Slimer #1

Oct 1989; Cover price 45p.
28 pages. Full colour.
Marvel Comics Ltd.

Cover by Mitch O'Connell. r: Slimer (Now Comics) #01 (May 1989).

Free Ghostbusters jelly.

Contents:

.2 UNTITLED introduction. Illustration uncredited. / Indicia

.3 Ghostly Plumbing w: Hilarie Staton (uncredited); a: Gary Fields (uncredited).

r: Slimer (Now Comics) #01 (May 1989).

13 Bea - Your Best Friend? in-house advertisement.

14 Slimer poster. a: Mitch O'Connell.

r: cover from Slimer (Now Comics) #01 (May 1989).

16 Join the Band! in-house advertisement for Cartoon Time.

17 A Kindly Ghost w: Hilarie Staton (uncredited); p: Dave Schwartz, i: Jorge Pacheco.

r: Slimer (Now Comics) #01 (May 1989).

28 The Real Ghostbusters - Here to Save the World! in-house advertisement.

A straight-ish reprint of American material, with the largest creative decision being to (inexplicably) switch the order of the stories. The reference to the (sadly missing) jelly cover-mount has me wondering what, precisely, was attached. Whatever it was, after all this time I'm sure it wouldn't be edible.

Ghostly Plumbing is a light-hearted slapstick tale, with artwork which evokes the 1960s. Slimer infiltrates a hotel where a plumbing convention is taking place in order to get his hands on a cake. His presence sends everyone into a frenzy, while management refuse to accept that they have a ghost problem. There's an awful lot of exposition in the dialogue boxes, which feels a touch too simplified a technique to be deliberate. It is almost as if someone realised that the artwork wasn't clear enough to tell the story on its own.

There is a missed opportunity to showcase Slimer emerging triumphantly from an oversized cake, and everything is wrapped up (more or less) happily. Given the care that was taken with The Real Ghostbusters, the off-model artwork really stands out, while the dialogue is so simple as to barely constitute characterization. A really disappointing way to begin Slimer's solo series.

The team have gathered to prepare for Ray's birthday party at the opening of A Kindly Ghost, but are interrupted by the alarm. Slimer assists Janine in baking while the team rush off, but when Janine has to go to the shops to buy more butter is left alone. You know this is going to end badly. Slimer finds a ghost trap and frees a ghost called Sparky. The freed ghost eats all the food for the party and sets off to scare people. Matters escalate until Sparky finds a house full of ghosts... and the Ghostbusters.

With so many hanging story threads, this feels unfinished. Slimer isn't punished for freeing the ghost, there's nothing said about the birthday party food having disappeared, nor about the scares Sparky caused on exiting the firehouse. It is almost as if the story ends because the page count has been reached rather than being wrapped up in a way which answers all the questions raised.

Had the title relied more on reprints from Marvel's The Real Ghostbusters, and less on the US title, then this might have had a better chance of appealing to the core audience, but it is too far from the high quality material already published. A nice poster doesn't make up for two disappointing strips.