Ghostbusters Volume 1: Back in Town

Ghostbusters 2nd Generation

by David M. Booher, Blue Delliquanti (illustrator), Mildred Louis (illustrator)

A year and a half after the events of Afterlife, the Ghostbusters are officially back in business and headed to where it all New York City!

Callie, Gary, Trevor, and Phoebe are moving into the Firehouse and ready to take on the Spengler family business…or are they? Ghostbusting on top of changing family dynamics has a way of going awry—and that’s exactly what one sinister paranormal force is counting on.

Collects Back in Town #1–#4. Featuring writing by David M. Booher, art by Blue Delliquanti, and colors by Mildred Louis and Cris Peter.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2024

Reviews

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set between the events of Afterlife and Frozen Empire, these four issues see the Spengler family heading to New York and setting up shop as actual Ghostbusters, facing off against a couple of spooks, but mostly the new locale and the adjustment that comes with it.

This is...okay. A lot of the dialogue is the family joking around, which is fine, and it's nice to see that they don't spend the whole thing arguing with each other as that would have been the obvious thing to do. The villain of the piece is a bit flat though, as is the artwork, which I think nails my main problem with the book. It's all kinda just okay, and I feel like Ghostbusters as a property tends to be happy with that a lot of the time. The IDW comics had this weird fixation with Vigo the Carpathian which extends here too - if you can fight literal ghosts, you don't need everything to link back to one dead guy.

Alright, I guess. Just a little disappointing.

[Bryce Perry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't HATE it but it wasn't as good as anything from the previous IDW series. I'll keep an eye out for the second collection but I'm not getting my hopes up. Also, not a huuuuuuge fan of the new art style.

[Ethan Herridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good for any fan of afterlife!

[Miles Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know this is for kids but they didnt have to make it look so juvenile.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Artwork was great, colors were bright, popped, and set a great vibe for the graphic novel. I thought the characters were pulled from their film and placed within the pages. I did wish Gary had looked a little more like Paul Rudd, but otherwise I was glad all four chapters were consistent in the art and coloring. The author did a great job replicating the characters personalities. I also liked the story. It pulled from Ghostbusters II, but expanded that story into something new for the next generation of Ghostbusters.

Some minor things that didn't add up to me though involved Trevor and Phoebe. With Phoebe, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire followed her developing a friendship with a girl her age - who is unfortunately a ghost. Aside from Podcast, Phoebe isn't a sociable person, but I liked that about her as she was a unique individual whose character also pays homage to Harold Ramis's Egon. Point being, Phoebe doesn't get bogged down with social interactions. She didn't feel pressured to change herself in Oklahoma and found friends in both Gary and Podcast. This is why I feel it was out of character for Phoebe to cut her shirt off and make it a T-shirt crop top after her new classmates made fun of her overalls. It just felt like a very out of place decision for her character to make.

Next was Trevor. I'm probably of a similar mind to him in thinking that Lucky is out of his league. That being said, they appear to have evolved from friends to dating at this point. Still, when Lucky agrees to meet Trevor and sets the time for said meeting, why is she an hour and six minutes late? No wonder the ghost siren was so easily able to get Trevor under her control. Why did Lucky not call or text him that she'd be that late? I suppose it fits Trevor's desperation to have Lucky like him that he would wait a whole hour for her, but the whole scenario just seems odd and incredibly rude. The other thing I didn't like was that Trevor's mom let him drive ECTO-1! That was a whole thing in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on how Trevor couldn't drive despite his protests that he was an adult. But no hesitation in the graphic novel. Everyone just calls jobs on ECTO-1, Trevor calls driver, and his mom says nothing! Either the graphic novel was already in the final stages of publishing/was published before Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, or it was an inconsistency that causes a loss of humor between Trevor and his mother.

Other touches I thought made the story better though includes the wrap around of the civilians walking their dog, the inclusion of Podcast (even though he's not seen, and that there is at least a sketch of him at the back of the book), the joke of how Gary knew what kind of laugh Callie uses when Phoebe tells jokes she doesn't understand, that Ray had a tattoo of Revelation 6:12 on his arm, and that in the process of chasing the pigeon ghost they destroyed a Vote for Walter Peck for Mayor billboard. It all just fit into the universe wonderfully.

It was both a fun read for a franchise I like and for characters - new and classics - who I love.

[Vail Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dunno if I'm in the minority, but I DO like the Afterlife and Frozen Empire films. At the very least, they're a better step in the right direction than the universally panned Gal!Ghostbusters that came out in 2016 (but that's a TEDTalk for another day).
So this interquel between the films fills in the blanks a little bit, but is not entirely necessary for full enjoyment of both films.

The CHARACTERS depicted in this book however, really do capture the eclectic charm of the new blood to this franchise and slightly explains why they can work so well together in Frozen Empire (well, decently work together).

The minorest of gripes, but I don't understand who decided this art style was the way to go. Heaven forbid we get an uncanny-valley-1:1 recreation of the actors' faces, but this feels incredibly kiddy-cartoony. Not saying it's at the same level as Raina Telgemeier, but it would certainly be birds of a feather. Still good tho, and it's the characters themselves that shine with that quirky quality.

