X-O Manowar #13 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (Writer), Cary Nord (Artist), Moose Baumann (Colorist)

The Story: Aric tests his connection to the Shanhara armor and defends the Visigoth settlement against the vine.

The Review: As the Planet Death storyline went on, I had problem with the pacing and the characterization of Aric, being bored at his stubbornness and his general attitude toward his goals. The comic had some good idea, but seemed to spin a bit on its own wheels as some new elements were being introduced, but not thoroughly explored in a satisfying way.

X-O Manowar #12 – Review

By: Robert Venditti (Writer), Cary Nord (Artist), Moose Baumann (Colorist)

The Story: Aric discovers that the Visigoth lives on Loam as slaves to the Vine as he finds out he still want to pretty much kill everyone on this planet.

The Review: If there’s one thing that this story cannot be accused of lacking, it’s scope. Let’s see what the synopsis could be so far for X-O Manowar: a Visigoth from 402 A.D. with a powerful alien armor decides to destroy an alien species by committing massive genocide on their home planet of Loam out of vengeance for having suffered in slavery to the Vine. That is what we could call a grand set for what could very well be something very big and memorable.

Ghostbusters: The Other Side #4 – Review

Keith Champagne (writer), Tom Nguyen (pencils), Moose Baumann (colors)

The Story: The Ghostbusters are running out of time. If they don’t get through the pipeline and back into their own bodies soon they’ll be trapped in Purgatory forever!

What’s Good: It’s over.

What’s Not So Good: Telling a Ghostbusters story with Heaven and Hell involved is fine. The fact that there are ghosts almost requires there to be a higher power from another plane of existence. So when Peter met the angels, it forces you to say, “fine, I’ll bite.” But Heaven and Hell suddenly being a fixture of the story in the last few panels of the last book, with no setup is just bad. It’s lazy writing, desperately trying to add scope to a small uninteresting story. Speaking of the writing, is there a reason we didn’t see the boys get their bodies back? Could it be that there was no clever way to get them back in there without divine intervention? Who can say? I would just think that the audience would get to see that since that was their goal for most of the series. On the plus side, being in Purgatory gives Venkman a new affinity for deep dish… sigh.

Conclusion: To say I didn’t like this story is a bit of an understatement. My level of disappointed nerd-rage is hard to put into words. I would say for Ghostbusters fans this is about as close to nuking the fridge as you can get. The story had potential but things went downhill at an alarming rate. Stay away Ghostbusters fans, it looked good from afar but up close it’s far from good.

Grade: F

-Ben Berger

Ghostbusters: The Other Side #3 – Review

Keith Champagne (writer), Tom Nguyen (pencils), Jon Alderink (inks), Moose Baumann (colors), Chris Mowry (letters), Fabio Mantovani (cover)

The Story: The Ghostbusters are still stuck in Purgatory, trying to find a way to get their souls back into their bullet-riddled bodies on Earth. While they plan their escape, The Ghost Mafia looks for a way to eliminate the GB’s forever!

What’s Good? The fate of Peter Venkman is revealed, but more importantly, the series is ending soon.

What’s Not So Good? The reintroduction of Venkman has been lackluster at best. It makes sense that his soul would be in Purgatory since his body was stolen. But what’s the point of having arguably the most popular Ghostbuster barely involved in a Ghostbusters story? Bill Murray made the character work in the films, as many of Venkman’s lines wouldn’t have been as funny without his delivery. But he was never a walking pun, which is what’s been shoved down our throats since his return to the story. I’m all for puns if they’re funny, but there’s too many “eye-rollers” here. Sadly, the artwork remains incredibly bland. I think it would be fine on any other title, but the ghost designs are too void of any sort of Ghostbusters flair.

Conclusion: Ghostbusters 2 may not have been a worthy successor to the original in the eyes of many fans, but at least it felt like Ghostbusters. This series is sorta like a Paul W.S. Anderson movie. At first you’re excited, “Oh boy, one of my favorite games/comics is getting adapted.” Then you see it, and there’s no Chris Redfield, making it inaccurate and the opposite of what you’d want.

