Ghostbusters: Get Real #1

The Good

The god of great concepts has smiled upon the average comic book reader on this day as IDW's Ghostbusters crossover with The Real Ghostbusters, that Ghostbusters cartoon, without the ape, from the mid-80s. Yes, it's ridiculous, but not too far fetched as the Ghostbusters have already done some really out there things, like crossed over with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and spent some time in limbo.

While it's been quite some time since I sat down and watched The Real Ghostbusters cartoon, writer Erik Burnham captured the essence of those characters pretty well, who all seemed almost like a watered-down version of their movie counterparts. Seeing these characters meet up with the IDW counter-parts was fantastic and both versions of Venkman had some great dialogue, in a game of "who can be wittiest" scattered throughout the last part of the issue.

In this story, Proteus wants to capture the Ghostbusters but a woman named Claudia, who the Ghostbusters helped, thwarts his plan, sending the team to the IDW dimension. Things get a little tricky from there because the Ghostbusters need to get home, but Proteus isn't giving up so easily.

Easily, one of the coolest things about the issue is the huge difference in character designs that artist Dan Schoening presents here. We have a very 80s animation style mixed with Schoening's usual style. It's jolting and stops the reader in their tracks, in the best way possible because that's the point of the book. This is a crazy crossover. Colorist Luis Antonio Delgado does something really cool here as well. In the Real Ghostbusters world, the colors are really flat, much like the cartoon, but when they move over to the IDW dimension, the color work becomes a tad more complex, which is a pretty cool effect on character who we're used to seeing as flat.

The Bad

The real downside to this new mini-series is that it's not incredibly new-reader friendly. Sure, the reader can piece the puzzle together themselves, but for the most part, a lot of what happens here ties into previous volumes and even into the GHOSTBUSTERS/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES crossover. So while some of what's going on can be a tad confusing, hopefully, a new reader can piece some of the confusing parts of the story together.

The Verdict

There was no surprise that GHOSTBUSTER: GET REAL was going to be a fun book. Conceptually, it's a brilliant idea and the execution matches the level. While the main story just may seem like the Real Ghostbusters getting back to their own dimension, but there's another fun layer to it. The book is headed in the right direction and the artwork here is top notch as well. If you're looking for something a bit out there, but a lot of fun, check this book out.

So glad Burnham, Schoening, and Degaldo get to spend more time with this franchise.

Love the cover! Saw some of the inside art and love the fact it's drawn like the old show.

Really like that cover. Man, I have a lot of catching up to do with this franchise.

^^^ Loved that cartoon as a kid and forgot about 'The Real' tagline. Thanks for that!

~KL~

i had to jump on this this book, when i seen the cartoon version of Peter on the cover. i got that real nostalgic feeling when reading this, i was thinking of the cartoon. the idea of this crossover is just so cool !!!

I loved the first issue, I can't wait for the rest! I've already even started coming up with an idea for an animated direct-to-DVD feature adaptation. My voice cast would consist of:

+The IDW Ghostbusters

-Frank Welker as Peter Venkman--Welker is the most recent voice of Garfield, a character shared by two former Venkmans, Bill Murray and Lorenzo Music.

-Dan Akroyd returns as Ray Stanz

-Maurice LaMarche returns as Egon Spengler--his voice was dead-on for Harold Ramis in the old show.

-Ernie Hudson returns as Winston Zeddemore

+The Real Ghostbusters

-Dave Coulier returns as Peter Venkman--he took over for Music in later seasons of the show, and I'd figure it'd help differentiate him further from IDW Peter.

-Frank Welker returns as Ray Stanz

-Maurice LaMarche returns as Egon Spengler

-Arsenio Hall returns as Winston Zeddemore--he was the original voice of Winston in the cartoon, and unfortunately last year we lost the second voice, the late great Buster Jones. I figured it'd be Arsenio's way of paying him back.

And finally, Sean Bean in a rare semi-comedic turn as Proteus, the main villain of the piece.

It was awesome. Can't wait for more!

they had to add the real because Sony Columbia Pictures did not want to get sued by Filmation.