I remembered the first time I watched Ghostbusters, I was around my daughters’ age, and remembered how much fun, it was watching that and its criminally underrated and misunderstood sequel, as both films in my mind, was a new era in horror comedies which paved the way for Slither, Haunted House and Zombieland, as each of those films and more borrowed elements of these landmark films.

I even grew up watching both Ghostbusters cartoon series, the one with the Gorilla in it and the one, which is more faithful to the actual movies. Both had their moments, where they were great cartoons (especially the episode where they made fun of the New York cabbie!!!). With Ghostbusters 3 shooting right now and with plans for an expanded universe coming along, their continued lives in comics have bridged the gap since. This has been more faithful to the spirit of what Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis wrote those many years ago, than what one could ever imagine and has elevated the cartoon of the Real Ghostbusters to another level.

In volume 8 of the ongoing series, the reader is re-introduced to familiar characters as well as characters that have been created just for the ongoing series. The volume opens with the new recruits on a job busting ghosts at an accounting firm while the original crew is at a wedding for Winston and all of a sudden its starts raining blood. We then catch up with Dana and Oscar, as she has survived two demonic possessions, it seems as though she is being targeted for a third by Tiamat, a Medusa like creature. This is where levitating cars come into play, which is part of bigger phenomena, all the while, Winston cannot enjoy his honeymoon, and we get to catch up with Louis Tully.

I have to say I love catching up with all these characters and it is nice to see them going on with their lives. Before you know it, both Dana and Louis are possessed again, with even worse results than the first time. They eventually defeat Tiamat, but it does not end the raining of blood. In volume 9, they investigate a haunted prison island, where they run into the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Egon examine Dana and Louis to find out how them possessed again. The crew eventually runs into Vigo again, who is in the middle of the PKE activity. The finale sees the return of a fan favorite, and one that does not disappoint.

The seamless weaving of old and new characters is what makes this series such a joy to read. The story by Erik Burnham, without a doubt fires at all cylinders, and is quite a tribute to this storied franchise. The art by Dan Schoening is what makes the story fly, as he gets as close to possible what the animation looked like. Overall, a fun read and if you want something to keep your Ghostbusters quotient filled, checks this out.

Story: Erik Burham Art: Dan Schoening
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review