Transformers Ghostbusters Ghosts of Cybertron Issue 4 iTunes Preview

Every drop of that preview was Pure. Gold.

I'm loving this comic so, so much. And Prime REALLY rocks that colour scheme!

Big Grim wrote:I'm loving this comic so, so much. And Prime REALLY rocks that colour scheme!

He does! and the humor he has is so refreshing!

Just when you thought Grimlock saying he ain't afraid of no ghost was the highlight of the series, issue 4 comes along. Issue 4 of 5 takes us to the setting of the climax of the series, and with crossovers such as this, issue 4 truly is one of the most important: it needs to set up the finale and make you care and get you all excited for the finale.

And the Ghostbusters did not disappoint. All 6 of them.



One of the best things about this issue had to be the addition of Optimus Prime to the Ghostbusting crew. And we aren't talking about a Prime who is boring, who gives big heroic speeches, who monologues a lot, and who is fairly monotone. No, what we get here is a Prime from the original cartoon that plays basketball and cracks wise. It was refreshing and really fun to read Prime interacting with the Ghostbusters, especially with Venkman. It felt different in a great way and he contributed greatly to the story.

Oh and he gets of the best line of the series. Seriously, if you don't enjoy that last page, can you ever truly love anything?



Ectotron and the Ghostbusters also get their share of time, and this issue solidifies just how good of a team they are becoming, and also how disgusting us humans can truly be sometimes. Their chemistry is enjoyable, and Ectotron's first time out with the Proton Pack went about as expected, and it was enjoyable and entertaining all the while.



We also get to the crux of the story regarding what happened to the Decepticons, and who the mysterious red hooded figure is, and it's enjoyable. It's a bit straightforward, but sometimes you just need that.

That is a place where this crossover really shines: it isn't world ending serious, it is light-hearted, upbeat, and fun. You have quippy characters that make sense and fit into the theme of the series. It's a comedy action comic, and the whole tone of the series has followed that theme perfectly.

It's a very enjoyable series, and Issue 4 continues that trend.



Art duties fall to Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Tom B. Long on art, colors, and lettering respectively, and they are a great trio that bring this comic to life in a wonderful way.

The ghosts continue to be wonderful brought to life(?), and the Kremzeeks in the issue are wonderful too. The team truly does a great job of bringing both of these strange and interesting concepts to life and making you enjoy what you are seeing as your are reading. It's quite a good look!



They also do a wonderful job of bringing the backgrounds to life, and this is the most evident in the scene whenever Kremzeek first shows up. The bright sunny day quickly changing over to a dreadful foggy scene was awesome, and the maintaining of this scenery was great too. No matter what part of the panel you are looking at, you get some awesome living characters, ghosts, and backgrounds. The art crew has done a great job, and this issue was the highlight of the background scenery part of that art.



Ghosts of Cybertron has been a great, enjoyable series. This is what a crossover can do when it follows a fun, light-hearted tone that allows its characters to interact in fun ways that still fit within their characterizations. It is great!

I have greatly enjoyed all 4 issues so far, and with the final panel of this issue, I am all set and excited for the conclusion. This crew of 6 meshes together wonderfully, and it makes me yearn for more of this kind of crossover. The Ghostbusters and the Transformers make for a great gang with great chemistry, and I could not be happier with how things have been going.

Alright guys, let's finish the job strong!

There's two words to best describe this series.

Ridiculously fun

Another two words would be

Cheap plug

And that's what it is, it's basically a comic series tie-in to give a back story to two toys.

It's blatant marketing.

And I fucking love it.

There is nothing spectacular about the writing, it's not going to make people go into a meditative state and contemplate the universe and where their life fits into it.

It is however, going to give you a brief escape from their life.

This issue is basic.

Prime explains how his new paint job - hint at bigger bad - funny banter amongst Ghostbusters, and even Prime himself - find Starscream - big bad is revealed - big bad is defeated - more bad guys!

That's it! That's how you can break this story down, it's nearly as basic as those old He-Man comics that came packaged with the He-Man figures.

BUT I FUCKING LOVE IT!

If you're not on board yet, GET ON!

Excellent reviews guys

Hey with so many fans taking issue (see what I did there) with the main TF title are there elements from this you would transplant to the other tittle? Like humor, character interaction, art, etc. do you see things that work here that would improve the other title? This being such a winner for everyone I wanted to pick some brains.

