The Ectozone: The Ghostbusters Universe At Your Fingertips

Several things of note today, on the Ectozone's eighth anniversary...

IDW gave further information about the upcoming ongoing series. Dan Schoening is, as expected, the regular artist; Erik Burnham, who did the two-issue Ghostbusters: Infestation mini-series is the regular writer, and active GBFans member and TMNT comic contributor Tristan Jones has an as-yet-undefined role in the book.

Infestation and What the Sam Hain Just Happened? were both pretty good, so I have high hopes for this; if nothing else, the redesign of Janine is a marked improvement, recalling GB1 and JMS-era RGB (the peak of her characterization) instead of GB2 (the nadir). IDW's book is scheduled in September, so remember to mention it to your comic shop by July, when the September solicitation forms are released.

Work on "Toy Soldiers" hasn't gone quite as quickly as I'd hoped, but it's moving. At this writing I have three chapters worth of material in the can, so I'm going ahead and releasing this short bit of set-up:

Tales From The Ectozone: Primus XXIV
July 1, 2009--Timeline Year Twenty Seven
One of the leaders of the Order of Hermes has crossed to the other side. The news reaches a figure that has been lurking in the shadows of Los Angeles, and with it knows that the time has come to begin his ultimate plan, a plan that could win him the Primacy--and no doubt inflict something nefarious on the Ghostbusters in the process.

To go along with the upcoming series, I've been doing some updating of the New Timeline. I've added brief summaries and citations from Ghostbusters: What The Sam Hain Just Happened? and the two issue Ghostbusters: Infestation mini-series. I'm trying a "sliding time scale" similar to one used by one of the Big Companies (ie time passes in-universe at an average of 1/4 real time) and see how it works.

Perhaps just as importantly, I've gone ahead and added Ghostbusters: Legion to the New Timeline. I figured that Ghostbusters: Infestation created enough of an opening to at least some post-Gozer pre-GB2 cases, I could now sneak the very first "revival" story into the more movie-based Timeline. I explain more about the reasoning in the 1984 and 1985 entries.

And from the archives, I found a copy of the very first released version of the Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline, from May 13, 2003:

Ghostbusters Omnibus Timeline: May 13, 2003

A lot of stuff got taken out quickly, including some very different directions for the original Ghostbusters post-EGB compared to the collaborative GBI/GBOT fanon. The Timeline was first posted as one massive page. Other than adjusting the email address on the page (I no longer use the one on the original) and an issue with the font sizem, it's completely unchanged from the backup I salvaged. Just a fun little bit of history to remind us how far I've come (or haven't come).

--Fritz V. Baugh

My own take on the Ghostbusters. Some of my own creations aren't this much fun to write! Click HERE to see the stuff...

Five newest stories (newest on top)

Ghostbusters 2022: Ghosts Can't Do It
2022--Timeline Year Forty
A young woman was kidnapped out of her shower, and paranormal involvement is suspected. The Ghostbusters don't have much time to solve the mysteries of how and why--because one of their own young women is the ghost's next victim!
(First Posted November 8, 2010)

Ghostbusters: Game Theory
November 2007--Timeline Year Twenty Five
Venkman has just returned to Ghostbusters Central with the news that a new video game is in production. Not all of the Ghostbusters are totally happy with what they're hearing...
(First Posted May 13, 2010)

Ghostbusters 2021: The Eye Of Aretpo, Part Six
2021--Timeline Year Thirty-Nine
The moment of truth. Will a new generation be up to the legacy that has been passed to them? The fate of the world depends on the answer to that question.
(First Posted April 5, 2010)

Extreme Ghostbusters/Ghostbusters West Coast: Flip Side War, Part Six
September 2007--Timeline Year Twenty-Five
With the fate of the Ghostbusters West Coast, the Extreme Ghostbusters, and Peter Venkman on the line, Ian Epimetheus has only one option: surrender. The exciting conclusion of "Flip Side War"
(First Posted December 14, 2009)