Discuss the Ghostbusters Comic from IDW, as well as the now defunct Ghostbusters: Legion series.
#4868197
mrmichaelt wrote:It's been reported there's a green cover variant in the NerdBlock subscription box. The June Classic NerdBlock. Not sure if it's still available.

https://twitter.com/andrewtshaffer/stat ... 4755292160
https://twitter.com/erikburnham/status/ ... 6183858176

But there's a typo on the wraparound.
https://twitter.com/andrewtshaffer/stat ... 7008014336
Confirmed! I got mine today! I wasn't expecting this so it was a surprise when I opened mine.

Image
mrmichaelt liked this
#4868266
What is the difference between the green and red books? Im pretty happy with the book. Didnt expect much, it was cheap. Good ink drawlings of the ghost, gods and goblins from the movies, cartoon and game. If you have visually history on your coffee table, you should have this next to it. Good for the price
#4868272
ccv66 wrote:What is the difference between the green and red books? Im pretty happy with the book. Didnt expect much, it was cheap. Good ink drawlings of the ghost, gods and goblins from the movies, cartoon and game. If you have visually history on your coffee table, you should have this next to it. Good for the price
I think the only difference is the color of the cover and there's less of the green printed.
#4868631
Well thats just lovely I ordered mine off an ebay seller a week ago and they just emailed an hour ago to tell me they ran out of stock. Apparently they hadn't updated their page yet. So now the damn thing is out of stock on amazon.
#4868632
Razorgeist wrote:Well thats just lovely I ordered mine off an ebay seller a week ago and they just emailed an hour ago to tell me they ran out of stock. Apparently they hadn't updated their page yet. So now the damn thing is out of stock on amazon.
Hate hearing that happen. It should be at other online retailers, bookstores, and I know it's on Insight's page: https://insighteditions.com/product/tob ... rit-guide/ but it's regular price.
#4869078
I got this book at the comic shop last week--fortunately, not a single regular book I buy dropped, so I could easily spend the $20 retail.

Very glad I did.

I think my favorite pages are the ones like Cthulhu and what--the ones that basically establish that the RGB episode the entities were featured in more or less happened in IDW continuity.

And the art was awesome--if Kyle Hotz had been born 60 years earlier than he was, he probably would have been right at home in the EC bullpen.
#4869183
Absolutely love this thing. I've been reading my son one entry a night before bed. It's really well done. Not to mention... A TON of tattoo ideas. Every page is a new potential piece. I can't wait to pick one out and slap it on!
#4869202
Razorgeist wrote:Well thats just lovely I ordered mine off an ebay seller a week ago and they just emailed an hour ago to tell me they ran out of stock. Apparently they hadn't updated their page yet. So now the damn thing is out of stock on amazon.
Geez, I was putting off ordering it on Amazon, because a lot of books I wanted came out this month, so I was gonna bulk buy stuff to save shipping.

Any info on edition size? Surely it couldn't be that low. Hopefully they restock. I bought the green one, but I'd like to have the red one as well.
#4869267
JTysonLambert wrote:Geez, I was putting off ordering it on Amazon, because a lot of books I wanted came out this month, so I was gonna bulk buy stuff to save shipping.

Any info on edition size? Surely it couldn't be that low. Hopefully they restock. I bought the green one, but I'd like to have the red one as well.
I hope they restock, there's some jerks selling it for $555-600 on Amazon already.
#4869302
TristanJones wrote:I still haven't been able to check this out, but I'm keen to see what was done. Certainly wasn't as easy to get happening as Eric thinks...!
One note in particular might've driven you up a tree. When you read the book, you may be able to sort out what it was.
#4870100
Seeing as the spirit guide is one of the things I've wanted since the first time I heard it mentioned as a kid, my only complaint is that, even though the book is a lot longer than I expected it to be, I'd still love a much more robust version. The versions we usually see in-universe are always several hundred pages at the least, so I assume that's a somewhat condensed version of the unabridged, thirty-five pound edition mentioned in the foreword to begin with.