Burn wrote:
This issue is basic.

I mean, I was going for clarity and accessibility, after all. (:

eburnham wrote:

Burn wrote:
This issue is basic.

I mean, I was going for clarity and accessibility, after all. (:

You've done a fantastic job with this series. This is the first Transformers cross over with another series I've truly enjoyed.

Burn wrote:

eburnham wrote:

Burn wrote:
This issue is basic.

I mean, I was going for clarity and accessibility, after all. (:

You've done a fantastic job with this series. This is the first Transformers cross over with another series I've truly enjoyed.

Ditto, it's been a great ride!

Stargrave wrote:Excellent reviews guys

Hey with so many fans taking issue (see what I did there) with the main TF title are there elements from this you would transplant to the other tittle? Like humor, character interaction, art, etc. do you see things that work here that would improve the other title? This being such a winner for everyone I wanted to pick some brains.

The humor is something that really needs to translate over. That's a big weakness of the current ongoing: there is practically no character to any of the characters. And that is in 11 issues. 4 issues here have given us a tight cast with unique personalities that all gel wonderfully together and make for a fun ride!

Burn wrote:

eburnham wrote:

Burn wrote:
This issue is basic.

I mean, I was going for clarity and accessibility, after all. (:

You've done a fantastic job with this series. This is the first Transformers cross over with another series I've truly enjoyed.

100% agreed. This series has been an absolute joy!

And our finale is this week.

It's been a wild ride, and we've managed to keep the cast intimate.

I hope you all had some fun.

eburnham wrote:And our finale is this week.

It's been a wild ride, and we've managed to keep the cast intimate.

I hope you all had some fun.

I have, and I am very much looking forward to the finale!

Story

The finale has arrived, the ghosts are all out on the attack, and the Ghostbusters, old and new, are in hero mode.

Did they succeed in winning over our hearts and minds?



Well, yes.

The Transformers x Ghostbusters finale lived up to the 4 issues that preceded it, and it gave us exactly what was expected, and it did it very well. It gave us the Ghost Decepticons in all out attack and revenge mode, it gave us a quippy cool-dad styled Optimus Prime, it gave us a young Autobot who finally found his niche, and it gave us a perfect mix of Ghostbusters crew and Transformers. The interactions felt real, it felt earned, and it was enjoyed. The comic crew felt real, and felt like they earned what they all got to do. This was a good finale that earned its good quality.



The praises I have given the series live on through this issue, and continues to show that Erik Burnham knows his Ghostbusters, his Transformers, and his combination of the 2 very well. All of the characters lived up to how we have all come to remember them acting, and it gave us a very convincing and enjoyable new cast member in Ectotron to properly bridge the franchise gaps.

The Decepticons had their chance to shine this issue as well, and all of them lived up to how we would think they would act and behave. Starscream wants vengeance on a quippy Venkman, Shockwave and Soundwave just want new bodies, and Megatron just wants to vanquish Prime and the Autobots. And the Ghostbusters served as a great continuation of the classic characters while also providing some excellent, clever, and genre-savvy commentary.

In short, the characters were excellent, the plot was fun, enjoyable, and clearly laid out for us, and the book provided us with an excellent crossover ride.



Art

Wrapping up the crossover are Dan Schoening, Luis Antonio Delgado, and Christa Miesner on art, colors, and lettering respectively. While we have seen Dan and Luis on the series from issue 1, Miesner is brand new, but still provided us with some great lettering work. The character designs were on point, the lines were great and clear, the coloring was fantastic, especially with the background setting in response to the various ghostly activities, and the lettering was non-intrusive and well laid out.



It was also cool to look at issue 5 compared to issue 1, and the robot art showed some nice improvement too. The artwork improvement came at the perfect time, as we truly got to experience some great art of some robots throwing down, even if most of them were ghosts!

Conclusions

From the get go, I have been thoroughly enjoying this series. Issue 1 started us out great, and as we have gone along, the journey has proven to be just as enjoyable as Issue 1 promised, with Issue 5 giving us a very satisfying conclusion.

