If you're reading this, it means the powerful spirit and deadly opponent of the Ghostbusters, Samhain, did not prevail and usher us into Eternal Halloween. Indeed, the second day of the Halloween duo/trio, All Saints' Day nears its end. As I've mentioned in years of Halloween blogging past, tomorrow marks the less celebrated All Soul's Day. However, I'm calling it a wrap as of tonight. Not saying there won't be reviews forthcoming. They'll just be scattered throughout the course of the year. No sense engaging in an Eternal Blogging Halloween, right?
You may be wondering how I plan to approach this All Saints' Day blogging? Ready to read the exciting preamble outlining how I will proceed? Er, no. You can read the title...
Fine.
Yep. I'll actually be blogging in the reverse of the title of this post by looking at the month of 2018 blogging and then reviewing Tobin's Spirit Guide.
Scroll down to the review if a rehash isn't your cup of tea.
First, I started the month by highlighting elsewhere in the Blogsphere that another blogger had adapted the Headless Horseman for the setting of Blackmoor (created by D&D co-creator Dave Arneson) using Savage World game rules on Dave Arneson Game Day. At the time, I stated I would endeavor to convert the Horseman of the North to D&D 5E stats. I admit I don't always (often) follow through with my blogging promises. However, this time I did. If you missed the entry cause you were busy celebrating Halloween or couldn't keep up with several days of Halloween blogging you can find the conversion here.
My second Halloween blog entry was my compilation of past Halloween blogging. Here is the compilation for your convenience. It was my second annual compilation. Like to think tonight is my getting ahead of next year's...
Then, there was OneBookShelf's Halloween Treat Scavenger Hunt. Unexpectedly, blogged twice about it. Here is the first and second posts. With a whopping fifteen treats from five sites, I really do hope to review them before next Halloween. That is if I am not like Charlie Brown kicking the football that is...
Fourth, it wouldn't be Halloween unless I provided a bunch of spooky links. This time I brushed off my neglected Official D&D 5E Rulings By Tweet blog "column" to provide some with a more Halloween flavor. Here it is.
My fifth was a textual capstone of the Halloween Sunday Comic Strips that graced newspapers and online the Sunday before Halloween. Just realized, I never did the same on Halloween...
Yeah, I am lumping together similar entries and treating them as one... No point treating posts with the same concept separately.
Sixth post is more of a stretch as far as Halloween blogging goes. I just felt the session ended with a very Halloween-like flavor.
Last, my Halloween post where I basically write about how the cartoon the Real Ghostbusters exposed me to the Celtic/Gaelic holiday of Samhain and is the inspiration of much of my Halloween blogging the last several years.
Also, I did mention I finished reading a book too. Meaning it is time for....
My Review of....
Tobin's Spirit Guide!
Front cover
Back Cover:
The book is written by Erik Burnham (a writer for IDW Ghostbusters comics) in the guise of Dr Egon Spengler and Dr Ray Stanz.
Illustrations were drawn by another IDW Ghostbusters comic alum: Kyle Hotz.
Here's a sample illustration of the villain Samhain. Really, the central character to yesterday's Halloween post. Honestly, He looks better here than in the show. More menacing.
Anyway, the book is written as abridged version of the actual Tobin's Spirit Guide, which includes anecdotes of the Ghostbusters experiences as well as a Rogues Gallery of the baddest of the bad.
Tobin's Spirit Guide collects many of the ghosts and incredibly nasty beings the Ghostbusters have fought in the movies, comic books, video games, and animated series. A tall order considering the comics occur in a separate continuity from the Real Ghostbusters. Furthermore, each media has its own unique tone.
Burnham and Hotz tackle the differences by creating a unifying continuity that modifies some entries and encounters from how they were originally presented.
For instance, Slimer was a companion of the Ghostbusters in the Real Ghostbusters. Heck, ABC practically made Slimer the main character when they relaunced the series as Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters from the third (really, the second but the true second season was syndicated) season. There were Slimer shorts focusing exclusively on Slimer!
Not so here. Slimer is trapped within his own containment unit.
Samhain? There is no reference towards his aversion to light. Spoilers basically how Samhain was defeated in When Halloween Was Forever involved light. Lots of light. In Tobin's Spirit Guide, nope. Attrition weakens him.
Another change I noticed was in regards to Stay Puft Marshmellow Man. Fondly recall watching as a child on the Real Ghostbusters Stay Puft's face turn as he became a good guy who would occasionally help out. Stay Puft always ended each story back inside the containment unit. But he's Gozer... Kid me never made that connection. Suffice it say the book nixes this. Stay Puft isn't a good guy. Not a one shot either.
Quite certain they made other changes; but I haven't watched the Real Ghostbusters in decade or two. So I couldn't point them out. Nor have I read every comic (IDW and otherwise) nor played the video games. Any changes to those ghosts and big bad supernatural entities I couldn't tell you.
However, the listing is pretty extensive. The nostalgia factor is high. Marked about big time seeing the ghosts from the movies and reading about each ghost was expanded beyond their 30-second appearance.
Like me, if you are closer to your forties than childhood, it's great reading narrative vignettes aimed at a more mature reader. Would love to see this creative team tackle some of these ghosts and major supernatural baddies within the comic. In other words, I would buy the comic more if the older rogues gallery made appearances.
The art is excellent too.
Overall: If you're a fan of Ghostbusters in all the different forms, if you've ever wanted to read the Tobin's Spirit Guide, if you want a good Ghostbusters read involving the old crew, I highly recommend tracking down this book. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
See you both next time as well as next Halloween season.
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