From the art to the writing to the premise, this story falls short. Ghostbusters is my favorite movie, so I may be the wrong person to read and review this. Still, I’ll always want another good Ghostbusters story. I need to learn to cut my losses earlier. If you’re a hardcore fan of the films, this isn’t for you. If not, there may be a silver lining for you, but I wouldn’t bet on that either.

Grade D-

-Ben Berger

Ghostbusters: The Other Side #2 – Review

By Keith Champagne (writer), Tom Nguyen (pencils), Drew Geraci (inks), Moose Baumann (colors), Neil Uyetake (letters), Nick Runge (cover)

The Story: After their death, the Ghostbusters, like all good people, expected to go to Heaven. Unfortunately for them, the Ghost Mafia had different plans, and following their murder the boys ended up in Purgatory. The Mob also picked who stays and who crosses over, so Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston better get comfortable. Further complicating things, the Mob put a hit out on our heroes. Things have never looked worse for the GB’s. Unless they can escape purgatory, it’s gonna be one LONG eternity.

What’s Good: Ray’s enthusiasm. Like in the movies, his enthusiasm walks that line of endearing and annoying. Granted, being so excited for being in purgatory seems like a bit much, but I see where he’s coming from scientifically.

What’s Not So Good: As interesting as the plot is, it’s missing that little something extra to make it Ghostbusters. Honestly, things have gotten so bad so quickly it’s hard to see any way out. Yes, you’re supposed to stack the odds against your protagonists, but not so much so where a plausible solution seems out of reach. How will they escape purgatory and re-animate their bullet-riddled bodies? More importantly, how will they do it and not instantly die again because of the aforementioned bullet-holes? Given the universe the story takes place in, it’s possible to accomplish all that, but I’m not holding my breath.

Conclusion: While it remains an interesting read, The Other Side does little to argue that it’s just using the license. There’s nothing that really adds to the Ghostbusters story. There are many departures from the source material and none of them are for the better. And while no particular fault stands out enough to make the book “suck,” we as Ghostbusters fans should want, and deserve better.

Grade: C

-Ben Berger

Ghostbusters: The Other Side #1

By Keith Champagne (writer), Tom Nguyen (pencils), Drew Geraci (inks), Moose Baumann (colors), Chris Mowry (letters), Nick Runge (cover)

The Story: A routine ghost-bust goes horribly wrong and the Ghostbusters find themselves up against the Ghost Mafia. When Venkman’s soul is separated from his body, the remaining GBs’ must race against time to get his soul back to his body before it’s lost forever!

What’s Good? At the core, it’s a very interesting story. The introduction of the Ghost Mafia is a good idea, even if it was done on the cartoon. Keith Champagne does a good job adapting the Ghostbusters to comics, making the comic darker and less silly. Even though the humor isn’t quite the same, the story still manages that Ghostbusters feel.

What’s Not So Good? Egon’s hair.  Actually, the character designs of all the Ghostbusters is pretty weak. I’m sure it came down to not getting the likeness rights, which is understandable; but it’s a little distracting with how different everyone looks. And while the Ghost Mafia is a good idea from a plot perspective, visually none of them are very interesting. Slimer, Gozer, Stay-Puft, and the Librarian all had very interesting looks, and having normal looking ghosts isn’t the way to go. It’s a nod to the films which is severely lacking in the books design. The overall lack of detail in Nguyen’s style is a bit of a sore-spot. Obviously the focus will be on the characters and the foreground so it’s expected that the backgrounds have less detail, but it shouldn’t be this much. This only works for a few panels where purgatory is depicted. That said, I feel it’s more of a coincidence than intent.

Conclusion: This is a solid read for any Ghostbusters fan. The writing is good, and the story has some real potential. Without giving away the ending, it’s pretty clear that the GBs may start to see things from “the other side.” Artistically the book does suffer, and takes a pretty large step away from the look of the films. Still, it’s got a good grip on the world of Ghostbusters.

Grade: C+

-Ben Berger