Discuss the Ghostbusters Comic from IDW, as well as the now defunct Ghostbusters: Legion series.
#4784960
Hi everybody, I've been thinking about picking up some Ghostbusters comics, but I have a couple of questions before I do.

1: Which continuity are these comics set in? The animated show, or the movies? I consider the movies/video games to be one continuity, and the animated show to be another. I'm hoping the comic fits into one or the other.

2: What year does the comic take place?

3: And lastly (for now), are ALL the IDW comics set in the same continuity, or am I good just picking up the two ongoing series to start?

Thanks in advance for any answers!
#4784965
The IDW comics follow the continuity of Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

The comic features elements and characters inspired by or taken from both The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters, but neither cartoon is considered a part of the established series of events. The comic has also set itself up to potentially lead into the events of Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime.


The current year in the comic appears to be 1996. I believe the year in the comic when it first began was 1992/1993.

Do you mean all of IDW's comic titles, or just the Ghostbusters ones? On the whole all of IDW's Ghostbusters comics have been set in the same continuity (although I strongly suspect the first miniseries, The Other Side is largely ignored these days).


You can start from the very beginning, picking up The Other Side, but you could easily skip most of the miniseries prior to the monthly and not miss out in much (although the Tainted Love issue did introduce Winston's current love interest).
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#4784969
Okay thanks a bunch. I'll probably just start with the first ongoing, as I know my local comicshop has the trades for those.

What year does the game take place in again? What about Sanctum of Slime? Are they ignoring that?

Edit: Never mind the Sanctum of Slime part of this post. I somehow skipped over that part when I read your reply. lol :)
#4784970
LawgSkrak wrote:Okay thanks a bunch. I'll probably just start with the first ongoing, as I know my local comicshop has the trades for those.

What year does the game take place in again? What about Sanctum of Slime? Are they ignoring that?
The Video Game takes place in late 1991. Sanctum of Slime takes place about the same time it was released, which was on March 23, 2011, more or less. While it might not be the "set future" of the IDW continuity, they did nod to it in the first issue of the ongoing series--one of the characters hired in the game appears as a child.
#4784973
Well, I doubt the comic will run for 15 more years (to bring us from 1996 to 2011), so we can probably safely assume that it is the future of the series. :)

Have they dropped any Return of the Ghostbusters easter eggs in the comic?
#4785068
Here's a more complete rundown of IDW's Ghostbusters stuff, and whether or not you might "need" to read it:

The Other Side
As Kingpin mentioned, you can safely skip this one.

Displaced Aggression
Was a lot better. A character from it is developed in one of Vol.1 of the ongoing's PCOC files.

The Haunted Holidays one-shots (collected in the Haunted Holidays compilation)
--Past, Present, Future: A take on "A Christmas Carol"; different from the RGB episode "X-Mas Marks The Spot"
--Tained Love: As Kingpin mentioned, the first appearance of Winston's love interest seen in the ongoing
--Con-Volution: Really fun story, but arguably the most "missable"
--What The Sam Hain Just Happened? First story to feature Dan Schoening's artwork.
The compilation also includes another story illustrated by Schoening, "Guess What's Coming To Dinner?", which can also be found in the Ghostbusters 100-Page Spooktacular

Ghostbusters: Infestation
A two-issue tie-in to the "Infestation" event, but you don't need to read any of the rest of it. Notable as Erik Burnham's first story
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#4785076
Fritz wrote:Ghostbusters: Infestation
A two-issue tie-in to the "Infestation" event, but you don't need to read any of the rest of it. Notable as Erik Burnham's first story
And the story to introduce Winston's Proton Pistol.
#4785812
Just finished reading Volume 1 and have Volume 2 on order.