And what's important for this crossover, compared to all the others that we have seen over the past several years, is the fact that this one was FUN. It was super fun! It gave our cast the chance to interact with each other and live up to their personalities and their outlandish job titles and general selves. There was no meaningless fighting, there was a cast that blended in well and proved from the get go that it gelled together. They all worked together! It was fantastic to read, and thoroughly enjoyable.



And thanks to that ending, we have hopes of seeing more of this universe with the Transformers in it. And I truly hope we get some more Ectotron and more of the Transformers in the IDW Ghost-verse. I have complete faith in this creative crew, this crossover showed their are amazing.

Well done.

What can I say that I haven't already said before? Or what D-Max has before?

This was, simply put, another fun issue, and a perfect wrap-up to what I consider the best crossover Transformers has had with ANY other franchise.

The humour ... oh the humour, that has made this series so enjoyable, and this issue didn't miss a beat. I love light hearted Optimus Prime. I love the rivalry that's now been established between Starscream and Peter Venkman (PLEASE LET THIS CONTINUE!). I loved an out of character outburst from Soundwave as he realised his fate. So many little things including a G.I. Joe reference add up to make this issue so damn enjoyable.

The art, as with previous Ghostbuster comics, has always been a favourite of mine, and this was no exception.

If I had one quibble, Megatron's new look was a bit ... odd. No major explanation given unless you make it up yourself.

But overall, another fantastic issue, a definite must read for Ghostbusters and Transformer fans alike.

Agreed with what Burn wrote too. PLEASE let this continue! It was a great story itself but also set up so much fun stuff for the future!

I'm looking forward to getting this in trade, you guys have done a fantastic job of reviewing this series and I thank you. As for the people who created it though... Thank you for showing us that crossovers can be done with Transformers, even ones that don't share anything at first glance (say like another cross over that shall remain nameless). Through TF x GB you've managed to create a compelling story that stands on its own and serves as a greater introduction at the same time. I tip my hat to you gentlemen.

Burn wrote:If I had one quibble, Megatron's new look was a bit ... odd. No major explanation given unless you make it up yourself.

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. Suddenly he looks a bit more Transformers Prime Megs for "reasons"?

That aside, yet another utterly enjoyable issue. And it closed out with the possibility of more in the future. Loved it.

Big Grim wrote:

Burn wrote:If I had one quibble, Megatron's new look was a bit ... odd. No major explanation given unless you make it up yourself.

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. Suddenly he looks a bit more Transformers Prime Megs for "reasons"?

That aside, yet another utterly enjoyable issue. And it closed out with the possibility of more in the future. Loved it.

I took it as Megatron was fully realizing what he could do as a ghost. And he was slimed out of Ectotron, so he could have reconstituted in a different form because he was scrambled from the slime

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Big Grim wrote:

Burn wrote:If I had one quibble, Megatron's new look was a bit ... odd. No major explanation given unless you make it up yourself.

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. Suddenly he looks a bit more Transformers Prime Megs for "reasons"?

That aside, yet another utterly enjoyable issue. And it closed out with the possibility of more in the future. Loved it.

I took it as Megatron was fully realizing what he could do as a ghost. And he was slimed out of Ectotron, so he could have reconstituted in a different form because he was scrambled from the slime

Like I said, you can make up any reason you want. I didn't catch any hint as to why the change of form. I'm hoping there's a pay off somewhere about it down the track when they hopefully follow up the series.

Burn wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Big Grim wrote:

Burn wrote:If I had one quibble, Megatron's new look was a bit ... odd. No major explanation given unless you make it up yourself.

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. Suddenly he looks a bit more Transformers Prime Megs for "reasons"?

That aside, yet another utterly enjoyable issue. And it closed out with the possibility of more in the future. Loved it.

I took it as Megatron was fully realizing what he could do as a ghost. And he was slimed out of Ectotron, so he could have reconstituted in a different form because he was scrambled from the slime

Like I said, you can make up any reason you want. I didn't catch any hint as to why the change of form. I'm hoping there's a pay off somewhere about it down the track when they hopefully follow up the series.

It's definitely ghost-related abilities. I figured context would work on that; everyone's smart enough to sort that out.

Kind of like why I didn't explain the process of transformation for the non-TF fans. (Why do they do that, anyway?) etc. (:

We certainly love you coming here and talking about the book! It really was fantastic, and I don't think I'm alone in wishing for a sequel series, or Ectotron making it into the main ongoing!