Plot
Both Ghostbusters teams are fighting the clock to determine why their dimensions are being pulled together. The dimensional merging itself is generating such a psychokinetic surge that ghosts are appearing in greater numbers than either team has dealt with before. The combined crew takes to the field for the first time together, responding to a haunting at Ellis Island where they encounter the Pirate Ghosts of Ellis Island, entities connected to the island's colonial-era history as "Gibbett Island," where pirates were hanged in the 1760s.
While Egon Spengler and Abby Yates investigate Ley Lines from City Hall Park, Peter Venkman and Jillian Holtzmann clash over approach and methodology. Erin Gilbert's scientific instincts prove pivotal: she recognizes that blowing up too many ghosts could have consequences tied to the First Law of Thermodynamics, a concern Ray Stantz had been trying to surface. The combined group faces a massive amalgamated ghost, and the issue closes with new stakes for the final two chapters of the series. The back-matter provides an in-universe equipment reference guide covering the Proton Pack (identified here as Mark 4.2), the PKE Meter, the Ghost Trap, and related gear.1
Characters
Original Ghostbusters
2016 Ghostbusters
Ghosts and Other
- Pirate Ghosts of Ellis Island
- Megaspook Jr.
- Elaine (supporting)
Equipment Appearances
The issue is notable for debuting the Marine Ecto-8, the boat-based transport used to approach Ellis Island. Holtzmann's excitement over the Proton Bazooka is a key character beat. Other equipment appearing includes the Proton Pack, Proton Bazooka, Proton Grenade, Particle Thrower, Upper Arm Remote Trigger, Proton Pistol (2016 variant), Ecto-4 (Ray's helicopter, also seen in Volume 1 #15), Helmet Ecto Goggles, PKE Meter, PKE Meter (2016 variant), Long-Range PKE Scanner, Ghost Sniffer, Ghost Transporter, Ecto Monocle, Megatrap, Proton Grenade (Air Filter), and the Containment Unit (2016 variant).1
The back-matter lore pages introduce the Proton Pack as a Mark 4.2 version, reference the Bacharach Model 300 Sniffer Combustible Gas Detecting Device as the basis for the Ghost Sniffer, and repeat Egon's lines from Ghostbusters II ("power cells have a half life of 5000 years" and "not a toy"). The danger of atomizing ghosts is explicitly addressed.1
Reference texts appearing in the issue include Spates Catalog, Tobin's Spirit Guide, The Henderson Manual on Dimensional Breaches (named after variant cover artist Erica Henderson), The Schoening Omnibi (named after penciler Dan Schoening), and Ley Lines: of North America.
Covers
Regular Cover: The fourth of the six interconnected covers in the series, which together form a map of Manhattan. Features Cait Banner, Ray Stantz, and Evan Torres on the cover; neither Cait nor Evan appear in the issue's main story. This is the only regular cover in the mini-series that does not feature a character from the 2016 Ghostbusters film. Ray wears his Ecto Goggles. The background map highlights locations including 550 Central Park West (subject of the first film), the American Museum of Natural History (featured in Ghostbusters: The Video Game), Cleopatra's Needle Obelisk (seen in the Extreme Ghostbusters episode "Ghost Apocalyptic Future"), Tavern on the Green (seen in the first movie), Strawberry Fields (seen in Volume 1 Issue #14), and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir (where Ray and Peter caught the Jogger Ghost in Ghostbusters II).
Subscription Cover: A homage to The Breakfast Club. Holtzmann wears her leather jacket, Erin is in her professor outfit, Ray wears the charcoal flightsuit from Ghostbusters II, Peter wears his outfit from the commercial in the first movie, and Janine Melnitz wears an outfit from Ghostbusters II. Tim Lattie posted a preview of this cover on January 25, 2017.
RI Wraparound Photo Cover: The front features Patty when she first meets the team at Zhu's Authentic Hong Kong Food in the 2016 film (near the end of Chapter 5). The back shows a close-up of Winston Zeddemore from a group promotional photo for the first Ghostbusters film.
Development
- January 25, 2017: Tim Lattie posted a preview of the subscription cover, revealing the Breakfast Club homage concept.
- March 20, 2017: Erik Burnham confirmed in an interview that he was writing Issue #4 and hinted it would be the first outing for the combined team.
- March 22, 2017: June solicits revealed the logline, regular cover, and subscription cover.
- April 13, 2017: Tom Waltz shared a work-in-progress of a lab scene involving Kylie Griffin and Abby Yates.
- April 14, 2017: Dan Schoening posted a work-in-progress of a bust in progress.