I loved it! Can't wait to read more. The only problem I had with the story was Winston not seeming to know who Slimer was (In the very beginning of Chapter 2 of Vol. 1). But then I guess, if you're just counting the movies and the video game, he never really saw Slimer, did he? I had been thinking he saw Slimer in the video game, but the Rookie and Peter caught him before Winston showed up at the Sedgewick. BUT, didn't they keep Slimer in a containment box that was right there in the office, so shouldn't Winston, by the time of the comic, have known who Slimer was? Been a while since I've played the game, so I can't remember.
#4785816
Uh, he knows. I took it as banter. In Vol.1 Issue #2, Winston said he read the file on Slimer. Maybe he didn't participate in any of the recaptures between Ghostbusters II and The Video Game or The Video Game and the ongoing series. But he definitely would have seen Slimer in the Firehouse in the Paranormal Containment Research Tank at some point. He doesn't necessarily have a close connection to it like the others so I suppose Slimer never made much of an impression on him. I'm not sure he cares to remember what every ghost looks like either.
#4785834
Slimer was one of the areas that IDW was playing a little bit of "pick and choose" with Video Game continuity. They did that a lot, especially early on, for new readers who would only be familiar with the movies

Don't take my word for it:
Erik Burnham wrote:I kept the first two movies, period. The game? I cherry-picked from it. I admit it! Assume that the events from the game happened... unless you see me contradict them (as is the obvious case with Slimer or Winston's doctorate.) I'm trying to please fans, straights, Sony, IDW, and myself... there will be hiccups, and with a complex timeline, probably mistakes too -- so I have to seize flexibility where I can find it.
#4786061
Well, I don't think the writer should be contradicting the video game for the sake of readers who have only seen the movies. The game, like it or not, is considered canon for now, so it shouldn't be contradicted. Hopefully it doesn't happen too often.

Besides, I'm pretty sure that the majority of ppl who are actually big enough fans to buy the comics have probably played the game as well. It's just wishful thinking, in this day and age, for the writer to think casual fans of only the movies are going to be reading the book. They probably have no clue it even exists.
#4786145
LawgSkrak wrote:Well, I don't think the writer should be contradicting the video game for the sake of readers who have only seen the movies. The game, like it or not, is considered canon for now, so it shouldn't be contradicted. Hopefully it doesn't happen too often.

Besides, I'm pretty sure that the majority of ppl who are actually big enough fans to buy the comics have probably played the game as well. It's just wishful thinking, in this day and age, for the writer to think casual fans of only the movies are going to be reading the book. They probably have no clue it even exists.
Except for the movies, things are only canon until Sony decides they'd like it changed, and, like the comics or the cartoon, it would likely be completely ignored when and if they do more movies. Right now, to Sony's mind, the comics are canon above the game. The next active project will supercede us. Only the films - only the films! - are sacrosanct, and if there's a total reboot, even those will become open to future interpretation.

Sony has some very specific rules about what we're allowed to change/use in the comics; sometimes I have to agree to conditions to use (a character or idea.) "You can use Louis -- so long as he doesn't have three kids and a wife," for example.

That's also the thing that keeps me from having an on-panel Egon and Janine relationship; using two major characters in such a way, the shipper fans may not like what conditions Sony would impose. So I shy away until there is permission.

And there are casual fans, believe it or not. They don't outnumber the hardcores, and they have different things they're looking for in the book (mostly... stuff they liked from the first movie.) But they are there.

This book has been a pretty major part of my life for three years now -- so take my word for it. (:
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#4786146
Sometimes the controlling powers make decisions that don't always make a lot of sense to us fans, another dictate on a comic that was probably issued by its' respective major rights holder was that the comic continuing the events of the Evil Dead series was titled Army of Darkness, with the logic (from what I remember) being that AoD was the most recent movie of that franchise. :(
#4786219
The comics are more canon over something that has all the actors from the films in it, and something we were told was basically Ghostbusters 3, since it's been taking forever for us to get one? Okay, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me at all.

Why not just include everything? I see no real reason to contradict the game. You don't really even have to mention it all that much. I'm sure the casual fans would just gloss over any mention of the game events as 'just some past adventure the GBs had that we haven't seen' and move on. And I didn't mean to imply that there were NO casual fans picking up the book, but I doubt there are that many compared to the hardcore guys. I would worry more about what the hardcore fans want to see, as that is where most of your customer base lies. Of course, you have to listen to what Sony says, and I get that.

Oh well, from what I've read so far, you haven't really contradicted it too much, so I'm probably worrying over nothing. I'm just one of those fans that likes everything to fit together, and don't understand why creators don't want that as well. And by creators I mean the actual owners of the franchise. One big story that fits together is always more enjoyable than a bunch of stories that contradict each other every time you turn around.

And I'm not too worried about the new movie contradicting the game OR the comics. Pretty sure it'll be set in modern day, while the original movies/game/comic timeline is only up to the late 90s, so plenty of wiggle room there. And if we get a complete redo ala nuTrek, it doesn't matter anyway.

