Locations
- Pumpernickel Kindergarten
- Glorp Factory (Straczynski and Mueller Streets, referencing RGB writers)
- Firehouse
- Spooks Away Facility
- Bronx Zoo
Development
IDW's 2019 publishing plans for the 35th Anniversary mini-series were first shared publicly on December 11, 2018, when editor Tom Waltz teased a rough thumb for the issue's incentive cover. On December 14, 2018, Waltz confirmed the four-issue weekly structure: each April 2019 issue would pair one Ghostbusters continuity with a dedicated creative team. Issue 2, starring the Real Ghostbusters and written by Cavan Scott with art by Marcelo Ferreira and colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, was part of that announcement. The colored RE cover followed the next day, and Dan Schoening posted a rough thumbnail of his RE cover contribution on December 16.
Additional pre-publication materials were shared through early 2019. Tom Waltz posted a pre-color Cover RI on January 3, 2019, the April solicit on January 11, the colored RI as part of an interconnected series image on January 18, and a series of work-in-progress panels and pages through February and April. A five-page preview was posted April 8, 2019, two days before the issue shipped. Colorist Luis Delgado shared additional colored panels around the issue's release window in April. On July 15, 2019, IDW announced that all four convention cover variants from the mini-series would be sold as a bundle at San Diego Comic Con, Booth 2729, with the Real Ghostbusters convention cover shipping July 18, 2019.
Trivia
- The Diamond Order Code is FEB190640.1
- The Cover RE features a large group of characters from The Real Ghostbusters, including Zonk, Slug, and Snarg (all from the episode "Ghosts R Us"), Sandman, Samhain, Killerwatt, Grundel, Ghash, the Boogieman, Wat, the Winged Puma, Slimer, and all four Ghostbusters with Proton Packs and P.K.E. Meter. Ecto-1 also appears.
- A preview error shows covers from the third issue of the mini-series (Answer The Call) in place of this issue's covers. The correct covers appear in the final printed issue.
- Page 2: Peter's high school principal is named after Richard Raynis, producer of both The Real Ghostbusters and Extreme Ghostbusters.2
- Page 2: Egon references the LaMarche Boards, a nod to Maurice LaMarche, the voice actor for Egon Spengler in the animated series.3
- Page 3: The doll Peter throws is a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll, a recurring sight gag in The Real Ghostbusters.
- Page 4: A mobile in the scene carries figures of Samhain, Slimer, and Mooglie.
- Page 5: The Glorp Factory is a callback to the Glorp! brand featured in the The Real Ghostbusters episode "Station Identification." The factory's street address references J. Michael Straczynski (story editor and writer on the series) and Richard Mueller (writer on the series).4
- Page 7: The plot device of a rival ghost-catching company stealing the Ghostbusters' business is a direct parallel to the RGB episodes "Ghosts R Us" and "Robo-Buster." In this case, Spooks Away obtained the Ghostbusters' designs from the future rather than the present.
- Page 7: The ghost caught on Wednesday is Mail Fraud Ghost, a character from Kenner's Real Ghostbusters toy line.
- Page 9: Saul's "disgusting blob" reaction to Slimer echoes Ray Stantz's line from the original 1984 film upon first encountering Slimer at the Sedgewick Hotel.5
- Page 11: The Ghostbusters' pajamas match specific RGB episodes: Winston's and Egon's are from "Troll Bridge," Ray's loosely matches one from "Spacebusters," and Peter's is from "Spacebusters."
- Page 11: Eldon Bromo and ABS News first appeared in the RGB episode "Egon on the Rampage."
- Page 12: Egon confirms that Slimer is classified as a Class 5 entity.
- Page 13: Ray's Spooks Away uniform carries a similar color scheme to the uniform worn by dream Janine in the RGB episode "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream."
- Page 14: Who's Who in the Spirit World first appeared in the RGB episode "Revenge of the Ghostmaster."
- Page 15: A cameo of Kylie Griffin and Egon from the Extreme Ghostbusters era appears. The cameo places a version of Extreme Ghostbusters within Dimension 68-R, the IDW-designated dimension for the Real Ghostbusters continuity.
- Page 15: Ray's last name is misspelled "Stanz" when Saul confronts him. This error was corrected in the collected Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Collection TPB (appearing on page 41 of that volume).6
- Page 16: The busted ghosts, including Slimer, combine into a giant mega-ghost, mirroring the climax of the RGB episode "Robo-Buster."
- Page 20: Among the liberated ghosts are the Gremlin and Sylphon from the Extreme Ghostbusters intro title sequence and the episode "Slimer's Sacrifice."
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