- April 20, 2017: Tom Waltz posted a work-in-progress of Peter and Holtzmann talking to Erin.
- April 25, 2017: Burnham confirmed the danger of dispersing ghosts from the "Who Ya Gonna Call?" arc in Volume 1 of the ongoing series would factor into Issue #4, and that Holtzmann's love of blowing up ghosts would cause a problem.
- May 3, 2017: Burnham hinted at a funny gag at the end of the issue. Tom Waltz released an unlettered colored page of the bust sequence.
- May 15, 2017: At an interview during C2E2, Burnham hinted there would be a scene where Holtzmann is ecstatic over the Proton Bazooka.
- May 26, 2017: Burnham revealed that Erin would get to shine in Issue #4 and that Holtzmann and Ray would be irritated with her as a result.
- June 23, 2017: A cover, credits page, and five-page preview were posted publicly.
- June 27, 2017: Dan Schoening posted a teaser of the Marine Ecto-8.
- August 22, 2017: Luis Antonio Delgado posted an unlettered version of page 8.
Easter Eggs and Notable References
The issue maintains Burnham and Schoening's dense layering of franchise history and pop-culture allusions.
Page 1: The Marine Ecto-8 makes its debut. Holtzmann mentions she thought they would have to borrow a boat, an allusion to the 2016 team borrowing one of Uncle Bill's hearses for their car in the 2016 film. Erin's flight suit is designed to match the one worn by Peter Venkman in The Real Ghostbusters animated series. Patty's flight suit matches the one worn by Ray in The Real Ghostbusters.
Page 2: Peter mentions Adderall (commonly prescribed for ADHD). Patty references a Pez Dispenser. Patty observes that Winston Zeddemore looks like her Uncle Bill; Ernie Hudson played the character Bill in the 2016 film. Ray mentions visiting a dimension that sounds like the film Caddyshack, alluding to Carl Spackler (played by Bill Murray) blowing up the golf course. Ray's pill bottle is labeled with a reference to Clifford Skridlow, a character Dan Aykroyd portrayed in Doctor Detroit.
Page 3: Erin mentions The Wizard of Oz. She also references Uncle Bill, Martin Heiss, and the Cabbie from the 2016 film; Heiss was played by Bill Murray and the Cabbie by Dan Aykroyd. Erin reflects that she was doing the Ghostbusters' taxes back in Issue #2 and wonders if her interdimensional experiences were a stress dream. She then realizes there might be alternate versions of herself, an insight that grows in importance across the remainder of the series.
Page 4: Ray Stantz reiterates that psychokinetic energy and ghosts form the insulation between dimensions, a concept first established in Volume 1 Issue #14 of the IDW ongoing series.
Page 5: Ellis Island's Main Building is visible near a rip in the sky. Patty notes that the primary-dimension Proton Packs are heavier than her team's, which mirrors a real-world fact: in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the 2016 film, Leslie Jones grabbed a crew member to complain about the pack weight. Patty mentions the island's old nickname "Gibbett Island," derived from the gallows (gibbets) used to execute pirates there in the 1760s.2
Page 6: Kylie Griffin references Ray's Occult Books and arrives carrying a Ray's Occult bag (matching her appearance in Ghostbusters International when she delivered materials to Egon). She lists several reference texts: Spates Catalog and Tobin's Spirit Guide (both mentioned in the first film), The Henderson Manual on Dimensional Breaches (named after artist Erica Henderson), and The Schoening Omnibi (named after Dan Schoening). Background shelf items include objects from Ghostbusters II, a piece of the Dimensional Inverter from The Real Ghostbusters episode "When Halloween Was Forever," jars of Psychomagnotheric Slime, a can of Blody (advertised in the RGB episode "The Halloween Door"), and on a monitor screen, a distorted Stay Puft face from the April 2016 trailer for the Activision Ghostbusters video game. Abby recognizes the Ley Lines: of North America book, which the 2016 team used to locate the Mercado Hotel as a paranormal source. A tentacle protruding from Spates Catalog is a nod to the book's design in the West End Games Ghostbusters International board game. The corkboard features the Amercep Real Ghostbusters Auto Sun Shield, the Squirrel's Slimer fruit-flavored chewy bar packaging from the United Kingdom, a patch from the Ghostbusters of Alberta Canada fan franchise, and a Kenner Real Ghostbusters / Ghostbusters II in-theatre advertisement. In panel 5, the Dimensionometer from the RGB episode "Egon on the Rampage" is visible, along with a box referencing Kenner's Ecto Glow Heroes figures and Kenner's Nutrona Blaster toy.