I know this is supposed to be a Stantz/Spengler "quick reference for the layman" version of Tobin's, but if they put out an addendum to this version featuring more content I would buy it without hesitation. Between the movies, cartoons and comics, there's definitely plenty of content to fill out a couple hundred pages. Especially if you include all of the minor Class Is, and action figures. I would love to have some extrapolated background info on some of the action figures I played with as a kid.

Or, if a full-on Tobin's is too grand an endeavor, maybe a more thorough "Spengler's Spirit Guide" could be made for more "professional use" as a median between the quick reference handbook we have now, and the thirty-five pound tome. Tristan Jones already did a cover mock-up, and the current TSG is obviously selling pretty well, so here's hoping for more in the future.
#4870167
Okay, so, here's why you basically won't get the Tobin's Guide you want... or the one I wanted to make.

Back when I first got asked to work on the comics, I was asked to do Tobin's Guide pages. We quickly learnt that wasn't allowed, as another publisher had the rights to do it, but it was never made clear who was until I chased up Sony about it years down the track. That's where the PCOC stuff came in. We were looking for an avenue into how we could logically do these profiles in the back and I suggested PCOC from the game that was still pretty fresh, but without context it was useless, because I'm pretty certain PCOC didn't figure into the comics properly until later. That's why the first thing I did was that 4 page short.

So PCOC files went on for a bit, but I got asked to do other things here and there, and honestly, was getting restless, because the idea of doing bigger things was flirted with constantly -- such as the annual with the Tobin story in it -- which was why I did the story in #8 -- to sow the seeds. That disintegrated, but I'd done pages and was doing stuff for image, and had already started scripting Laura Parr, and submitted a pitch for a story about witches, so going back to the PCOC stuff felt like a step back, and the pages themselves were being phased out. Tom and I had talked about doing a digital first Real Ghostbusters thing, or even a side mini series, which never got traction, and Tom suggested doing two page shorts in the back -- which was cool, but two pages never really allowed for anything interesting beyond gag comics, and staggering out a story over however many issues two pages at a time isn't easy and doesn't read well collected. So, we dialed back, I left to do other things, and then came back for Mass Hysteria with the RGB covers to try again. The whole time we were doing this, I'd put together maybe two or three different pitch packages to do Tobin's at IDW as a coffee table, even met with Ted Adams and talked about it briefly with him, but it became super apparent it was a no-go. And at this point I had everything listed -- literally everything -- toys, video games, creatures referenced but never seen, novels, comics, cartoons, movies -- the works -- and even then, I had to cull. I was projecting a 250 page book. One full page of art, one of text and diagrams (size charts, PKE readings, etc.). Anyway we got knocked back, even trying through IDW's collector line. And the reasons were obvious -- the buyer base is too small to warrant production costs; even if I was willing to cut my rate to do it (something I won't do anymore, but that's a whole other thing). The book, as it stood, would only genuinely appeal to hardcore readers. It could be marketed beyond that, certainly, but the only guarantees on something that unwieldy and costly were with the hardcores, and it's just not enough given how the comic sales were at the time.

So, I left it. After a couple of years of gestation, I did the Silent Hill book I originally left Ghostbusters after Laura Parr to do, and then I found out who had the rights to the Spirit Guide, so I hit them up. Chris Prince, the editor, took a little bit of convincing, and the conversation was staggered out over a few months, and there was a bit of back and forth over how it should be formatted. I put forwarded a culled down idea of my original -- Movies and Cartoons and important ones from the comics and games. Nowhere near as thorough. So that went up the flagpole, but didn't happen because of the uncertainty of Ghostbuster 3 at the time. Then I got work on Ghostbusters 3, then we started talking again about making it happen, and I think at this point I'd just signed on to Fury Road. So we tried again, and it was okayed, but again, it had to be brought in to a budget based on my rates and so forth. There was also hesitation about me writing it as well as drawing it, so Chris wanted to bring a writer in. Of course there was hesitation from me about NOT doing both, because I'd been pushing it for literally years now, but I relented.

