorta comes to a crawl at this point until the very end when a certain green blob makes his presence known. Its pretty safe to say that is incarnation is NOT the kid-friendly Slimer from the TV show, but rather somewhat closer to the film version.

As if all of that isn’t enough to impress, the issue ends with a back up story by Tristan Jones which sets up another subplot involving the reinstatement of Walter Peck and his promotion to head of NY’s “Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission.” While Peck conveys that he’s willing to put his personal issues with the Ghostbusters aside this time one can’t help but wonder what the slimy slug has up his sleeves this time. To round things out there’s also a Ghostly Gallery that reveals behind the scenes sketches and notes from the creators (Burnham, Schoening and Jones)!

FINAL THOUGHTS

These are people who love these characters and it shows with a solid story, phenomenal artwork and oodles of bonus material. If there’s one new series that you must make room for on your pull list its this one – ’nuff said!