Ghostbusters' Winston Zeddemore: I'm Ready to Believe Him

Ghostbusters: Tainted Love, published by IDW Publishing, by Dana Naraghi, Salgood Sam, & Bernie Mireault



IDW Publishing is the best thing to happen to the Ghostbusters franchise in a long time. Amidst rumors of a third Ghostbusters film, IDW is already producing new stories starring everyone's favorite paranormal investigators, and this month's Ghostbusters: Tainted Love is the perfect example of how a franchise twenty-five years old can remain entertaining and viable when respected for its original wit. Further, while this one-shot exploits Valentine's Day as a backdrop, February is also Black History Month, and appropriately this issue shines a worthy light on one of pop culture's most underrated black characters ever: Winston Zeddemore.



See, while the three founding Ghostbusters each represent part of the dynamic that makes their story so compelling -- from Egon's deadpan intelligence, to Ray's paranormal passion, to Peter's horny humor -- Winston is the common man. Never mind that he's black; he's blue collar, and that's what makes him the every man even among resurrected demon dogs or medieval murals of animated madmen. He's seen the stuff that'll turn you white, and he hasn't changed a bit, still steadfast as the voice of reason, the regular guy that, if there's a paycheck in it, he'll do anything you say. That he is black is a testament to his culture; he's a hard-working man on a predominantly white team, and perhaps the most invested, considering his initial lack of experience in the paranormal. Remember, Winston knows his Bible. More than Egon and Ray's scientific know-how, more than Peter's detached sarcasm, Winston sees the big picture and he knows how to cope.

Ghostbusters: Tainted Love is the definitive Zeddemore story, as Winston befriends a substitute teacher suffering from a haunting at home, the result of a broken heart decades removed. Winston asks Egon to devise a way to avoid their usual collateral damage, but his new light-weight proton packs don't pack the punch the Ghostbusters need to handle such an experienced apparition -- so Winston talks to it. More so than any innovation in ghost-busting, Winston's ability to talk man-to-(former)man with the ghost transcends into the spectral plane and defeats the ghoul the old-fashioned way: by giving it some peace. In the end, Winston gets the girl, but more importantly he gets the respect he's deserved from the very beginning, when he first answered that help wanted ad in the paper.

Artistically, Tainted Love takes a step away from IDW's other Ghostbusters offerings, and I like it, as Salgood Sam's stuff reminds me of Jim Rugg's or Farel Dalrymple's work. His Venkman is my favorite yet, all wild-haired and sheepish smirks, until he's slimed, anyway. Colorist Bernie Mireault does a great job turning Sam's pencils into nice colorful effects, too. Further, writer Dara Naraghi gives us Ghostbusters fans everything we want in this single issue tale, from a worthy villain, to Peter's worldliness having value, to Egon and Ray spending a Valentine's Day with their true love -- science -- to all of the Winston goodness I mentioned earlier.

Finally, I'd say this story is a ghost of this franchise's past, if it wasn't so indicative of a more promising future. Keep it coming, IDW. When I want a good Ghostbusters story, I know who to call.

The Witch's Roots: The Blair Witch Project comic book

Scary movies are a rich Halloween tradition. This month, Saw V, Quarantine, and The Haunting of Molly Hartley all promise to make this all hallows eve absolutely horrible, in the best possible way, of course. I developed an appreciation of "the scary movie" as legitimate cinematic art in the summer of 1999 with The Blair Witch Project, and although it wasn't released around Halloween, it harkened shades of the holiday with its infamous tagline: "In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary . . . A year later their footage was found." Had Heather, Josh, and Mike been lost in, say, March, would the supernatural circumstances of their wayward camping trip be as creepy?

Boy, remember the hoopla that ensued around the Blair Witch phenomenon? The Sci-Fi Channel aired that pseudo-documentary so many times, even the witch herself would've preferred a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond on TBS. Computer games and a series of junior novels perpetrated the film's mythology for a younger audience, and while its sequel is arguably one of the worst movies ever made, it sustained the franchise for another year and incited another round of handycam-oriented satire. I didn't know until recently that Oni had published a supplemental one-shot, exploring the haunted history of Blair Witch's Burkittsville, so when I found this issue in a 25-cent bin a few months ago, I decided to save it as a Halloween read. Here's my tagline:

"In October of 2008 one comic book blogger disappeared into a comic book about Burkittsville, Maryland, while writing a review . . . A few minutes later his review was posted."

Okay, so my tag isn't as ominous, but it gets the point across, no? Just as the original film used supposedly real footage from those three ill-fated college students, this Oni issue perpetrates the Blair Witch mythology by claiming ties to an independent comic book, called Witch Wood Said, by Maryland's resident nut Cece Malvey, which editor-in-chief Jamie Rich discovered at the Alternative Press Expo. While that concept is interesting enough, writer Jen Van Meter reveals that her grandmother's maiden name is Blair, making her the perfect candidate to adapt the amateurish Witch Wood Said into a mainstream comic. So, just inside the front cover, readers are thrust into a world where witchcraft may be real, and where comic books are the perfect place to purge one's demons. The three short stories therein would almost be inconsequential, then, if they weren't so darn well drawn. Tommy Lee Edwards' photo realistic illustration (best known from Marvel's Earth X), Guy Davis' expressive detail, and Bernie Mireault's cartoony surrealism balance these stories of a haunted colonial New England perfectly. Just as the handycam was the best way to tell the movie's shocking story, these artists were the best picks for their respective contributions, fleshing out the Blair Witch lore with appropriate reverence.

Plenty of people see scary movies around Halloweentime. Unlike those three poor kids in the woods of Burkittsville, the trick is to survive this hallowed holiday without starring in one. Good luck.

The Blair Witch Project comic book was published in September 1999 by Oni Press.