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GHOSTBUSTERS: LEGION #1-2
"Legion, Parts One & Two"
Recommended (7/10)
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88MPH Studios
Writer: Andrew Dabb
Pencils: Steve Kurth
Inks: Serge LaPointe, Pierre-Andre Dery & Chuck Gibson
Colors: Blond
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Editor: Sebastien Clavet
Price: $2.95 US |
Ghostbusters came out when I was a teenager, and I loved it. I had the videotape, I even bought and played the role-playing game at one point. So while Ghostbusters is undoubtedly another nostalgia book, like G.I. Joe or Transformers, it's a concept I have a fair amount of personal interest in, and I also think that the concept is one that has room for a little exploration. Dabb wisely ditches the second, mostly awful, film in terms of continuity and picks up right where the first film left off. He's covering ground that we've seen before, both in the second movie and in some of the ancillary merchandise like the role-playing game, but he's generally doing it better, and he's captured the characters pretty well, in addition to throwing in an interesting twist out of their past.
Dabb's story reads very much like the kind of thing designed to make the Ghostbusters fan feel comfortable. The character moments here read very much like riffs on stuff from the first and second movies. Fortunately, most of it works and has the same strong comedic timing that the first film had, and feels true to the characters. Venkman's self-involvement and snarky sense of humor is as close to the film version as you can get without actually having Bill Murray, and Ray's depression as he worries about whether there should be more is a pretty involving subplot. I could do without the continuing story of Janine and Egon, which was over-played in the first film, but for the most part, Dabb does a good continuation of the characters and stories.
 In addition to the continuation of character arcs from the first movie, however, Dabb has a new villain for the piece, and while we've only had a glimpse of him so far, I think it's a pretty good villain. Tying him into a "secret origin" of the three original Ghostbusters is pretty clever, and the scenes with the villain are pretty creepy, lending an element of scare to the humor. Dabb's plot is not dissimilar to that of the first two films, as the ghosts start acting in unusual ways and the Ghostbusters start to wonder what's behind it all, but just because it's a structure we've seen before doesn't mean it doesn't work. The personal stake for Ray is a nice twist on the formula as well.
Steve Kurth is a name that I know mostly from his work on the first few issues of the G.I. Joe revival. His work here is stronger than the work he did on G.I. Joe, with decent comedic timing and a polished style, but he also has some of the same flaws. His characters could all use a little bit more unique definition, because while you can tell Dana and Janine or the various Ghostbusters apart, they just look kind of odd, kind of weirdly exaggerated, and it's not a style that really clicks with me. This is less a problem for Ghostbusters than it was for G.I. Joe, but Kurth also has crowded and chaotic action scenes, and could use more clarity in that area.
Ghostbusters: Legion had a three month gap between issues, which is kind of annoying, and worries me about when we'll see the next issue. However, Ghostbusters: Legion really is what the sequel to the Ghostbusters movie should have looked like, and fans of the characters and concepts will probably be happy with this series.
These comic books were not among this week's new releases.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
