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December 12, 2011

I had some personal issues in late November that showed my releases even further, but here's something I hope everyone enjoys as much as I did writing it:

Ghostbusters: Mr. Stay Puft's Christmas Adventure
December 24, 1983--Timeline Year One
It's Christmas Eve. Venkman's in a foul mood. Ray misses his family. Egon is not sure how to react to Janine's elf costume. Winston has a fateful meeting. And then the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shows up. Wait, what? How is that even possible?

Earlier in the year, after the release of Ghostbusters: Infestation, which sort of re-opened the issue of "How in the world did the Ghostbusters have Stay Puft in the Containment Unit anyway?", a GBFans poster named mrmichealt had some interesting ideas on the subject, which in turn prompted some ideas from me for a story. This is the end result.

It was kind of fun to take the Ghostbusters almost back to the beginning--really only GB1 and the flashback parts of "Citizen Ghost" have happened when "Mr. Stay Puft's Christmas Adventure" begins. Not to say I didn't load it up with my usual helping of continuity porn (grife, I even found room for an IDW nod!), and after writing Egon and Janine as a rock solid sympatico couple so much it was kind of fun to go back to the awkward "Will Egon ever figure this out?" phase, just for a minute or two. Winston fans pay special attention--if you've read many of my other stories, you'll recognize that something very important to his future happens in this story.

Be back after New Years for the continuation of "Toy Soldiers"

--Fritz V. Baugh

October 31, 2011

It's Halloween, the big holiday for the Ghostbusters franchise (Never made sense to me that Thanksgiving and Christmas were their "best season" according to GB2, but anyway...) So I managed to put together a couple of treats.

First was that Samhain picture above. Okay, it's the same picture I posted last year, but this time it's in color. I may even make it a splash page picture in October for now on, kind of like how every December I have that picture of Janine in an elf suit.

But perhaps more importantly...

I've been working on "Toy Soldiers" for a while now, and I thought Halloween would be the perfect time to let it loose at last.

Ghostbusters West Coast: Toy Soldiers, Part One
July 17, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty-Seven
Chelsea Aberdeen Baugh is shaken by a disturbing dream. Even more disturbing is the sunrise murder of a hobo--one that signifies that bubbling tensions in LA's shadow community is about to spill into the light. Dark designs are coming to fruition; the toy soldiers have been lined up, and it will take only the merest push to begin their fall...

I'm provisionally planning to release Part 2 before the end of November, and Part 3 in January. That's really all I have "done" right now, and want to give myself some time to get a little more in the hopper. As for December, well, there's something I call "Mister Stay Puft's Christmas Adventure" on it's way.

I once more thank everyone for their support, and appreciate their patience in my slower-than-it-used-to-be writing releases.

--Fritz V. Baugh

September 26, 2011


Photo by LinearRanger

It was twenty five years ago this month that the alliance of Columbia Pictures Television, DiC Studios, and ABC brought The Real Ghostbusters to Saturday Morning, and launched a show that is justly considered one of the landmark shows of the 1980's, and certainly the biggest reason I'm here a quarter century later posting about it on my Ghostbusters-related web site.

I'll try not to repeat all of my gushing, though, especially as I did so thorough a job of it five years ago. But while the last few years have been mostly devoted to "Movie Purist" perspectives on the Ghostbusters property, the fans of the cartoon haven't been completely left out:

The main one is the DVD set released by Time-Life in 2008. All the episodes of the series in one box set. Sure, that means the crap ones, too, but nobody forces you to watch them..

And the toy line didn't completely ignore the animation: they released a line of faux-Mego "Retro Action" figures that were pretty neat, (though that isn't a universal sentiment). The splash picture on this article is a picture of Retro Action line taken by GBFans member LinearRanger. Perhaps a little more enthusiasm exists for the MiniMates line, which includes not only the Ghostbusters, but some notable enemies such as Samhain, the Sandman, and a completely cool looking Blackie from "The Long Long Long Etc Goodbye".

And while IDW's new comic book is, again, more "Movie Purist" based, series artist Dan Schoening does like to slip in lots of RGB in-jokes into the backgrounds and extras.

