Graphic Novel Review: GHOSTBUSTERS: HAUNTED HOLIDAYS

IDW's latest Ghostbusters graphic novel Haunted Holidays collects several one-shots into one coherent book all themed around the holidays. The Ghostbusters have been a new ongoing franchise for IDW (following such high profile properties as 24, CSI, and Angel, to name a few) and this is a series that shows just how diversified it can be.

The first story "Tainted Love" sees Ghost buster Winston finding love in all the wrong places especially in a woman whose apartment is haunted by a ghost who gets jealous. There's no better place to celebrate Independence Day then at a comic book convention and that's exactly where Ray takes the team in the story "Con-Volution!" in which the team looks to the aid of a recently passed comic book artist to help them defeat their latest enemy. Then in "What in Samhain Just Happened?!" secretary Janine puts on the suit in order to make a few extra bucks by helping a rich man get rid of a pesky old ghost. In "Guess What's Coming to Dinner?" the team must battle a possessed turkey. This is a nine page original story for the graphic novel. And to close out this graphic novel is "Past, Present, and Future" in which the Ghostbusters get to meet the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, & Future and hopefully save the Spirit of Christmas.

These stories are a welcomed release from the seriousness of the previous two graphic novels The Other Side and Displaced Aggression. The stories in this volume are played for fun and at a brisk page count the stories never overstay their welcome. This graphic novel is barebones as there are no added features other than the stories themselves (other than a calendar before each story indicating the date/month of each story) but at the cheap price of $17.99 (when most graphic novels now hit the $19.99 and above price) this is forgivable.