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O M N I B U S Forget Egon's rules–the streams have been crossed, the dead have risen, and a free-roaming apparition is part of the gang! It's The Real Ghostbusters, ladies and gentlemen, and in Volume 1 you can score issues #1–14 of the classic comic series originally published by NOW Comics. Be there as Ray, Peter, Egon, and Winston keep doing what they do. After all, they ain't afraid of no ghosts!
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Cover by Ken Steacy Collection Edits by Justin Eisinger & Alonzo Simon Collection Design by Tom B. Long
IDW founded by Ted Adams, Alex Garner, Kris Oprisko, and Robbie Robbins
ISBN: 978-1-61377-493-9
15 14 13 12 Ted Adams, CEO & Publisher Greg Goldstein, President & COO Robbie Robbins, EVP/Sr. Graphic Artist Chris Ryall, Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief Matthew Ruzicka, CPA, Chief Financial Officer Alan Payne, VP of Sales Dirk Wood, VP of Marketing Lorelei Bunjes, VP of Digital Services
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THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1. OCTOBER 2012. FIRST PRINTING. The Real Ghostbusters ™ & © 2012 Columbia Pictures, Inc. All rights reserved. IDW Publishing, a division of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Editorial offices: 5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109. The IDW logo is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Any similarities to persons living or dead are purely coincidental. With the exception of artwork used for review purposes, none of the contents of this publication may be reprinted without the permission of Idea and Design Works, LLC. Printed in Korea. IDW Publishing does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork. Originally published by NOW Comics as THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS Issues #1–14.
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Table of Contents The Real Ghostbusters #1 (August, 1988) ........................................................7 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Brian Thomas Lettering: Jim Massara & Ken Holewzcynski • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #2 (September, 1988) .................................................31 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Rich Powers Lettering: Jim Massara • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #3 (October, 1988) .....................................................56 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Rich Powers Lettering: Jim Massara • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #4 (November, 1988): “Ghost Gangsters” .........................83 Writer & Penciller: Evan Dorkin • Finishes: Ken Steacy & Andrew Pratt • Coloring: Ken Steacy Lettering: Andrew Pratt • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #5 (January, 1989) ...................................................109 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller : John Tobias • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Rich Powers Lettering: Kurt Hathaway • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #6 (February, 1989): “Video Nasties” ............................136 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Rich Powers Lettering: Kurt Hathaway • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #7 (March, 1989): “The Secret Empire” .........................160 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Rich Rankin • Coloring: Rich Powers Lettering: Kurt Hathaway • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #8 (April, 1989): “Toad Island” .....................................185 Writer : James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Rich Rankin Lettering: Kurt Hathaway • Cover Artist: John Tobias & Marc Hansen
The Real Ghostbusters #9 (May, 1989): “The Father-Thing Trilogy, Part One: Rising Son” ...............................................................................................211 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Rich Rankin • Coloring: Barry Petersen Lettering: Dan McKinnon • Cover Artist: Gary Fields
The Real Ghostbusters #10 (June, 1989): “The Father-Thing Trilogy, Part Two: The Empire of the Son” ...............................................................................236 Writer : James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Rich Rankin • Coloring: Suzanne Dechnik Lettering: Kurt Hathaway • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #11 (July, 1989): “The Father-Thing Trilogy, Part Three” ....262 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: David Schwartz • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Suzanne Dechnik Lettering: Dan Nakrosis • Cover Artist: Ken Steacy