Here's to The Real Ghostbusters. Without it, I probably wouldn't be here.

--Fritz V. Baugh

June 20, 2011
Five years ago, my brother OgreBBQ (you can also call him Al) wrote Blood Feud: Prague, featuring the exploits of a character he created and I used in Ghostbusters: Shadow Of The Inquisitors. Well, he's back again.

Blood Feud: Los Angeles
By Fritz Baugh and OgreBBQ
July 8, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty Seven
The man known as Sergei Kalashnikov has come to Los Angeles. Expect lots of pain.

Al didn't write the story this time, but we hashed out the plot and some of the gags together, and I wrote it up a few months back.

Why did I hold it back, you might ask?

Well, for one thing, isn't the location this installment a little familiar? Oh yeah...Los Angeles...the home of Hollywood, smog, and these guys.

In addition to being another installment in the saga of the vampire hunter turned hunter who is a vampire, "Blood Feud: Los Angeles" follows Primus XXIV in being a lead in to a very big story starring the Ghostbusters West Coast, which I hope to start releasing before the end of the year. But I decided I didn't want to publish the lead-ins until I had a fairly good amount of the GBWC story "in the can", which I now do (about four chapters worth). It's a big story, and kinf of like the conclusion of "Chronicles of Gozer", I don't want to force it out just to get it done. As well as CoG ended, I think I made the right call there.

I hope you'll check it out.

--Fritz V. Baugh

May 13, 2011
Several things of note today, on the Ectozone's eighth anniversary...


IDW gave further information about the upcoming ongoing series. Dan Schoening is, as expected, the regular artist; Erik Burnham, who did the two-issue Ghostbusters: Infestation mini-series is the regular writer, and active GBFans member and TMNT comic contributor Tristan Jones has an as-yet-undefined role in the book.

Infestation and What the Sam Hain Just Happened? were both pretty good, so I have high hopes for this; if nothing else, the redesign of Janine is a marked improvement, recalling GB1 and JMS-era RGB (the peak of her characterization) instead of GB2 (the nadir). IDW's book is scheduled in September, so remember to mention it to your comic shop by July, when the September solicitation forms are released.


Work on "Toy Soldiers" hasn't gone quite as quickly as I'd hoped, but it's moving. At this writing I have three chapters worth of material in the can, so I'm going ahead and releasing this short bit of set-up:

Tales From The Ectozone: Primus XXIV
July 1, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty Seven
One of the leaders of the Order of Hermes has crossed to the other side. The news reaches a figure that has been lurking in the shadows of Los Angeles, and with it knows that the time has come to begin his ultimate plan, a plan that could win him the Primacy--and no doubt inflict something nefarious on the Ghostbusters in the process.


To go along with the upcoming series, I've been doing some updating of the New Timeline. I've added brief summaries and citations from Ghostbusters: What The Sam Hain Just Happened? and the two issue Ghostbusters: Infestation mini-series. I'm trying a "sliding time scale" similar to one used by one of the Big Companies (ie time passes in-universe at an average of 1/4 real time) and see how it works.

Perhaps just as importantly, I've gone ahead and added Ghostbusters: Legion to the New Timeline. I figured that Ghostbusters: Infestation created enough of an opening to at least some post-Gozer pre-GB2 cases, I could now sneak the very first "revival" story into the more movie-based Timeline. I explain more about the reasoning in the 1984 and 1985 entries.

And from the archives, I found a copy of the very first released version of the Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline, from May 13, 2003:

Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline: May 13, 2003

A lot of stuff got taken out quickly, including some very different directions for the original Ghostbusters post-EGB compared to the collaborative GBI/GBOT fanon. The Timeline was first posted as one massive page. Other than adjusting the email address on the page (I no longer use the one on the original) and an issue with the font sizem, it's completely unchanged from the backup I salvaged. Just a fun little bit of history to remind us how far I've come (or haven't come).

--Fritz V. Baugh

April 4, 2011

In September 2011, for the first time in nearly twenty years, there'll be an ongoing Ghostbusters comic on the stands, courtesy of IDW.

