Ghostbusters Franchise History In Shadowland Magazine

Shadowland Magazine, a print publication that covers the best in horror, sci-fi & fantasy entertainment, is featuring Ghostbusters in the latest issue. Besides a Slimer cover drawn by Dwayne Pinkney, which is also available in a glow-in-the-dark variant, there's a nice five-page retrospective on the entire Ghostbusters franchise. That's in addition to all of the other horror, sci-fi & fantasy content filling the rest of the 100 pages, including articles on the history of horror video games (21-pages long!), an interview with the Angry Video Game Nerd, a look back at the legacy of Dr. Moreau in the Philippines, the life and films of '80s ninja star Sho Kosugi, Spider-Man on television, and much more.

Editor Andrew Parietti was kind enough to send me a complimentary copy, and it was a really good read. It feels like a cross between Fangoria/Starlog and Cereal Geek...and that's definitely a very good thing! The Ghostbusters franchise retrospective, "But The Kids Love Us! - A Look At The Ghostbusters Franchise" by Flynn Cook, is an excellent detailed overview of the franchise after the first film. The Real Ghostbusters is touched upon briefly, but it's with Ghostbusters II that the article starts getting into details. The film is given an ample amount of affection, along with some valid reasons that I never considered before as to why it's a good film. The underrated Extreme Ghostbusters series is also shown some appreciation.

When talk of the 2009 video game is brought up, Flynn mentions that the "game's script was tightened by series writers Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis", instead of regurgitating the marketing hype of Dan and Harold having written the script themselves. I was very happy to read this, as would the game's writers John Zuur Platten and Flint Dille. Before going into detail on the IDW series of Ghostbusters comic books, Flynn briefly mentions the 88MPH "Legion" series, and specifically the "foolish cad" of an owner who "ran off with people's preorder money for a collected book of 'Legion' and his company went under." I'm glad that this little detail did not get left out. It would have been very easy to overlook the "Legion" series and the preorder debacle.

The only thing I can see that wasn't mention in the article was the 2008 release of The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection DVD box set. The 2009 video game is credited with reviving the franchise, but I'd say the 2008 DVD set was a big help. Oh, and thankfully the only real grammar error of note is that Ray Parker lost his "Junior" status. Dan Aykroyd's last name is always spelled correctly, and that makes me happy. It's a pet peeve of mine when I see his last name misspelled. It's not like it's a hard name to spell. They should try spelling "Straczynski".

Here's what the retrospective pages look like. No, they can't be enlarged. You want to read it, buy the magazine.


Although this is the primarily coverage of Ghostbusters in the magazine, it isn't the only coverage. The Ghostbusters NES video game gets two photos and a paragraph in the "Virtual Fear: A History of Horror Video Games" article by Frank Warden (on page 15).


On page 36 we see the box cover for the Which Witch? board game in the "Horror Board Games" pictorial. Which Witch? was the 1970s Milton-Bradley game on which The Real Ghostbusters board game was based. (Fun Fact: The game was re-released in the 1990s as Ghost Castle, but was only available outside of the United States.) Interestingly, The Real Ghostbusters board game isn't included in the pictorial.

In the "By The Numbers" feature on page 75, a small Real Ghostbusters promo photo is shown along with the trivia tidbit "147 - Episodes produced of The Real Ghostbusters". The 147 number is derived from the total number of episodes included in the Time-Life DVD box set, including the Slimer! episodes. That includes episodes that feature two or three stories.

If I want to be complete, I could mention that in the Middle Earth Collectibles advertisement on page 94 is the Ghostbusters: The Other Side trade paperback cover and the It's A Trap shirt, both of which are available for sale on the site - along with the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors 1986 VHS shown on page 96 (Nora from the Ghostbusters Fan Forum appears on this tape as both herself and as Freddy Krueger).

Of course, that's just everything Ghostbusters in the magazine. There's lots of other stuff too. You can read about all of the contents on the Shadowland Magazine website. While you're there, pick up issue #5 (Summer 2012) for only $9.95. The limited edition glow-in-the-dark Slimer cover is the same price.

[UPDATE - 10/18/2022]
As it is now 10 years later, and the magazine is surely out of print, I am providing a PDF copy of all Ghostbusters articles from it. Click on the cover below to download it.