The Wheel Real Ghostbusters

The Real Ghostbusters in this context refers to the UK based Marvel comic series that ran from 1988-1992 for 193 issues. Issue #53 dates to 1989 and features I was going to try and buy one cheaply but I managed to find the entire issue online at a sketchy website that threw up some security warnings so I won’t post the link here. There is no real additional skateboard art other than the cover because the story is a written one that appears in a feature called “Winston’s Journal,” which is kind of a bummer, but’s a cheap way to fill pages. Check out the cover, and the story, plus a bonus shot of a crab on a skateboard from an advertisement for Tom & Jerry comic book in the same issue. And for the heck of it, a bunch of Ghostbusters skateboards from the late 80’s to present day.

– Thanks to David Maes for the tip

Here’s the cover. The “Surf Devil Crazy Wheels” board graphic is pretty much on par with what you might expect form a toy store board. The Skateboard Spook looks like a Juggalo is a real wise cracker who gives off a real locals-only vibe. Are those Z-Roller trucks he’s riding? Meanwhile, there’s a hapless mid-Wilson Ghostbuster flailing around on skateboard in the background.

Here’s the story intro which unfortunately just reuses the art from the cover.

And now to the story. It’t worth nothing that it’s 1989 and the writer has predicted DIY skatepark culture. The kids have taken over an abandoned building and converted it into a “skateboard run.”

That’s it for the story, and skateboard related content. However, there is an ad for a Tom & Jerry Summer Special comic book that features a tiny little crab on a skateboard. It could be a roller-skate in theory, but in this context it seems more likely that was supposed to be a skateboard.

While there have been a slew of Ghostbusters skateboards since the reboot, we’re only interested in era appropriate releases for the sake of this post. Here’s a tie-in to the comic book / animation series found in a charity shop in the UK somewhere. [Photo: MrBeama]

Aw, what the hell. Here’s some more modern Ghostbusters decks from Element. Somewhere in here there’s a way to make a play on words between the brand names Real, Element, and Real Ghostbusters, but I’m too lazy to figure it out.

Here’s some toy store quality decks from the new millennia.

Last, and weirdest, this highly phallic and surely unlicensed deck is from the Japanese brand Magical Mosh Misfits.