This holiday season, the Ghostbusters get into
the spirit by hunting the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and
Future in a one-shot from
IDW Publishing.
Based on the characters made famous by Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd in
Ivan Reitman's classic 1984 film, "Ghostbusters: Past, Present, and
Future" is written by "Cla$$war" scribe Rob Williams and illustrated by
Diego Jourdan. CBR News caught up with Williams to discuss the project,
due out in December, as well as his affinity for writing characters
from '80s movies.
"Ghostbusters" has only recently returned to comics, with the third
issue of IDW's second miniseries starring the team shipping in
November. Williams noted, however, that there are several factors that
make this the right time for a revival. "There's the computer game, and
the building buzz about 'Ghostbusters 3' - apparently Ivan Reitman's on
board, yay!" the writer said. "But, to be honest, those weren't
considerations for me. I love the first 'Ghostbusters' movie. It's one
of my favourite films. I've got a lot of experience now, writing
licensed properties, and figured it would be fun to write some Peter
Venkman dialogue, so I asked Chris Ryall at IDW if I could pitch."
"Ghostbusters: Past, Present, and Future" will see the team taking
on the ghosts from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." One might
think that the spirits responsible for reforming the miserly Scrooge
are good ghosts and thus not worthy of busting. "Ah, well, there's a
cynical twist to our tale, so I can't reveal too much," Williams said.
"But basically the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future turn
up at the penthouse of New York's richest man every Christmas Eve to
try and get him to change his ways, and that's something he has no
intention of doing, largely because he has huge mountains of cash and
reallyenjoys the power, nubile women, and luxuries that allows him.
Especially the nubile women. And the power. So, finally, he hires the
Ghostbusters to get rid of his yuletide pests and dangles a very large
check in front of them for their trouble. Now, whether trapping and
imprisoning the spirits of Christmas themselves is something the
Busters should really be doing? That's a moral judgement they have to
make."
As to whether or not the famous ghosts have anything to teach
Venkman, Ray, Egon, and Winston, Williams said, "the ghosts have a
lesson to impart on our story's Scrooge character, sure. For Venkman,
it's more about 'can he get this job done in time to still make it to
his flight to Vegas for Cesar's Palace's 'all you can eat' Festive
Buffet Incorporating Erotic Dance?'"
At this point in his career, Williams has written a few licensed
series, including "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" at Dark Horse and a
new "Robocop" series for Dynamite. "Me and '80s movies," he joked.
"It's become a bit of a running joke - I think 2000AD artist PJ Holden
said I'd be after the 'Police Academy' license next. It brings back how
much of a fan I was of these movies and characters when I was younger,
I guess. Writing dialogue for Han Solo, Darth Vader, Indiana Jones,
Marcus Brody, Pete Venkman - it's a thrill.
"Weirdly, I didn't find writing the 'Star Wars' or 'Indy' characters
too daunting, but I did feel some trepidation about writing Venkman.
Bill Murray is so funny in 'Ghostbusters,' with a real laconic,
knowing, esoteric charm - that's all tough to capture. But funny, most
of all. If it's Pete Venkman dialogue, it had better be funny. I think
we get that with ,Past, Present & Future."
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Sun May 03, 2009 5:52 pm
