Superhero Media: Ghostbusters

Why is Ghostbusters such a classic? Yes, it's a clever, high-concept comedy from an era that perfected high-concept comedies, with a brilliant cast and bevy of one-liners; but it's certainly not the only film of that era that meets these qualifications. The story is loose, the mythology is nonsensical and Peter Venkman comes across as a sexual predator, but damn if none of that really matters in the end, because Ghostbusters is a genuine classic. In fact, I'm not really going to bother discussing the film in any sense other than how to justify it as superhero media and how to roll it into your superhero gaming. The Ghostbusters themselves work pretty well in a superhero setting, being a group of scientists with fuzzy qualifications that manage to create nuclear-powered super weapons to hunt ghosts because reasons. Venkman is a psychologist, in case you forgot, which kind of just makes his predating on students even the more creepy now that I think of it. As a private entity, the Ghostbusters are free to work for the government only when necessary (like being hired by the Mayor in the final act of the film), placing them among the likes of Damage Control or even Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway. 

Given that the Ghostbusters, as the name implies, bust ghosts, putting them up against, say Gentleman Ghost or Nightmare makes a lot of sense, maybe even a "misunderstanding fight" with Deadman or Ghost Rider. Let's not forget Gozer though, part ancient deity, part Lovecraftian horror, part Prince video, and surely a worthy opponent for Doctors both Strange and Fate. Flip that around, and you could easily have the Ghostbusters taking on Dormammu, Yig or Trigon, which opens up a fun range of allies for them to have, like Detective Chimp, Brother Voodoo, Raven, and many more. If you really run the Lovecraftian route, there's pretty much no better place to go than the BPRD, with Hellboy and Co taking on the big nasty whilst the boys in grey wrangle the nasty ghosts that have been kicked up; there's a game right there I could run tomorrow if I wanted. Actually, I have a display day coming up, maybe I should consider it... Or even just gaming out something like Infestation a bit better, most wargamers have plenty of zombies kicking around, I know I do. 

Now that I'm on this kick, I really can't seem to stop coming up with ideas. Lost Patrol with Ghostbusters vs Zombies. Ghostbusters (all of 'em) as an "Exorcist" unit in a SHIELD or UNIT force. Classic vs 2016 Ghostbusters in a Civil War campaign (or Secret Invasion!). Ghostbusters meet Sandman (Morpheus) and have to clear Nightmare out of the Dreaming. All this just since my last rewatch a couple of days ago, if you're a big fan of the film, you can probably come up with even more. Crooked Dice do a good set of Ghostbusters, even doing Slime Canister versions from Ghostbusters II, Lewis and Janine in full kit and the 2016 versions, so, again, you could have a small force for a skirmish game if that's your kind of thing. I think I'll be leaving Ghostbusters for a bit, having not watched it for a number of years before this last viewing; it certainly felt like the hiatus made it more enjoyable. That said, I think some more Ultimate Alliance games need to feature Venkman, Stanz, Zeddmore and Spengler, so watch out for that.