The Real Ghostbusters #12 (August, 1989): “A Cat Named Tarantula” ................289 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: Howard Bender • Inker: Brian Thomas • Coloring: Suzanne Dechnik Lettering: Dan Nakrosis • Cover Artist: Howard Bender & Patrick Owsley
The Real Ghostbusters #13 (September, 1989): “Blizzard Queen” ......................312 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: John Tobias • Inker: Rich Rankin • Coloring: Suzanne Dechnik Lettering: Dan Nakrosis • Cover Artist: Rich Rankin & John Tobias
The Real Ghostbusters #14 (October, 1989): “The Lost and the Lonely” ...............335 Writer: James Van Hise • Penciller: Howard Bender • Inker: David Mowry • Coloring: Suzanne Dechnik Lettering: Dan Nakrosis • Cover Artist: Howard Bender
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INTRODUCTION by MARK W. BELLOMO When I slipped the first issue o f NOW Comics’ The Real Ghostbusters out of its slot in the spinning comic book rack at the local drugstore where I worked back in the summer of 1988, I immediately stopped and gave pause—I was truly impressed at the obvious quality of the [new] title that I held in my hands. The cover was glossy, the ink was printed on paper stock that felt thicker and sturdier than what was the industry’s standard, the publisher (Caputo Publishing, Inc.) chose to include an exciting pin-up poster in each and every issue of the magazine, and the colors the company mixed to formulate their high-quality ink seemed to just leap off the printed page. So then, where was the harm in picking up just one more title a month? In August, 1988, the price of the average newsstand comic book ranged from 75¢ to $1.50; it was rare for a newsstand comic to cost more than a buck. Working six days-a-week at Rook’s Drugstore (I picked up a few other odd jobs to support my collecting habit[s]), this job allowed me to buy between fifteen to twenty comics each month, paying $15$20 to indulge my craving and still have a good amount left over for action figures, of course. Rook’s Drugstore was one of those fascinating slices of Americana that was unintentionally anachronistic: it was a place out-of-time; a throwback. Rook’s was an old-school, independently-owned drugstore that was popular in the late 19th and early 20th century (think Gower’s Drugstore in Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life), replete with all the accoutrements from a better-vanished time: a lunch counter in the back of the building that hosted a hamburger grill, an ice cream parlor with swivel stools, a soda fountain with its requisite syrup dispensers. And a huge selection of comic books that were displayed on three large spinning racks.
Spider-Man, while McFarlane began weaning himself off of Peter David’s magnum opus, The Incredible Hulk (McFarlane contributed pencils to BOTH books that month). Bernie Wrightson tackled Batman in the caped Crusader’s pivotal deluxe mini-series, The Cult, while the very first “Warner Edition” softcover trade paperback of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s masterpiece of the Dark Knight’s re-told origin, Batman: Year One, was released. David Michelinie’s second monthly Marvel title partnered him with Bob Layton—my all-time favorite artist of the Armored Avenger—and the two worked their storytelling magic on Iron Man. Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire tickled my funny bone with their awardwinning team book, the revitalized Justice League America. Underappreciated writer Mike Baron and former Uncanny X-Men artist Wilce Portacio nailed down The Punisher on a monthly basis—and this August, 1988 issue just happened to feature the infamous “crossover” tie-in with this month’s fabulous Daredevil deftly handled by John Romita Jr. and Anne Nocenti. Andy Helfer and Kyle Baker put their own ingenious spin on the enigmatic Lamont Cranston in DC’s The Shadow. The much-lauded “revamp” expert, John Byrne—who cut his teeth on the [Uncanny] X-Men and Fantastic Four titles for Marvel—busied himself resuscitating Superman. Chris Claremont, Marc Silvestri, and Dan Green treated fans of Marvel’s mutants with the characters’ flagship title, The Uncanny X-Men. Revered Hulk scribe Peter David and throwback artist Alex Saviuk gifted us Web of Spider-Man. And finally, über-talented Geroge Perez wrote and drew Wonder Woman to much fanfare and critical acclaim.
At this point in my collecting career, I was a super-hero junkie: I bought up nearly every major super-hero book that I could at a time many pundits considered to be their heyday.