[Pryder · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent wee throwaway story. They nail the characterisation of the characters from Afrerlife and Frozen Empire. But the art is sub-par, its mediocre at best. You expect more from a Ghostbusters comic. The faces look all the same. it's a style of art more suited to some indie self published slice of life/true story/biography comic with no budget.

[Russell Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little bridge story set between the love letter film - Ghostbusters Afterlife and the recent interesting - Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. Good plot with great visuals.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, it’s Ghostbusters so I’m going to really like it. It doesn’t hold a candle to the IDW series, but it’s still fun and I appreciate that it gave some context to things in Frozen Empire

[Donavon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven tone and art style. I had trouble following who was speaking at times due to design. Story continues GB2 plots, but does not really work. I hope next series is better.

[Maciej · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghostbusters. Volume 1: Back in Town próbuje być brakującym puzzlem pomiędzy filmami Afterlife a Frozen Empire i w teorii ma wszystko, czego można by oczekiwać od komiksu licencjonowanego: powrót do nowojorskiej siedziby, Ecto-1 ryczący w zaułkach Manhattanu, znane twarze (Spenglerowie + Gary Grooberson) oraz garść bardziej lub mniej sympatycznych ektoplazm. David M. Booher wiernie oddaje głosy bohaterów – Trevor i Phoebe wciąż się droczą, Gary sypie sucharami, a Callie usiłuje to wszystko trzymać w ryzach – dzięki czemu komiks czyta się gładko, jak dalszy ciąg scenariusza filmowego. Niestety, fabuła okazuje się równie przewidywalna jak filmy aktorskie, nowy duch, któy napędza kilka całkiem zabawnych scen i pościgów i w sumie to tyle. Bez stawki, bez „wow-momentu”, bez tej cudownej mieszanki grozy i absurdu, która kiedyś kazała nam wierzyć, że na dachu wieżowca może zamieszkać bóstwo z Sumeru.

Wizualnie album plasuje się dokładnie pośrodku drogi. Blue Delliquanti rysuje czysto, czytelnie, a żywa paleta Mildred Louis sprawia, że kadry przyjemnie „się świecą”. Zarazem brakuje tu szaleństwa Jacka Kirby’ego, dynamiki tradycyjnych kreskówek ani nawet komiksowej wariacji na cieniowanie niemal-filmowe. Tła bywają puste, a groteskowe duchy – choć poprawne – nie zbliżają się do pomysłowości klasycznego Slimera czy Vigo z portretu. Rozczarowuje także fakt, że scenarzysta kilkakrotnie wpada w sidła produktu „pomostowego”: nie wolno mu zbyt mocno zamieszać w status quo, więc Trevor nagle prowadzi Ecto-1 bez komentarza, a Phoebe – ku zdumieniu fanów – przejmuje się docinkami rówieśników na tyle, by przerobić kombinezon na crop-top. To drobiazgi, lecz wytrącają z immersji i przypominają, że komiks stoi w cieniu filmów, zamiast odważnie rozpychać się w lore.

Podsumowując:
Miły, lekki powrót „podejrzanie znajomych duchologów”, który zadowoli największych fanów ciągłości uniwersum, ale nikogo nie porwie. Rysunki są schludne, dialogi brzmią autentycznie, jednak brak tu zarówno energii oryginału, jak i świeżości nowej obsady. Jeśli szukacie tylko szybkiej dawki protonowej nostalgii – można sięgnąć; jeżeli liczycie na coś więcej niż bezpieczną kalkę, lepiej polować na starsze, bardziej brawurowe serie IDW.

Przyjemność 2,6/5
Styl: 2,5/5
Historia: 3/5

Ocena: 2,70/5
goodreads - 3/5
thestorygraph - 2,75/5
lubimyczytac - 5/10

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This attempts to serve as a bridge between the two new Ghostbusters movies, but doesn't really do justice to any of the characters (in writing or art) or provide any real semblance of depth. Trying to build off the story of Ghostbusters 2 is appreciated if not particularly well implemented, and the series is neither as funny nor as action-packed as it seems to believe it is. Overall, pretty disappointing - you might try the classic Ghostbuster comics, although I can't attest to their quality either.

[Ben A · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice solid story to bridge the gap between the two latest Ghostbusters films. It was fun but it suffers from the blandness that you get when you can't really make too many changes to the characters when they are promised to the big screen.

Special Thanks to Dark Horse Comics and Edelweiss Plus for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

The character voices and cast size is excellent. If they built up the plot more this would have been perfect and it would have even made for an even better film than Frozen Empire, which I felt tried to do way too much. On it's own it's all right and a bit of fun.

[Sam Nicholson · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

The story is inoffensive, but the art is practically childish.

[Paul Stanis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Infinitely better than last year’s Frozen Empire movie. Pretty great cartoonish art as well.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love being a geek i love being a nerd everyone felt so in character in this !!! and the illustration style was so fun - it lent itself to a silly in-between-movies adventure

[Stephen Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun (quick) graphic novel bridging the gap between Afterlife and Frozen Empire. The characters are well realised. The writing (and puns) are exceptionally corny.