Plot
For some time, the original prime Ghostbusters have had access to an interdimensional portal that opened new research avenues and let them consult Ghostbusters across the multiverse. They have not shared this technology with any of those other teams, and some find that arrangement deeply unfair. That tension comes to a head when, after a chance meeting at the end of the Ghostbusters Annual 2018, Jillian Holtzmann and Ron Alexander decide to build their own working portal from scratch in Jimmy's apartment. Their experiment gets away from them and triggers an explosion that releases the entire contents of the Ghostbusters' Containment Unit. With a city's worth of ghosts suddenly loose across multiple dimensions, it is going to take every available Ghostbusters team to recapture them all. Crossing Over starts here.
The issue interweaves several concurrent threads: Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore busting a ghost at Tai Hong Lau Restaurant in Chinatown while Kylie Griffin works alongside them; Walter Peck and Janine Melnitz at the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission trade barbed observations about Jenny Moran's absence and the ongoing dimensional bleed problem; and Ron and Holtzmann at Jimmy's apartment, where they power up the Remote Access Teleportation Unit and the Remote Portal Access Band before everything goes catastrophically wrong. The issue ends with a dimensional cascade and Peter nearly killed by the explosion.
Covers
Four cover editions were produced for the initial release.
Cover A (Joe Quinones): A firehouse pole descent scene. Garrett Miller from Extreme Ghostbusters sits in Ecto-1a. Coming down the pole are Kylie Griffin (IDW continuity), Winston Zeddemore from The Real Ghostbusters, Ron Alexander, Bridget Gibbons from Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime, and Jillian Holtzmann, while the prime Egon Spengler looks on. This was the first time a regular Ghostbusters IDW cover was not handled by Dan Schoening since Ghostbusters International #6.
Cover B (Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado): Ray Stantz pilots the Ecto-4, a vehicle introduced in Ghostbusters 101 #42 and visually based on the Kenner Ecto Glow Copter. Kylie Griffin and Pagan appear. Holtzmann is eating chips styled after Pringles, a callback to the Aldridge Mansion Museum case from the 2016 film.
Cover RI-B (Tim Lattie): The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man makes a cameo. Patty Tolan wears the Proton Glove. A cart appears below Slimer, nodding to the first movie. Extreme Ghostbusters Kylie Griffin appears with her Proton Pistol drawn. The Wrapper Ghost from Kenner's Classic Hero Figure Ray Stantz toy is present, and Ecto-1 chases the fanged ghost from Kenner's Ecto-Plazm.
Convention Variant Photo Cover: Uses a behind-the-scenes photograph of Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson posing between filming during the scene where Peck shuts down the Containment Unit in the first film. This edition was sold at WonderCon (March 23 to 25, 2018) at IDW's booth #109 for $10.
Development
The series was announced on October 31, 2017, during the weekly Turtles Tuesday feature, when editors Tom Waltz and Erik Burnham revealed the follow-up to the 2018 Annual would be an eight-issue maxi-series titled "Ghostbusters Crossing Over," targeting a March 2018 launch.
Tim Lattie shared a work-in-progress image of Slimer from the retailer incentive cover on November 14, 2017. Burnham confirmed his involvement on November 18 and teased excitement about the Issue #1 script on November 27. By December 11, he had completed the script entirely.
The December 19 update from Lattie included cover process art and confirmed the release window; Cover B and RI were revealed at that time, with Issue #1 then slated for March 28. On December 20, March solicitations published the logline and confirmed Joe Quinones for Cover A.
Through January and February 2018, Dan Schoening posted progressive work-in-progress images of Holtzmann and Kylie, while Waltz shared early character art of Ron, Holtzmann, and Jimmy (January 23), a fully colored unlettered page (February 8), and a finished panel excerpt (February 9). Burnham previewed finished art on February 12. A full five-page preview accompanied by cover and credits was posted on March 13, 2018.
On March 14, John Yurcaba publicly announced he had joined Dan Schoening and Luis Delgado as a flatter. The convention variant was confirmed on March 22, 2018, for sale at WonderCon the following day.
Continuity and Annotations
The issue opens with Ron and Egon inside a dimensional portal room where Ron incorrectly refers to Donatello by name while alluding to the events of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters. The first two panels recreate a specific panel from TMNT/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #2.3 The character in the opener that Ron calls Donatello is first depicted resembling a Punk Frog from the 1987 animated series, specifically Genghis Frog, then in the next panel resembles Mondo Gecko from the same series.
The Dramatis Personae section carries significant character worldbuilding: Winston's bio reiterates his status as a former Marine now attending law school. Jimmy's bio establishes he is Ron's oldest, and possibly only, close friend. Holtzmann's bio notes she holds more than one engineering degree (her virtual trading card, released February 22, 2018, specified four degrees: Engineering, Recreation, Dental Surgery, and Naturopathy). Peter's description of Holtzmann as "the patron saint of ADHD" echoes his inquiry about her medication intake in Ghostbusters 101 #4.
The "What Came Before" recap references Winston's interview and Janine's questionnaire from the first film, and places the series at the confluence of meetings started back in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters, continuing through The Real Ghostbusters, Answer The Call, Ghostbusturtles, Sanctum of Slime, Extreme Ghostbusters, and Mike the Golem crossovers. The biometric scanner and Containment Unit designs are modeled on the version from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood."
The Firehouse scene establishes Dimension 68-R as the designation for the Real Ghostbusters universe, as confirmed in the RGB Winston virtual trading card released February 27, 2018. The Answer The Call universe designation 80-C, revealed on Holtzmann's trading card (released February 22), is a phonetic play on the ATC acronym.
Page 12 establishes that Jenny Moran served as Ghostbusters liaison from post-Volume 2 Issue #20 through Ghostbusters International #11, when she was killed by Aibell.4 Walter Peck's office Easter eggs include a fruit basket (referencing Peter's line when Peck was ejected by Mayor Lenny in the first film), a framed Stay Puft newspaper article present since the ongoing series launched, and a portrait of Anne Gorsuch Burford, EPA administrator during the Reagan era.5
The memo on page 21 establishes Special Agent Melanie Ortiz's FBI paranormal investigations as part of a Paranormal Response Task Force. The large yellow ghost from Ghostbusters 101 is confirmed on page 22 to be a Class 5. The page also contains inaccuracies regarding the Answer The Call team's academic credentials: notes on Abby list incorrect degree types, Erin's doctorate is incorrectly listed, and Patty's degree level is overstated. The characters' own virtual trading cards, released later in 2018, provide the accurate information.
The events of this issue are referenced repeatedly across the rest of the series: in "What Came Before" pages for Issues #2 through #8, in dialogue on pages 10 of Issue #2, page 3 of Issue #3, page 3 of Issue #4, page 18 of Issue #6, and pages 16 and 20 of Issue #8.
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #1 (IDW Publishing, March 14, 2018). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Robbie Robbins and Tom B. Long, edits by Tom Waltz and Chase Marotz. Diamond Code JAN180442.
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Ghostbusters 101 Issue #4 (IDW Publishing, June 2017). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #2 (IDW Publishing, 2017). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening.
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Ghostbusters International Issue #11 (IDW Publishing, November 30, 2016). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
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"Anne Gorsuch Burford," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Gorsuch_Burford.
