Ghostbusters #12

By Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening & Luis Antonio Delgado

Happy Horror Days reaches its conclusion. The Ghostbusters face off against an anomalous Bogeyman to save children on New Year’s Eve!

This has been a really good story arc, so the anticipation for this final narrative was high. Sadly it did not live up to the hype. Now, this isn’t to say it’s a bad issue; it just did not meet expectations. The Bogeyman has seen at least a couple iterations within the Ghostbusters mythos, such as the Boogieman or Grendel, so it was hard to buy that a more powerful form of this spectre was the source of most of the paranormal activity occurring in this storyline; just came off as anticlimactic.

Now, Erik Burnham was able to explain everything very well and have it make sense. One aspect that makes his writing on this title so strong is his use of folkloric/anthropological theory with the ghosts. Erik does this when explaining how Bogeyman narratives became so prevalent and thus allowed the beings to manifest; definitely a fascinating idea! Also, Dan Schoening’s art continues to be a strong staple for this series. His dreadfully dark design for the Bogeyman is perfect!

This may have been a bit of a let-down, but to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise, a new story arc begins: Mass Hysteria! With the two preludes, this looks to be a fantastic storyline with a worthy adversary for the Ghostbusters to deal with. All the members of this creative team have become worthy veterans and earned their proton packs on this title. They may not nail every issue but they have shown their clear love and understanding for the material and characters. That’s what keeps me coming back for more!

The Ghostbusters are heading into another “disaster of biblical proportions”, “real ‘Wrath of God’ type stuff”, “dogs and cats living together…Mass Hysteria!” Can’t freakin’ wait!!