Just a heads up for you folks: The Haunted Holidays trade paperback will be available tomorrow in comic shops!
The book will contain Past, Present, and Future, Tainted Love, Con-Volution and What in Sam Hain Just Happened?!-- along with a new 9-page Thanksgiving story by James Eatock and Dan Schoening, which is only available in this TPB.
I'd also expect it to be available from major book retailers (like Amazon) in the coming weeks as well.
Just picked mine up from my local comic store at lunch. It is great to have all these awesome stories together in one beautiful trade plus I can't wait to read the "Guess What's Coming to Dinner" Thanksgiving story tonight! I glanced at it briefly and it looked awesome.
IDW is doing some excellent stuff with GB right now and I am loving it!
Well shoot. I mostly pick up my comics from Hastings because the one and only local comic shop here sucks. Well, I didn't find the new TPB last week so I called them this afternoon. They have one in stock but their computer is telling them it is street dated for December, so they won't sell it to me!
Up until now, I'd only read "Tainted Love" and "Past, Present, and Future". "Tainted Love" was pretty good, and I liked that it gave Winston a chance to shine. Likewise, "Past, Present, and Future" rubbed me the wrong way a little bit because of the way Winston was treated, or I suppose moreso, the way Peter was written to treat Winston (not to mention the whole "Peter is a Scrooge/3 ghosts of XMas" concept was better executed as a whole in RGB).
Overall, however, I am very happy I got this book.
Here's my review of the 3 stories I hadn't read yet:
-"Con-volution"
It was a decent story. Some funny bits to be sure. I was slightly amused by the props falling apart. The main bad guy was kind of a throw away and had a pretty generic demon design, but he really didn't need to be anything special. I only had 3 small gripes about the whole issue. The first being the art. It didn't really feel up to par. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, and I'm not saying that the artist was lame, but I don't know, I feel like they could have found someone better. Number 2...well, 2 and 3... was that Egon and Ray seemed to be kind of exaggerated versions of their characters. Egon's a science nerd, yes. And if we take into account some of the character traits we saw in RGB (which I am more than happy to do), we know Ray is not only a pretty excitable guy, but also a little nerdy himself as well, both in science and comicbooks/cartoons/etc. He's a big kid at heart. But here, they seem just a little overboard. Just slightly. Something about when Egon was enticing the artist's ghost to come out was reminiscient of when they were testing the tub of slime at the firehouse in GB2, but something about how it was written seemed a little less Egon and a little more "how nerdy can we make this guy sound". Same with Ray. I can buy him dragging the guys to comic-con, but his whole "leader of the nerds" scene was a wee bit too much.
All in all, 7/10. The story by itself I'd give a little more, but the art just wasn't my cup of tea.
-"What in Samhain Just Happened"
I really don't know where to begin on this one. I will say this: I am extremely jealous of Dan Schoening. I want his job. Since I was a little kid, it's been one of my dreams to work on a GB comic as either a writer or artist. Heck, it's how I spent most of my childhood, making up GB stories and drawing pictures to go with them. Now, I'll be the first to admit, I still need a lot of work before I am ready to be drawin a GB comic (though I got some stories that will knock you on your hind quarters) . But Dan, man, my hat goes off to you. The art in this story is everything anyone who has watched your work over the years would expect from a fully illustrated GB story by you. Literally, I have but one slight nitpick about the art, and it has nothing to do with the quality, but with a design: If you just so happen to get the opprotunity to draw Janine as a GB again, I'd like to see her in a different uniform. It wasn't a bad design at all, just... I don't know, the bare stomach seemed kinda off. From a point of view of her taking it upon herself to go out and sort of represent the crew anyway. Then again, it was halloween. Maybe it was just Janine's own personal riff on the "sexy" gb costume (she did look good in it). Like I said, everything else was amazing.
Writing-wise, again, near perfection. I didn't mind the new take on Sam Hain at all. It's the movie world we're imagining all this happening in, so while it's nice to see some RGB nods, you gotta take some liberties every once in a while to get them in there. The characters were written spot on in such a way that it was absolutely respectful of both the movie and RGB versions of the characters. No equipment deus ex machinas as it seemed like IDW was prone to doing thus far, no cheeseball entities with copious amounts of exposition (in fact, Sam Hain didn't say a word, which was one of the things a few people touched on in the "what do want in a gb comic" thread). I'd say this was a solid 9/10 effort. As good as any of the best RGB episodes. I personally think that this was probably one of the most well executed GB comics since Legion. I'd say it's definitely in the same league as that story, both art and writing-wise...
-"Guess What's Coming to Dinner?"
