Even though the animated show was an American production, it was Marvel UK that were the first company to publish a Real Ghostbusters comic book.
The fantastic fortnightly title began in March 1988 and was so well received that just 12 issues later it became a weekly release which ran until September 1992. There were 193 different issues published in total as well as four Christmas Annuals. Marvel also released a handful of holiday specials and monthly “best of the Ghostbusters” titles as well as some story books based on the comics.
From the very first issue, Marvel were publishing amazing all original content (both stories and artwork) which should come as no surprise considering how talented the team was. The majority of the artists involved have long been established names in the world of comic book art and many of the ones I’ve spoken to have told me that their involvement with Marvel in the late 80’s and early 90’s on such titles as The Real Ghostbusters, Transformers and Thundercats was both memorable and thoroughly enjoyable.
Even though towards the end it had become a shadow of it’s former self (almost totally relying on reprinted stories from earlier issues or stories from the US comics) Marvel UK’s Real Ghostbusters comic will still always be remembered as one of the companies best titles, not to mention the fact that it was selling 100,000 copies per issue in it’s heyday.
In America, the comics were published by a company called NOW and released monthly. Overall, it was a much shorter lived series which ran from August 1988 until February 1991 and after 28 issues of their own original stories, NOW began reprinting some of the Marvel UK covers & stories too. While there are many differences between the two publications in terms of the look of the characters, both feature some great RGB artwork and relied on the talents of some great artists such as Ken Steacy, John Tobias, Rich Rankin & Patrick Williams.
Please use the drop down menu above to view original cover & page art from both Marvel UK and NOW comics artists!