The Four Color Media Monitor

IDW's continuing with their SJW pandering, this time with a miniseries based on the recent abortive remake of the Ghostbusters films, and the Hollywood Reporter's Graeme McMillan wasted no time taking a swipe at all the detractors who thought it was ridiculous and already riddled with political correctness for the sake of it:

A year after the next generation of Ghostbusters burst onto the scene, Abby, Patty and the rest of the new crew have returned, in comic book form.

The all-female team featured in the 2016 film from director Paul Feig was divisive online. It not only attracted a fan base happy to see a new generation, but also brought out a vocal minority of online trolls who made the Ghostbuster's trailer the most disliked in YouTube history, likely contributing to the film's poor box-office returns that all but sinked its chances for a sequel.

It occurs to me that these days, whenever a leftist is incensed anybody would speak negatively of a project they condone, critically or otherwise, they're inclined to call them trolls, whether it's warranted or not. And does it make any sense to say the "trolls" they're so up in arms about turned the trailer into a loathed item? What if it really was unappealing, to say nothing of the sample performing and jokes seen inside? While quite a few (leftist) film critics seemed to devour it up deliberately, the audience as evidenced on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't so enthused, as it got a very tepid reception of 52 percent. Obviously, the folks sitting in the auditorium don't count to these industry trade reporters. No questions asked whether it was even remotely funny in the first place, and whether that contributed to its downfall, not the cybertrolls.

But fortunately for fans of the team, there's now IDW's Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. The five-issue miniseries picks up where Feig's movie left off and brings the newest team of ghoul hunters face-to-face with a demon who can conjure up their worst fears.

Sounds like the plot from New Teen Titans' 1984 Terror of Trigon story recycled. Besides, what fans does the remake movie actually have at least a year after it debuted, and the horizon's quieted down again? Now, here's a sample of their interview with the writer:

There was such a strong embrace of the new Ghostbusters online, but their "canonical" adventures extend to just one movie to date. How did those two things impact how you approached the book? Was there a freedom in telling the second story, or were you aware of the fandom surrounding Abby, Erin, Patty and Holtzmann? Especially Holtzmann, let's be honest.

Kelly Thompson: As much as I want more “Answer the Call” Ghostbusters movies — as many as Hollywood will give me — there only being one film so far is great fun for us in the comics because we have a huge field, limitless possibilities to play with. And the excitement and devotion of the fans, they really make the whole thing possible. There’s a demand and passion for these characters — to see their stories continue even in other mediums — and while that puts pressure on us to get it right, it’s also wonderful energy to tap into. And yes, the Holtzmann energy is particularly intoxicating, as it should be!

Again, just how many fans are there, truly? And is there as much a demand for the remake's lady cast as there once was for the original two films? If it sells as sub-zero as I'm guessing it will, then that'll suggest otherwise. If the studio wanted to do a variation on Ghostbusters with a female-led cast, under a different title, that could've worked better, but remaking the product so obviously, right down to the cartoony logo, only confirms the filmmakers lacked confidence in their ability to sell the idea as its own agency.

Kelly, you’ve worked on licensed material including Jem and the Holograms, Marvel’s Hawkeye and Star Wars, in addition to this. How does Ghostbusters compare in terms of getting into the right mind-set to tell everyone what happened next?

Thompson: One of the secret tricks of working on larger-than-life properties like Ghostbusters is to just go into complete denial and pretend it’s no big deal. In my experience it’s one of those things, where if you think about the larger picture, what it means or what’s at stake, it can really paralyze you. Instead you have to just dig in and do the work. For me, cracking something like this is always about finding the voice for the characters. If you can find that, all else will fall into place…eventually.

Umm, isn't that actually a sloppy approach? There really isn't much voice to be found in characters coming from a film that ultimately failed, and whose alleged fandom isn't very big if it didn't rock the box office charts. And this woman also worked on the Jem series that turned singer Stormer into an overweight lesbian? In that case, we can expect no less than what she already forced on that series.

To be sure, IDW does have some good items to offer. But if this is what they're going to waste their time with, then it's clear they're not looking for a particularly big audience other than SJWs who may not even read the books they're writing. One could reasonably ask why they couldn't produce an adaptation based on the original incarnations, and if memory serves, there may have been on in the late 80s, albeit one based on the Saturday morning cartoon series. If it was possible to write one based on anything in the original franchise, it'd surely be possible to do another one, maybe picking up from where the 2nd movie left off. But I guess the studio (Columbia/Village Roadshow) must've mandated what brand they could base their take on, so to be fair, IDW's not entirely to blame, though why they should think a miniseries based on an otherwise unsuccessful movie is going to do much better if anybody thinks it's PC-laden is anyone's guess. That's the unfortunate thing about IDW: like at least a few other publishers, they succumbed to the PC/SJW mindset no matter how mediocre the financial benefits turn out to be.

Labels: dreadful writers, indie publishers, licensed products, msm propaganda, politics, sales