Meet the New Ghostbusters

Though Ghostbusters 3 might forever be in development hell, IDW Publishing has taken the charge on making sure the franchise remains alive and well in comic book form. Following the big stories of the last year or so, it seems relaunch fever is in the air as IDW will be relaunching the Ghostbusters with a new #1 -- but here's the twist!

They're replacing Peter, Ray, Egon, and Winston with some newbies. Well, mostly newbies -- Janine Melnitz finally gets her due as a paranormal investigator. The same creative team of writer Erik Burnham and artist Dan Schoening will take the lead on the second volume of Ghostbusters.

“We've seen the Ghostbusters deal with a newly minted servant of Gozer, a child-possessing demon, the Spirit of Death, a cross-country road trip and sloppy business rivals,” said Burnham. “But we've never seen what might happen if something got the jump on them. This story takes a look at what might happen if the Ghostbusters were abducted. The city still needs paranormal exterminators, after all.”

"Editing the Ghostbusters ongoing series for IDW has been the highlight of my editorial career,” added editor Tom Waltz. “Way back when we started, we prayed we’d be able to finish four issues. And now, sixteen issues in the can and a new ongoing volume ready to rock the world, I’m proud to say Ghostbusters has proven to be a tremendous success for IDW, and that's completely owed to our awesome fans and the super-powered creative team concocting comic book magic month after month!”

Ghostbusters #1 will debut in February 2013 with four covers by Shoening, each featuring one of the new Ghostbusters. Additionally, each issue will come packed with a 2-page Real Ghostbusters back-up story.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator. Follow Joey on Twitter @JoeyEsposito, or find him on IGN at Joey-IGN. Bustin' makes him feel good.

Source : ign[dot]com

NYCC: Morrison and Del Toro Craft Legendary Comics

Legendary Comics is still new to the publishing scene, but they've already amassed an impressive lineup of talent. The company recently debuted The Tower Chronicles from creators Thomas Tull and Matt Wagner. Back at SDCC, they announced new books from creators like Max Brooks, Mark Waid, and J. Michael Straczynski.

That talent pool grew even bigger at NYCC this week. Legendary announced that both Grant Morrison and Guillermo del Toro are writing comics under their banner. Morrison is prepping an original graphic novel, while del Toro is working on a tie-in to his upcoming film The Pacific Rim.

Legendary's press release describes the premise of Annihilator, sugegsting it'll be a typically mind-bending Morrison tale. "Morrison brings to the pages a thrilling story starring wild-living screenwriter Ray Spass, who has one last chance to save his career as he struggles to write a new studio tent-pole movie, Annihilator.

The film centers around the incredible adventures of Max Nomax; a sci-fi rebel anti-hero who’s condemned to a haunted prison orbiting a supermassive black hole, following an epic struggle against the all-knowing, all–powerful artificial life form VADA and his squad of deadly Annihilators. Found guilty of the Greatest Crime in History, Nomax has vowed to clear his name by discovering a Cure for Death itself and resurrecting his lost love.

But with deadlines looming and a recently-diagnosed brain tumor, Spass is running out of time and inspiration – until the real Max Nomax mysteriously appears in the world of 21st century Los Angeles with no memory of how he got there, only a terrifying warning of imminent destruction and a mission for Ray Spass."

As for del Toro's Pacific Rim, the comic will serve as a prequel to the film. The script itself will be handled by Travis Beacham, who also wrote the film's script. The story will be divided into three sections and explore the time between the first alien attack on Earth and the events of the film. While various characters will be featured in the story, the character of Stacker Pentecost (played by Idris Elba in the film) will be a major focus throughout.

Legendary didn't reveal the artists for these books or specific release dates, though it's a safe bet that Pacific Rim will ship some time around movie's July 2013 release.

Jesse is a writer for various IGN channels. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #2 Preview

The 30th anniversary of the Golden Age throwback success the Rocketeer is still in full swing, and IDW Publishing is celebrating by putting one of the best creative teams in comics -- Mark Waid and Chris Samnee -- on Cliff Secord's first long form adventure in years.

Read our review of Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #1!

Hitting on Wednesday, Rocketeer: Cargo of Doom #2 is teasing the unmasking of Cliff to the public, which would obviously be a bad thing for our hapless hero.

Joey is IGN's Comics Editor and a comic book creator himself. Follow Joey on Twitter, or find him on IGN. He loves superhero pets so hard.

Source : ign[dot]com