Review – Ghostbusters: Crossing Over #8 (IDW Publishing)

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Dan Schoening
Colours: Luis Antonio Delgado
Lettering: Neil Uyetake
Release Date: 14th November 2018

Tiamat, Goddess of Destruction. Sister of Gozer and one of the most powerful foes that the Ghostbusters have ever faced. Last time one of our main four died stopping her and now she’s back!

The Ghostbusters from across the multiverse have been brought together, and some of the worst Ghosts that the teams have ever faced have been set loose across multiple dimensions. Thankfully they managed to capture them all, but with all the chaos caused by their multiverse adventure Tiamat has decided to finally try to get revenge on the Ghostbusters. And now with one god against more than twenty ‘Busters, let’s see who comes out on top in the rematch four years in making!

As you may have guessed from the introduction, this is the culmination of a lot of long-standing plot points that this creative team have set up for years now. As such, before I talk about all the stuff this issue does right, there is one huge caveat. This issue, and arguably this story in general, is for the fans who like me have been reading these comics for years. This is not where you should be starting your Ghostbusters comic adventures.

This issue does a fantastic job of showing just why I love Erik Burnham’s writing on Ghostbusters so much. He’s able to perfectly balance huge action scenes with quieter, character-based moments and the humour that has always been a huge part of Ghostbusters’ appeal as a franchise. Every character has had good moments over the course of these eight issues and this finale brings it all home spectacularly with a long-awaited battle and an epilogue that hints at some potentially new and interesting directions that this creative team are going to take us in next.

Speaking of the creative team, let me one more time talk about the superb work done by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado. Schoening has made these creations his own, with all the characters that started in live-action being given Schoening’s own unique interpretation. Combining that with an amazing ability to mimic the distinctive styles of animation that the other teams come from (like, for example, the ’80s cartoon style of The Real Ghostbusters) means that every character looks and feels unique. Delgado displays a similar knack to his colours, with an ability to match these distinctive aesthetics while managing to make the whole thing fit together amazingly seamlessly.

As an end to this mini-series, this issue really works. But it’s not just the end of the mini-series, it’s the conclusion to what feels like many years of plotting and different storylines, and in the end, it’s immensely satisfying to see everything coming together as well as it does here. It’s the joy of a long running creative team. The book can set stuff up way in advance to pay it off later down the line. As such if you’ve been reading these comics for as long as I have then it’s no surprise that you should pick this up. It’s a brilliant showing by this creative team that reminds me why they’re the absolute best at writing the Ghostbusters.

Rating: 5/5.

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