1988: THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS Teaser House Ad (Marvel UK)

From February 1988: The MARVEL UK teaser ad for the about-to-launch THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS.  It's an obvious design... but also incredibly strong.  

TRG turned out to be a real cash-cow for the Annex of Ideas.  Not only was the core book a runaway hit but it also spun off the traditional Collected Comics and annuals.

Marvel also published books, a poster magazine, a best-of monthly and the spin-off BLIMEY IT'S SLIMER monthly and specials.

The Big Green Ectoplasm also popped-up in the short-lived all-original humor weekly IT'S WICKED and the Ghostbusters were also mainstays of THE MARVEL BUMPER COMICS anything-goes anthology. 

1989: BLIMEY! IT'S SLIMER! COLLECTED COMICS 1 (Marvel UK)

From 1989: more evidence of the REAL GHOSTBUSTERS boom at MARVEL UK: the BLIMEY! IT'S SLIMER! SUMMER SPECIAL.

This, presumably, collected material that had previously appeared in the regular comic.  The title would return, later in the year, as a new monthly which reprinted material from the US Now Comics tie-in. 

1990: GHOSTBUSTERS II MOVIE MAGAZINE (Marvel UK)

From January 1990, and hot-on-the-heels of the latest (in a long succession) of announcements regarding the NEXT movie, here's a MARVEL UK House Ad for their GHOSTBUSTERS II movie tie-in magazine.

The observant will spot that this FANTASY ZONE magazine spin-off (the logo of the short-lived monthly genre mag in the STARBURST tradition is hidden under the "Out now!" splash) looks very similar to the US one-shot from Starlog Press.  Sure enough, like Marvel's STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER tie-in, this is indeed a rebadged edition of the US original.  

Top marks to the Annex of Ideas at having such a concerted stab at making Fantasy Zone into a franchise… if only it had lasted a bit longer.  Unlike the spin-offs, it did at least feature all-new material.  

The British Bullpen were, of course, also publishing THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS during this period, a cash-cow that stretched way beyond their own comic and also spawned (or, at least, appeared in) MARVEL BUMPER COMIC, IT'S WICKED, BLIMEY, IT'S SLIMER and the obligatory annuals, specials, Collected Comics and books.  

1989: IT'S WICKED HOUSE ADS (Marvel UK)

These are two 1989 (from June and July) MARVEL UK House Ads for their rare, and short-lived, humour venture IT'S WICKED.

This bordering-on-the-traditional all-originated weekly had a spooky theme (shades of IPC's long-defunct MONSTER FUN) and cannily used Slimer from THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS (a license that Marvel UK mined a great deal during this period) as the anchor character.

It didn't last long… but the British Bullpen had another stab at the market later the same year with THE BOG PAPER… to equally lacklustre results.