...but in the words of Peter, this one "takes the taco". Actually, it takes the taco, hops in the car, drives, and then in the words of Egon, "it crossed the border". The shortest story in the bunch, and yet all the compliments I gave to the halloween story... oh man... if I could figure out how to multiply those times 10, that's what I'd have to say about this. If you thought Dan's "Samhain" stuff was good, this is abso-friggin-lutely drop dead gorgeous. Every panel is visually alive and you hear the voices (be it Murray or Music/Coulier, Aykroyd or Welker, etc.) as each character speaks, because each character is written so COMPLETELY true to form. That is a credit to Mr. James Eatock, who has so perfectly knocked it out of the park with his first try. In 9 pages, this dynamic duo has CRUSHED an objective that more seasoned writer's and artists have apparently found hard to do with 22. Pitch perfect charcters and dialougue, an engaging story, fantastic visuals, and it leaves you wanting oh-so-much-more. The fact that it ends the way it does is such a tease. Not that the story is particularly of the "to be continued" variety, but just in the way that you want more from James and Dan. IDW, I don't know what your plans are for the future of GB comics, but something tells me you should take one more look at that pitch that these guys threw together for you. If you are seeing the same 9- page miracle that I am, aren't you considering that maybe, just maybe (and after everyone else here reads it too, I'm sure they'll agree), these guys in fact ARE the ones you want for the job?
12/10 for this one. This 9 page gem has everything
except for an actual busting scene, but you already know that would have been spectacular had they shown it. I like that they didn't though. It's more effective...and like I said, it's the perfect tease to make you want more from this creative team
This Post Contains Spoilers
. Hell, I'd count it above Legion if I thought it was fair (Legion did have a quality story over 4 whole issues). But it shows that the capacity to produce an amazing GB comic is in IDW's grasp. The bar has most definitely been set...
So that's my take on this. Highly reccomended. Anyone not buying it because they already have all the other issues save for the Thanksgiving one (which is completely understandable), I certainly hope you get a chance to read/see it eventually, because otherwise... well, I was going to say you're missing out, but it's not even that.
I bought the Ghostbusters: Haunted Holidays TPB from Amazon for $12.14. It released a little later online than in comic shops. It was good to see some of the one-shots that came before "What in Samhain Just Happened?" and also ones I never read. I thought they were all decent 3/5 stories.
"Tainted Love" was my least favorite, mainly because the plot dictated them create a set of one-off equipment. Peter was surprisingly good in this one. It seemed like it'd be totally Winston-centric.
"Con-Volution" was surprisingly funny. The bits with Peter and the lawyer super-fans and the bit where Peter makes up those demon classifications were my favorites.
"Past, Present, and Future" had a nice twist with the Ghost of Christmas Present being the culprit and Peter again stealing the show, again, imo. I didn't care for how Winston was 'just an employee' line even though its a moot point. Anyone know what that 'Future' Gozer (or was it another Gozer Servitor) was based on?
The other reason I bought it was for the exclusive bonus 8 page story, "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" by James Eatock (Cereal: Geek and commentator on The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection) and Dan Schoening. It was a funny self-contained story about possessed turkey stuffing that really captured the voice of the characters from RGB rather than give us a standard zap, cap, and trap 'em/been there done that story.
I finally picked up the TPB last night. While I appreciate the new Thanksgiving story that was added (Love Dan's work) I was excpecting for the TPB to at least have a cover gallery.
I really did enjoy Guess What's Coming to Dinner - it was just too short! Eatock has captured the characters wonderfully and the humor is exactly how Ghostbusters was meant to be. And as I've said before, I would love to see a new animated series with Dan's work.
Alright, IDW, after Infestation (which I'm looking forward to and wish I could see the promo mini that was mentioned on ProtonCharging), let's see where you go with it!
GhstbstrLMLIII wrote:Alright, IDW, after Infestation (which I'm looking forward to and wish I could see the promo mini that was mentioned on ProtonCharging), let's see where you go with it!
I'm not going to lie Jim - I hope you know something we don't. In the newsletter part of the October comics, it mentions that the Halloween book was the last of the holiday one-shots for Ghostbusters. So then, after Investation, I guess if we are going to get anything at all that leaves either more miniseries, or an ongoing. (Hopefully!)
GhstbstrLMLIII wrote:I'm not going to lie Jim - I hope you know something we don't. In the newsletter part of the October comics, it mentions that the Halloween book was the last of the holiday one-shots for Ghostbusters. So then, after Investation, I guess if we are going to get anything at all that leaves either more miniseries, or an ongoing. (Hopefully!)
my guess would be that will only happen if infestation sells well.
GhstbstrLMLIII wrote:I'm not going to lie Jim - I hope you know something we don't. In the newsletter part of the October comics, it mentions that the Halloween book was the last of the holiday one-shots for Ghostbusters. So then, after Investation, I guess if we are going to get anything at all that leaves either more miniseries, or an ongoing. (Hopefully!)
I know next to nothing, save that the license's future may be up in the air after Infestation. Here's hoping the undead can infuse a bit of life into the comics.
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