Fritz Babbles About Ghostbusters #29 (V2#13)
Well, if IDW hadn't done an unnecessary renumbering last year, this would have been a milestone: the issue where they would have surpassed the 28 issue run of Now Comics' RGB comic (Vol.1). IDW will be able to boast more issues between the two volumes than Now's two volumes by the end of the "Mass Hysteria" storyline, though. Suffice it to say, good job, guys.
So..."Mass Hysteria", the 30th anniversary story, begins this issue.
Let's just break it down between the three storylines that go on this issue:
The A Story:
I never thought Sony would let IDW go through with this. I mean, seriously, this is pretty significant event that will have to either be acknowledged or ignored if a third movie was ever going to be made (maybe it will, but the chances of it sucking with teeth are, at this point, virtually 1:1):
Winston Zeddemore gets married. Venkman offers to let him escape in the ECTO-2 he says is parked out back, but Winston doesn't bite--he gets married.
The new Mrs. Zeddemore is, of course, his longtime love interest Tiyah Clarke, first introduced in the "Tainted Love" one-shot, retroactively part of an arc called "Haunted Holidays"
Big Ed Zeddemore is of course there. Winston's Mom (Lucille or Evangelean, take your pick) also, of course. There's a guy who looks like Stevie Wonder next to a woman--if it were up to me, they'd really be Winston's sister (mentioned in "Back In the Saddle") and her husband (Winston mentions a nephew in the "Legion" miniseries from 88MPH (Burn In Hell Clavet); maybe he's the kid who looks like Bobby Brown.
)
Mister Clarke, Tiyah's Dad, looks like Bill Cosby (I guess his name should be Cliff Clarke now, right? Even though Mrs. Clarke doesn't necessarily look like Phylicia Rashad to me. And Tiyah's brother looks more like Gregory Hines than Malcolm-Jamal Warner.) Heck, even Ballard Wright, the ghost who was stalking Tiyah in "Tainted Love" was there. I hope that Tiyah's real "parents", Dara Naraghi and Salgood Sam, at least got invitations.
Winston's middle name is Ramsey; this was the name of the character who became Winston in some of the early drafts of the first movie. Very neat touch.
Winston and Tiyah's wedding is a happy occasion, of course, and beautifully done. But I can't help but identify with Janine just a little bit, who comes across t a bit impatient, maybe even testy in her two lines this issue. I think it's getting to her that she's attending a wedding with Egon Spengler, and it's not
theirs. I had Winston get married first in our fanon, granted, but at the same time, the first Ghostbuster wedding ever depicted in an official story isn't, by a long shot, the most popular couple in Ghostbusters lore. (Though I do notice Roger's not there with her...very curious...I just can't imagine Winston as being rude enough to not invite him if things with him and Janine were still going well...hm...)
The B Story
It's a reunion of 3/4 of the New Ghostbusters as Kylie and Mel team up with Ron to once more bust ghosts in the original Ghostbusters' absence; Janine is of course at Winston's wedding, so they have Some Dude filling the fourth spot on their roster (Let's face it, they traded waaaaaaaaaaaaay down here)
I forgot to praise IDW for this last month, but thanks for getting Ron out of Egon's flight suit. After wearing the boring old tan/grey last issue, this time both of the Chicago guys are in dark blue versions, close but not identical to the charcoal GB2/Kylie type jumpsuit.
Absent the New Ghostbusters' original leader, and the other original Ghostbusters, Mel basically takes charge of the situation despite the presence of some arguably more experienced characters like the rookie. She also has Winston's proton pistol, and interestingly enough seems to hold it left handed in several shots. Maybe she's ambidextrous.
So anyway...the ghost is haunting the Chase Manhattan building (this being the 1990's, when it was a large and corrupt bank instead of today’s utterly massive and hugely corrupt superbank JP Morgan Chase) and menacing the cast of the original UK version of "The Office". Kylie notes the similarities to a serial killing of accountants that led to a hanging, and the three New Ghostbusters and that other guy use that information to...well, you know by now, they catch the ghost and everything is honky dory. Until the skies start raining blood.
(Man, first the red lightning in "Happy Horror Days" and now the blood. And I thought the weather in Indiana was weird...)
The C Story
For various reasons, mostly due to character use rights, it's been a while since we've seen one Ms. Dana Barrett. She last appeared in the comics in "Legion" (Burn In Hell, Clavet) and was in the Ibooks novel, but it's been almost ten years since she's been allowed to appear. (All she ever got in the RGB version was the GB2 adaptation.)
She's talking with her Mom (just like in GB1, we get the sense Mrs. Barrett is just a little overbearing) about Oscar, who is apparently out with his biological father. I guess Andre isn't as big a scumbag as we thought if he was willing to travel all the way from Europe just to see Oscar; also like the touch of Oscar apparently taking karate classes, since the infants who played him in GB2--the Deutschendorf brothers--grew up to be karate instructors.
While on the phone, Dana opens her fridge. Bad move, Dana--you should have learned to never open your refrigerator while appearing on-camera in a Ghostbusters story. Bad things happen.
But it's not a terror dog growling about Zuul--it's arguably worse. It's a human...ish looking woman with scaly skin and snakes for hair; Dana doesn't know it, but we do--it's Tiamat. Tiamat's quite interested in the former host of Zuul; her two ugly terror birds look more interesting in having Dana for lunch, and I don't mean as a guest, but before much happens she pops back into her kitchen. Tiamat's curiosity appears to be slated. For now.
I think soon enough Janine isn’t going to be the only one dealing with some romantic angst.
"Mass Hysteria" is off to a great start.