Time goes on, maybe a few more months, and by now I've finished Fury Road, and asked to do Aliens, which there was no way I was going to say no to, but at the same time, Chris gets back to me and tells me Erik's on board. Rad... but... my schedule is all Aliens now, and the timeline for Tobin's still wasn't clear, so I basically had to say no on that basis. Aliens was an ongoing gig and is incredibly time intensive, and I couldn't commit to Tobin's anymore because of that. That was about a year ago now I guess, so (and Erik might be able to clear it up) I guess it's been about a year in greenlight (writing and drawing) production? Maybe just under?

Anyway, bottom line is, what I was originally chasing, and what I'm sure every fan wants, won't get published. It's too big an undertaking, and the cover price would stop it from selling the numbers it needs to to make a return at the sort of production costs the original format projected.

All that said, I'm actually picking mine up tomorrow, so I look forward to seeing what Erik and Kyle have done and how it's all finally come together!

Very curious to see what part you're talking about, too Erik...!
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#4870269
TristanJones wrote:Okay, so, here's why you basically won't get the Tobin's Guide you want... or the one I wanted to make...

Anyway, bottom line is, what I was originally chasing, and what I'm sure every fan wants, won't get published. It's too big an undertaking, and the cover price would stop it from selling the numbers it needs to to make a return at the sort of production costs the original format projected.
Oh, I totally understand the logistics of why we got what we got. And if my post seemed negative in anyway, it wasn't meant to. I'm more than happy to have an official TSG finally on my shelf. Most of what I said was just my five-year-old self lapsing into daydream mode again. In the GB community there are, I would surmise, a lot more casual fans than hardcore. Most, only enjoying the movies, cartoons, comics etc. with fewer going all out and building packs and whatnot. Even among the hardcore fans, an honest to goodness TSG that cost a couple hundred dollars would be niche within niche.

From what you're describing, it sounds like exactly what I always expected a TSG to be, and I would personally be willing to pay a premium for it, but again, I know I'm in the minority.

When I initially saw your stuff in the comics I was pretty intrigued, and then when I saw your Deviantart, and all of your interpretations of the ghosts and monsters, I was pretty excited when I heard there was a guide in the works. I thought you had exactly the style I always thought would be between the covers of TSG. I didn't even realize that you weren't on the project anymore until the page previews were released recently.

As far as the idea of you both writing and illustrating, I think it would have added a bit of authenticity, because I'm sure your enthusiasm for the subject matter would have shown through just as both Egon and Ray's would have when they wrote/annotated it.

I do appreciate you sharing how the guide came to be, always interesting to hear how things do or don't happen. Sorry again if my post was interpreted as me sounding unappreciative or entitled. I'm just ravenous about the scientific aspect of the ghosts and ghouls, and a TSG with all the classifications and origins of certain ghosts has always been one of my most wanted GB items. :sigh:
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#4870422
I finally got mine from Forbidden Planet USA after 2 different vendors weaseled out on me. Pretty damn good book my only complaint was that I felt the RGB version of the boogeyman should have been given more pagetime. Dont get me wrong I loved the whole Rodefhiri story in the comics RGB bogeyman is my bogeyman.
#4871529
$5 for the Nerd Block version IS a total score, right on.

I picked up the regular red hardcover one. Really fun book, cool info tidbits. The ghosts and ghouls seem like they'd be fun to try to re-draw.

I just wish there was more content. 96 pages or whatever seems a little small. And it could of been arranged more like a scholarly text. But, still very fun. It'll look nice in the library.

It is so choice. If you have the means, I recommend picking one up.
#4874097
Did anyone else find it kind of strange and interesting they used their own continuity for the book?
It doesn't follow the video game very much. I can't recall exact moments but I don't think it precisely follows the comics, either. Which is odd considering the author.
#4874110
LandoSystem wrote:Did anyone else find it kind of strange and interesting they used their own continuity for the book?
It doesn't follow the video game very much. I can't recall exact moments but I don't think it precisely follows the comics, either. Which is odd considering the author.
Erik is basically going by IDW canon so you're getting glimpses of his take on TVG, which we've only learned pieces of so far.
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