Slimer #1

I started this book over a month ago. I had gone to a local comic book store to stock up on some reads for my annual family vacation, which is where I came across this book. I was really excited to get it because I had seen it advertised on FB the week prior and was convinced that it was going to be sold before I got there. But it was my lucky day. 

Anyways I read the first half of the comic and then went on my vacation the next day and we'll, wouldn't you know it's the end of July before I remembered that I still had half of the book left to read. The comic, a spinoff of The Real Ghostbusters starred everyone's favorite ghost, Slimer. Published in 1989, the book had 2 stories, both written by Hilarie Staton. 

First, Slimer accidentally frees a ghost from a containment unit and the ghost could not be any more of a brat. Trying to get Slimer to embrace the mischief that comes with being a ghost, the new spook ends up continuously getting the green ghostie into trouble he didn't ask for. Then while seeking out a really large cake, Slimer unknowingly causes trouble for a hotel full of attendees of a plumbers convention.

In both stories, Slimer can speak full sentences. When did this happen? All I remember as a kid from the animated Ghostbusters cartoon was that Slimer mostly spoke gobbledygook with maybe a 2 year old's vocabulary.  So having him speak so eloquent in this book was a bit of a shock. 

At the beginning of this book, the editing team pat themselves on the back for finally earning the CCA stamp. Sadly, it's really too little, too late for NOW Comics as they'll be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in just a another year or so and both Ghostbusters comics will be cancelled! I understand that obtaining the stamp was done in order to make NOW Comics more marketable nationwide. But I would have appreciated it more if the folks at NOW would have spent all that time and effort instead on making the artwork look better. Okay. The artwork was spot on. But the coloring was atrocious. It looked like something my mom could have colored with her beloved markers instead of by a seasoned professional

Despite earning the stamp, I was very surprised of the content of the second story because the giant cake Slimer wants to eat will eventually contain a stripper, who shows up to the plumbers convention wearing nothing but a bikini and F-Me pumps. To be fair, the girl is never called a stripper and she never gets into the cake. But man, the Comic Code Authority really let just about anything pass during their waning years it seems.

Slimer #10

I took a break yesterday from doing reviews. Don't fret! Family Comic Friday will be back next week.

Yesterday was family Thanksgiving time and by the time I got home, I was just too tired and sore to feel like typing up a review. But I still had 1 more Thanksgiving read to post about. True to my word, here it is!

I choose Slimer #10 for Thanksgiving Day because it was the day I was going to see Ghostbusters: Afterlife in theaters with my wife after she got off work. I thought it was fitting with a theme, I guess. There's 2 stories in this issue. The first is Thanksgiving themed. The second is not. But both involve ghosts!

In the opening tale, Jeanine puts Slimer on a diet just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Telling the green ghoulie that he can on have 1 of everything, Slimer makes giant morsels of everything. They still count as one, right? Having overeaten, Slimer has a fitful sleep and dreams that he's one of the balloons he witnessed at the Thanksgiving parade.  

In the second tale, Slimer plays Ghostbuster when he discovers that the NYPD's stable of police horses are being terrorized by a trio of phantom wolves. The only problem is that Slimer can't activate the ghost traps without making himself a member of this spectral wolfpack. Whose Slimer gonna call when he's without his Ghostbuster pals?!

This issue of Slimer was a great trip back in time to the late 80s when I was obsessed with The Real Ghostbusters. the artwork for this comic looked just like the cartoon series did. But the coloring was just too drab. But I think that was the publisher's fault as the ads seemed pretty drab too. Or it could be the aging of the book. This book is over 30 years in age!

Another issue I had was Slimer's dialogue. On the cartoon, Slimer, voiced by Frank Welker (Transformers), spoke a type of pigeon English. You couldn't understand what he said. But you did get the gist of what Slimer was trying to convey. Here, Slimer speaks in complete sentences with zero perceived flaws. I guess it's not easy to make a comic series based on a character that readers can't decipher. But it's still a shock when that's not how you expect Slimer to 'sound.'

(Note- the reason Slimer can speak really well is actually due to the cartoon! In 1988, the series was expanded to an hour as Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters. The Slimer toons gave Slimer an extended vocabulary. I wasn't aware of this as by that time, I had moved on to Ninja Turtles. Based on this comics 1990 publication date, this series is clearly an adaptation of the later seasons I didn't watch.)

When I read a old comic, I pour over the ads. There's a page or two in this comic that lists all of NOW Comics series that were going on at the start of the 90s. There's some really interesting stuff here based on TV shows and movies I was a fan of. I haven't really given NOW Comics must notice. But I think I'm going have to start adding some series to my wish list!

A fun issue that's partially Thanksgiving but 100% full of ghosts and the subsequent busting of!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.