The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History

by Troy Benjamin, CRAIG GOLDBERG

A full-color hardcover volume chronicling the history of The Real Ghostbusters with creator interviews, original animation scans, toy photography, and much more!

After nearly forty years, the 1984 classic Ghostbusters endures. The original film introduced the world to Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Ectomobiles, Proton Packs, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, and Slimer, just to name a few.

A global-phenomenon, Ghostbusters soon made the trans-dimensional sidestep to animation with 1986’s The Real Ghostbusters. The Saturday morning cartoon was an incredible success. For many kids, the animated series acted as their gateway into loving Ghostbusters long before they were age-appropriate to see the film. The series was acclaimed for its mature storytelling, fantastical animation, and a voice cast that became as synonymous with the characters as the live-action actors who originated them. A simultaneous toy launch from Kenner ectoplasmatically energized the property with some of the most memorable, most-beloved, weirdest, and best-selling toys in popular culture.

The Real The Ultimate Visual History is the ultimate collector’s dream. This franchise overview combines rare and never-before-seen visuals including conceptual artwork, storyboards, script excerpts, internal memos, packaging art, unseen prototypes, abandoned concepts, and brand-new stunning photography with new and exclusive interviews.

248 pages, Hardcover

First published July 8, 2025

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

This is excellent -nicely researched, well presented, and informative. You can see the love here throughout

The book contains a foreword by Joe Medjuck, intro, timeline, manifestation, characters, talent/tools/interviews, franchise background/toys, sequels and spinoffs, and impact on pop culture. It's fascinating how much information the author was able to discover about this fun mid 1980s animated series. I was especially fascinated and surprised by the huge range of toys that spun off from a simple kids tv show. But even the interviews were engrossing.

Back in the early 1990s, animation studios were shutting down and I had a chance to purchase several animation cels from this series - all of Slimer. It was wonderful to be able to go through the book and learn all about the incredible work that went into the show and even the production of the cels that I still own and display today.

In all, highly recommended and huge respect for the depth and research presented here. The love shows. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Michael Harring · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t imagine a better book on the series and figures. The authors did their research and conducted new interviews. It’s not just a retelling of the same stories you’ve heard elsewhere or an exhaustive encyclopedia of the toys. The time spent with development and production shows just how creative the animators and toy designers were. So many great ghost designs that weren’t even used. It’s all very impressive. Aside from having a chance to dig through all of artwork and prototypes first hand, it’s hard to think of ways to improve the great work the authors have done. The only disappointment was when it came to an end.

[Ben A · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly interesting and well-done history of the Ghostbusters franchise spinoff cartoon The Real Ghostbusters that takes a deep dive into the history, as well as great looks into the best episodes. These books that Dark Horse has done are always very good and this one was no exception and it was really fun to learn about so many aspects of the cartoon that I grew up loving.

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