Random Review: Who ya gonna call?

For today’s random review, I’ve decided I’ll be writing about one of the 80’s hot properties: the Ghostbusters. For those who don’t know (and really, I couldn’t see why you wouldn’t, if you’re reading this blog) the film Ghostbusters came out in 1984. It was a quirky comedy starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis (hey, those last two rhymed) and Sigourney Weaver. It was a movie about well… ghost busting. Twenty years later in 2004, 88MPH studios produced a 4 issue series called Ghostbusters: Legion. I happened to get ahold of it, and being a fan of the movies and cartoon (the first one, really), I read it with enthusiasm. It’s actually not a bad read.

Anyways, this storyline has the four Ghostbusters being confronted by one Ray, Egon, and Peter’s (poor Winston, always left out) old colleague, Michael Draverhaven. Apparently back in University, the four had quite an experiment going, but, of course, something went wrong. Michael went insane afterward, and ended up in an institution. At the end of the first issue, we find out he’s escaped.

The Ghostbusters are doing their usual thing, and a number of interesting side plots emerge: Janine, the mousy secretary, has a crush on Egon, and humorously tried to woo him with little success. Ray is dissatisfied with the fad surrounding their business; he’s depressed that the group aren’t considered legitimate scientists, and seem to be a passing fad. It’s pretty awesome to see that the writer decided to delve a little deeper into the Ghostbusters’ personalities; it’s not something we see much of in the films. Speaking of the films: this one seems to take place between Ghostbusters 1 and 2, or ignores the second movie completely.

Anyways, it turns out our crazy boy Michael has the ability to control and talk to ghosts. He’s looking to stir up some chaos in New York, and to get a measure of revenge against his former comrades; it turns out Peter and Egon weren’t too kind to him, and only used him for his collection of occult books. While being teased sucks, demolishing New York does seem a bit extreme; then again, I’m not insane.

While a lot of comics based on movie properties really seem to fall flat (see: slasher flicks), this one doesn’t. It brings a lot of personality to the Ghostbusters and keeps up with the humour that the films had. I’d really recommend it to any fan of the series. The art is awesome for a small studio, and the writing’s top notch. Hopefully we’ll see more of the ‘busters’ adventures from 88MPH soon.