So then, in August of 1988, it was fairly DIFFICULT for a non super-hero book to succeed in the comic business. Heck, Neal Adams was drawing and writing the D-grade title Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, while Jim Lee was penciling Alpha Flight. That’s right… ALPHA FLIGHT [!]. Talented writers and
In August of 1988, Todd McFarlane and David Michelinie were the superlative creative team attached to Amazing
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artists were just about everywhere, and although it was a great time to be a comic book reader, the competition within the industry was fierce. Thankfully, because of the obvious quality work that NOW Comics demanded from their creative teams—and in almost in spite of their hefty $1.75 price tag (which mimicked DC Comics’ high-quality “Prestige Format” series of the time)—The Real Ghostbusters was a smash success as well as many of the company’s other titles (The Green Hornet, Married… With Children, Ralph Snart Adventures, etc.). How successful were they? During the years 1986-1990, the owner of NOW Comics (Tony Caputo [of Caputo Publishing, Inc.]) expanded his business from a tiny, one-man operation into a massive, multi-million dollar international corporation (!); in May of 1990, remarkably, NOW Comics held the #3 slot in comic book market share. Of course, this is all relative: Marvel Comics owned 45% of the market, DC Comics was a safe 25%, while NOW Comics held a “mere” 3%; but this was a small percentage of a very large pie. NOW Comics was quite judicious when acquiring their licensed properties for translation into comic books. Timely is a word I use sparingly when describing a comic book title, but The Real Ghostbusters was certainly that. For NOW Comics to obtain a license as coveted as the Real Ghostbusters—one that I’m sure Marvel, DC, or Dark Horse would have paid a pretty penny for at the time— was in every way a coup. Kenner was pumping out Real Ghostbusters action figure products in a mad frenzy, but it wasn’t just those little plastic homunculi that fed Kenner’s coffers—it was the magnificent role play items that they produced in tandem with the figures that made their Real Ghostbusters franchise a powerful force in the retail toy aisle. NOW Comics utilized all the finest aspects of the animated program The Real Ghostbusters (1986-1991, 147 episodes total)* developed by Columbia Pictures Television & DiC Enterprises: each of the four main characters wore their own unique jumpsuit, every member of the
Ghostbusters team utilized technology and devices that were more similar to the Kenner toy company’s Real Ghostbusters role-play toys (the colorful Proton Pack, PKE Meter, etc.) than the intimidating pseudo-scientific devices featured in 1984’s live action Ghostbusters film (NOTE: Ghostbusters II did not premiere until June 16th, 1989), as in the animated series, Slimer became an important supporting cast member of the Ghostbusters team— rather than portraying the character as the adversarial “Green Ghost” (the manner in which he is denoted in the film[s]), and finally—there were also many allusions to both the film and cartoon re: references to Gozer, other specific ghosts, etc. Furthermore, writer James Van Hise maintained the personalities of all four Ghostbusters, refusing to deviate from their essential characteristics: Peter Venkman functions as the “mouth” of the Ghostbusters, Egon Spengler exists as the team’s “brain,” Ray Stantz portrays the group’s “heart,” while Winston Zeddemore—with his devout religious beliefs—is the compassionate “soul” of the Ghostbusters. For the uninitiated who’ve never read a Real Ghostbusters comic book… those of you who are picking up this omnibus anthology because you’ve watched Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II over-andover, and—like myself—can quote famous scenes at the drop of a hat (from “No, we’re exterminators… someone saw a cockroach up on twelve,” to “We had part of a Slinky. But I straightened it,” or even “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Nice shootin’ Tex!”), this collection is for YOU—for every fan of the franchise who simply WANTS MORE GHOSTBUSTERS. Or better yet: if you’re a parent who’s introducing their beloved children to these cherished Ghostbusters characters for the very first time, this anthology is just perfect. — MWB *More on the relationship between the cartoon, the films, and the NOW Comic will be revealed in the second anthology. After writing the flavor text for IDW’s The Art of Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (Autumn, 2012), prolific author Mark Bellomo is presiding over Krause Publications’ bestselling Toys & Prices: The World’s Best Toy Guide (Spring, 2013), all the while providing notes and commentary to IDW’s Transformers: Classics and G.I. Joe: The Complete Collection.
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