At this writing, details are sparse. The ad is by "Dapper" Dan Schoening, the artist of October 2010's What The Sam Hain Just Happened? (that was delightfully packed with animation in-jokes), though that's not a guarantee that he's drawing the monthly. The writer has not been announced either, though Jim Beard (of July 2010's Con-Volution) quickly posted "Awesome news, isn't it?" on GBFans.

I have my personal quirks and criticisms of the handling of Ghostbuster comics since 2003, but that's not going to change the fact that I'm definitely going to give this a try.

Go to the usual suspects for more updates as they come:

Proton Charging

GBFans

And of course Ghostbusters: The Print Media at Ectozone.com

--Fritz V. Baugh

February 21, 2011

Due to some problems with the former hosting site, the story Chronicles of Gozer is now hosted at the Ectozone. I've revamped it to have the Ectozone "trade dress", but other than that it should be exactly as it was before. Links to freewebs.com/chroniclesofgozer2 no longer work, but any that say gozer2.ectozone.net will, or soon will, redirect to the new pages.

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book One: Revelation
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
May 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
ECTO Canada has a strange encounter with a man resembling Jeremy Hicks...and Iain Bennett makes an unnerving discovery in the GBUK's headquarters.
(First Posted June 9, 2004)

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book Two: Realization
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
May 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
A new player enters the stage...a young martial artist named Sarah Jones, who's being menaced by a vision calling itself "Zuul..."
(First Posted September 2, 2004)

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book Three: Culmination
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
June 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
The GBWC journeys to England, just as Egon Spengler and Vincent Belmont are making some disturbing discoveries...
(First Posted January 12, 2005)

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book Four: Contemplation
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
June 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
After an encounter with Jeremy Hicks that goes badly for them, the Ghostbusters come up with a risky new plan, one that hinges on Vincent Belmont's knowledge of Arcane Alley. Meanwhile, a visitor with murderous intent barges into Ghostbusters Central...
(First Posted June 8, 2005)

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book Five: Escalation
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
June 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
The headquarters of Ghostbusters New York is under attack, and a very specific target is in mind. Ray, Winston, the Extreme Ghostbusters, Nightsquad, and the Arcane Division must work together to stop the worshippers of Gozer...if they can.
(First Posted August 8, 2005)

Ghostbusters: Chronicles of Gozer Book Six: Exaltation
By Various Authors; Edited by Vincent Belmont
June 2004--Timeline Year Twenty Two
The epic conclusion. Ghostbusters International, the Order of Hermes, and the Garou nation stand united against the impending return of Gozer. An alliance the likes of which the world has not seen in untold ages. Secrets are revealed, enemies become allies, and desperate plans are made as science, magic, primal might, and faith march against the ancient horror of the Shapeless Destructor. But is it enough?
(First Posted July 7, 2008)

--Fritz V. Baugh

January 1, 2011
Grife, is it 2011 already?

Maybe not the best of years. Real Life financial stress went up. Teabaggers took control of one house of Congress. People still talk about Paris Hilton. But 2010 also brought some awesome goodies like the GB2 set (I love how my niece saw it, and immediately had Slimer attack Venkman, like she somehow knew).

I didn't write much in 2010. I was a bit burnt out. But I do have some ambitions for 2011--it's called "Toy Soldiers", and it's the culmination of many of the subplots the Ghostbusters West Coast have been dealing with for the last few years. It's well into the planning stages, and I hope to get a lot of writing done on it soon. I've completed two prolog stories, but don't plan to release those until more of the actual story is done; and right now, I'm planning to wait until the whole story is done, or close to done, before releasing any idividiual chapters. It means a longer wait until any of the story comes out, but once it starts, it won't be as long a wait between chapters, leading to everybody forgetting everything.

On the official front, Atari has announced a sort of sequel to the 2009 Video Game called "Sanctum of Slime". And while the rumors about a third movie continue to swirl, there has been, as of yet, no official announcement by Sony. (Though a Sony rep in Italy sounded very very convinced it was going to happen).

We'll see, I guess.

Have a safe and happy Twenty First Year of the Age of Aquarius!

--Fritz V. Baugh

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