I AM loving the comic so far, though. Don't think I'm saying otherwise. :) All I'm asking is, please don't contradict the game if you don't have to. (I'm only through Vol. 2 of the trades, so I'm still a bit behind. )

Thanks for answering, Erik. Honored that your first post was in my humble thread. :)
#4786235
By that I meant that I would've been allowed to ignore the game entirely, but not the movies. Nothing licensed (including the game, all the actors or no) is on the same field as the movies in Sony's eyes.

And I've said it before, I do kind of wish for a floating timeline for GB comics to not tie it too closely to any year (just fudging things like "Jan. 1 1990.") otherwise, you put a clock on the characters. You either run out of years to tell stories, have to start contradicting, or just out and out drop stories. Which some fans are fine with, I know.

But who knows. I do know we'll see a reboot of the franchise sooner than later. The concept is too strong. I do wonder whether it will contemporize Venkman and co, build from the foundation of the originals, or just start fresh with new guys coming up with the concept of proton packs and catching ghosts.
#4786240
Erik these comics have been a monthly delight for me. :). I love what you and your team have put together and believe that with you and your team have done a superb job incorporating stuff or characters we've seen from the franchise these 30 years. Weather written into the dialogue or an Easter egg they have been fun to spot. Which I find very impressive giving the guidelines you have to follow. :). I hope you guys are able to continue bringing more stories to life regardless if there is a new movie or not. From a real big fan, Thank You and your team for what you have put together. Really excited to see where Mass Hysteria is heading. :):):)
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#4786242
ErikBurnham wrote:But who knows. I do know we'll see a reboot of the franchise sooner than later. The concept is too strong. I do wonder whether it will contemporize Venkman and co, build from the foundation of the originals, or just start fresh with new guys coming up with the concept of proton packs and catching ghosts.
Sadly I strongly suspect the latter as I imagine Sony will happily rationalise "why should we bother referencing the 80s Ghostbusters when we can get new fans hooked by starting from the ground up?"

It's a similar problem that's been experienced by the Doctor Who community... although not so much from the BBC, there've been some very vocal fans who have little to no interest in the show before it was relaunched back in 2005, and that's disappointing. Even more saddening were the groups of fans who insisted that the Doctor can only be young an attractive, and who were quite appalling in their remarks about Peter Capaldi (who'll be starting his time as the Doctor later this year), claiming he was too old... we're happy to lose those fans. :)
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#4786245
Well, I for one hope a new movie will be a new crew of Ghostbusters with Ray and Winston (played by Dan And Ernie) there in a 'teacher' capacity, at least for the first new film. I'm not really interested in a remake. There are far too many of them these days, and it just smacks of unoriginality. Just continue in the original continuity and give us a good story. For the most part, even people who weren't born when the original films came out know who and what the Ghostbusters are, and have seen the original films.

Filmakers don't give people enough credit these days.

And yeah, Kingpin. I agree with your Capaldi/Doctor Who points. I was rolling my eyes when ppl started complaining about Capaldi taking over, and sadly, I totally saw it coming. As a fan of Doctor Who from way back during Tom Baker's run on the show, I can safely say that Capaldi is going to ROCK as the Doctor.
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#4787308
Are hardcore fans that serious about continuity? I consider myself a hardcore Ghostbuster fan (I mean my first car was a Cadillac ambulance for god's sake) and I could not care less whether the stories held to the video game or not, or the cartoon (much as I love it). As long as the basic stuff is there and the stories are well written, Slimer could be their buddy when it makes sense and a pest when it fits the story and I'd be okay.
#4822007
I have no idea about the book in this image from Volume 2, Issue 9 :/
Image
It could be possible that the Icon Ghost has an autobiography :whatever:
#4823009
Finished the omnibus! I really enjoyed it. To be honest, I enjoyed The Other Side. Sure conceptually, it's bland but still enjoyed the dialogue from the guys. My least favorite story was actually Displaced Aggression. I thought the whole time traveling/different dimensions stuff worked better in the video game.

Absolutely loved the last story Past, Present, and Future. Classic GB story with all four of them, dialogue was spot on, and I loved the spooky element of Artie being the ghost the whole time. Not to mention the accuracies of the Navy/Charcoal uniforms.

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