Page 7: On a drawing board in panel 3 is Dan Schoening's design for the Boogieman created for Ghostbusters: The Board Game. The 2016 film's lab is recreated in panel 4. Kevin Tanaka examines the Ghost Transporter from the end of the 2016 movie, and the Skull of Ivo Shandor from Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Version) is visible at right.
Page 8: Holtzmann activates her Upper Arm Remote Trigger from the 2016 film and alludes to the Times Square battle in Chapter 14 of that movie.
Page 9: The main ghost is visually based on Captain Jack Higgins from the RGB episode "Sea Fright," and the surrounding pirate ghosts are modeled on Captain Jack's crew from the same episode.
Page 10: Ray Stantz cites the First Law of Thermodynamics (energy cannot be created or destroyed) to explain why atomizing ghosts is dangerous. This concern was the central tension of the last four-issue arc in Volume 1 of the IDW ongoing series.
Page 11: Egon Spengler and Abby Yates meet at the City Hall Park fountain. Abby uses the Ghost Sniffer from the first film. Egon uses his Ecto Monocle, first seen in Ghostbusters: Infestation #1. Abby raises the topic of Ley Lines, a concept explored in the 2016 film. Luis Delgado's recurring "15" easter egg appears in panel 3.
Page 12: Egon uses a Motorola Dynatech phone. He refers to the Interspatial Teleportation Unit as the "Transdimensional Portal," matching the name used in the RGB episode "The Copycat." A box of Primo Spiffies Cakes sits on the table.
Page 13: The amalgamated ghost the teams face is visually based on the Giant Imp Monster from the RGB episode "Janine's Day Off."
Page 14: Erin mentions Rowan North and the breach her team sealed at the end of the 2016 film. Holtzmann's theory about trapping the ghost mirrors how the Megaspook was only temporarily contained in multiple traps and the Megatrap in Volume 1 Issue #15.
Page 15: Winston Zeddemore alludes to the Megaspook and his encounter with Death in Volume 1 #15.
Page 16: Patty compares the ghost to the Kraken of myth, later citing the 1981 film Clash of the Titans. Holtzmann names "Harry Hausen," a reference to Ray Harryhausen, the legendary stop-motion animation special effects artist responsible for the film's Kraken.3
Page 17: Erin explains to Ray how her team sealed Rowan's breach using a concentrated explosion (detonating their Ecto-1's dangerous roof cargo) at the end of the 2016 film.
Page 18: Ray's helicopter is visually based on Kenner's unreleased Glow Copter vehicle toy; in IDW continuity it is designated the Ecto-4. Ray is wearing the Helmet Ecto Goggles from The Real Ghostbusters, which he also wore in Volume 1 #15.
Page 20: Janine Melnitz's outfit is drawn from a deleted scene in the first film showing her talking to Egon while he works on equipment. Draped over a chair is a "Nosebusters" article referencing the scene in the 2016 film where Erin punches blogger Chris Gethard (Chapter 12). The Nutcracker prop from the end of the 2016 film is visible at left. Janine mentions Special Agent Melanie Ortiz, the FBI liaison who last appeared in the 2017 Annual, and references the two Statues of Liberty from Issue #3.
Pages 23-24 (back-matter): The equipment guide identifies the current Proton Pack as a Mark 4.2 version. It references the Bacharach Model 300 Sniffer Combustible Gas Detecting Device (repurposed as the Ghost Sniffer), quotes Egon's Ghostbusters II lines about power cell half-life, discusses Arm Mounted Proton Packs and the risks of crossing the streams, and covers the PKE Meter, Trap, Ecto Goggles, and Slime Spritzer. Peter's observation about wrangling a violent proton hose is quoted from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Issue #3.4 The Trap's maximum safe capacity, which was recently exceeded in Ghostbusters International #10, is noted. The section also mentions the Containment Unit, Giga Meter, Boson Pack, Proton Grenade, Megatrap, Slime Blower, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and Gozer.
Continuity Notes
This issue is the first in the Ghostbusters 101 series to feature the combined teams working together in the field rather than comparing notes at the firehouse. The danger of atomizing ghosts, seeded in the "Who Ya Gonna Call?" arc in the IDW ongoing series, pays off here when Ray and Holtzmann directly address the problem.
Panels from Issue #4 are reused in the "What Came Before" recap pages of both Issue #5 (pages 13, 6, and 8) and Issue #6 (pages 5 and 13). In Ghostbusters: Crossing Over Issue #3, Peter returns to the topic of Holtzmann's ADHD first raised here. In Crossing Over Issue #4, Winston refers back to the conversation he had with Patty, Erin, and Holtzmann about his encounter with Death.
