First post in these forums in a while, but as an artist who has art in the upcoming artbook I can 100% confirm that they did not just hire artists to re-draw scenes from the first film. It’s not some sort of patchwork graphic novel.
The directions I, and I’m assuming the rest of the artists were given, was “draw something that celebrates the classic Ghostbusters film/universe for its anniversary”. Past that, it seems like everyone just kind of went for whatever they wanted.
This is being timed to ride the hype of the new film, but also put the original universe back in focus for a general audience outside of the fandom that probably won’t finally realize that this film isn’t connected to ATC until they see one of the OG GBs in a uniform. It’s a smart and clever way to say "Hey, remember the original GB that everyone loved? Well here’s a bunch of great illustrations to take you down memory lane and get you in the mood for the new sequel that is about to come out.
We get so far into our own fandom that we don’t realize that there are still a lot of people that don’t even realize that there was a GB cartoon, let alone 2 of them and a game, etc. If you get a bunch of artists and ask them to do an illustration that celebrates the 35th anniversary of Ghostbusters, of course you are going to get a bunch of interpretations of the way characters and gear and things looked in the original film. We weren’t being hired to develop concept art for a new version of GB. We were being hired for each of our unique ways of interpreting the elements of the original film and that iteration of GB.
Here’s a hot leak: my piece has a lot of influence from the game, because I love the things and designs that were in the game. It’s also got a lot of my own flair and personal way of drawing the characters and stuff, because that’s just me. That’s why they hired me, and that’s why they hired each of the artists they got for the book. Multiple visions and interpretations of something we all love. But it’s still gonna be the OG team, because that’s what we were asked to do. Something timeless.
I also think you’re confusing the term “ARTBOOK” with the term “THE ART OF GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE”. Two totally different things, and also two very common things.
Artbooks for any franchise are typically exactly what this is: A collection of artists contributing one-off illustrations to celebrate that specific franchise.
“ART OF” books are the ones that discuss the development process, reveal concept and production art, and generally give an insight into how the film came together.
Maybe Artbooks are not your deal, and that’s fine, but this is being handled not just by Insight Editions, but also by Printed in Blood, who have a great track record for producing successful Artbooks based on sci fi and horror related films and franchises, like The Thing, Stranger Things, and other stuff. I suggest checking them out. Knee jerk reactions and trying to get people to jump on your “this looks dumb” bandwagon because you don’t quite understand what the book is meant to be doesn’t help anyone. A lot of people put a lot of hours into showing a lot of love to Ghostbusters to make this book happen, and I really think that’ll show when people finally get their hands on it.
