Who ya gonna call when things are more than meets the eye?
Transformers/Ghostbusters 1
Written by Erik Burnham
Art by Dan Schoening
This is really the crossover I never knew I wanted. Two of my favorite properties from the 1980s come together here under the loving guidance of a creative team that has provided great stories for the GHOSTBUSTERS over the last few years. Burnham and Schoening continue their irreverent takes with this new miniseries, which kicks off by altering the history of everyone’s favorite Robots in Disguise.
In the continuity of the Ghostbusters comics universe, the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron wasn’t destroyed by the civil war between the Autobots and Decepticons. And it wasn’t eaten by transforming planet Unicron. Instead, its fate was a little more familiar to fans of the 1984 GHOSTBUSTERS movie.
The Traveler heralding the arrival of Gozer on Cybertron is a trip, and the Decepticon team of Megatron, Soundwave, Shockwave and Starscream standing in for Venkman, Stanz, Spengler and Zeddemore was an inspired touch, with the usually brash and self-serving Starscream taking Ray Stanz’ place as the one who accidentally gives Gozer his new form.
What form does Starscream choose? A giant version of himself, of course.
Megatron and his army of Decepticons aren’t enough to stop Gozer, though. The Autobots, who had fled Cybertron before its destruction, are left to travel the universe on the Ark. They’re led to Earth by a never-before-seen Autobot named Ectronymous Diamatron who found a Cybertronian signal coming from Earth. So Optimus Prime sends Ectotron to Earth to investigate, where he comes into contact with the ‘Busters.
The first issue of this miniseries was, of course, all set-up, but Burnham and Schoening have earned a high level of trust in delivering once the story is all told. There are great moments throughout the issue that pay homage to both properties – the appearance of ghost Starscream alone would have earned this issue praise in my eyes – and I can’t wait to see what they throw at us for future issues.