Ghostbusters International #5 Review

Ghostbusters International #5

Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Dan Schoening
Colourist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Tom Waltz
Publisher: IDW

A review by Amelia Wellman

The Louvre is bleeding slime. The Ghostbusters aren’t exactly known for their tact, but who else are they going to call? The President of France himself releases the globe-trotting Ghostbusters from jail and hires them for the job. Fingers crossed they don’t destroy anything too priceless… Art lovers, I am sorry for your loss.

We see a few new Ghostbusters brand toys this issue as the boys tear up the Louvre and we’re finally getting some explanation about why Egon is so up-in-arms about Peter, Ray, and Winston’s international tour working for Vinter. Without giving all the awesomeness away, Vinter seems to have some ulterior motives and it has to do with a horrifyingly powerful book called the Ravoskinna. To pull a quote from The Real Ghostbusters cartoon: “[it] makes Gozer look like Little Mary Sunshine.” That line comes from the episode where the gang fights Cthulhu. If the Ravoskinna is as big a deal as it’s being hinted at, it may push Cthulhu out of top place for most terrifying thing they’ve ever encountered. That’s a seriously big deal! Especially when you consider that the series started out a little slowly. Just five issues in, each subsequent issue has had the action growing at an exponential rate. At this point in time, I can’t imagine what the climax of this story is going to be, but I’m so incredibly excited to find out!

And speaking of The Real Ghostbusters, issue #5 of Ghostbusters International has quickly developed a feel similar to their animated ‘80s counterparts. There’s even a direct reference to the episode ‘The Ghostbusters in Paris’ when Peter and Winston are talking about the Eiffel Tower being a rudimentary containment unit. That’s dedication to the Ghostbusters brand right there, and as a Real Ghostbusters fanatic, I have to thank Burnham for being so damn thorough!

The art in this issue is fantastic. Human character models remain cartoony and angular but what the ghosts are going to look like is anyone’s guess. The big baddie this issue… just whoa. It has a very Attack on Titan feel to it and was actually a little startling to suddenly come upon in a series where I hadn’t seen anything like it up to this point.

The Verdict
Buy it! Ghostbusters International is getting seriously good. The story is being masterfully teased with just enough being given away each issue to make you want the next one more and more. Plus, the Ghostbusters International series is going to be a longer arc than the internet originally led me to believe it would be, so there goes any panic that the story isn’t going to get as much fleshing out as it needs. It’s going to get all the time it needs to keep being epic!