Main Story
Plot
At midnight, the Ghostbusters meet Loftur Þorsteinsson at the Central Park entrance near Warner LeRoy Place and Central Park West (W 67th Street). Officer Mike is among the police on scene. Loftur arrives carrying Erland Vinter's body, which he culled in the previous issue, along with his Ley Lines book. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore are equipped with Slime Blowers, mirroring their loadout from Ghostbusters II. Special Agent Melanie Ortiz carries the Proton Pistol. Janine Melnitz arrives with a Compact Pack. The animated Egon Spengler, who joined the team in earlier issues, carries the Destabilizer.
Jenny Moran uses a page from the Rauoskinna that she almost read in issue #10. Loftur counters with the Ægishjálmur rune (the Helm of Awe), said to protect against abuse of power or induce fear. Loftur remarks that the veil to beyond is thinnest in Central Park, an idea previously explored in the finales of both Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the Displaced Aggression mini-series. The team descends into Hell.
In Hell, they encounter the Devil, whose form is visually inspired by Xanthador, the villain of the novel Ghostbusters: The Return. Winston Zeddemore is notably protected from the Devil by his faith and cross, consistent with his portrayal in Volume 2 Issue #9. Peter Venkman jokingly compares their surroundings to New Jersey and references the I-495. Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman recall Dante's Inferno to navigate deeper: Ray instructs Peter to grab a tuft of Lucifer's fur to descend through the Earth's center, echoing Canto XXXIV of the Divine Comedy. The giant demon on page 12 is a depiction of Lucifer as described in Dante's Inferno: stuck headfirst in Cocytus, a perpetual frozen lake formed by his flapping wings, with three faces each chewing on a sinner. Kylie Griffin identifies the River Styx; a non-canon cameo of the Skeleton Tour Guide and boat from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Knock, Knock" appears on page 11.
On page 14, Aibell recalls the favor Peter Venkman agreed to in Ghostbusters International #7 so that Una O'Neill could pass on. Kylie Griffin notes that she warned Peter against making the deal at the time. On page 15, Egon is restored: he had been dispersed by Loftur at the end of issue #7, and returns here wearing the gray vest outfit from the first film, now equipped with the Psychokinetic Defibrillator.
The issue concludes back at the Firehouse, where Janine Melnitz, wearing her first-film outfit, takes a new case from the Bronx involving a possessed object. The nature of the case is a visual nod to the Kenner Fearsome Flush toy. This scene also reveals Kevin Tanaka's last name for the first time: his name patch is legible for the first time in this issue. Winston Zeddemore alludes to the novelty Ghostbusters II mugs, and the cabinet labels in the Firehouse background carry references to The Real Ghostbusters (1986), Extreme Ghostbusters (1997), and the first Ghostbusters film (1984).
Selected Page Notes
- Page 1: In panel 2, Officer Mike appears to be the Restaurant Cop from Armand's in Ghostbusters II. Jenny is wearing her Ghost Smashers flight suit and alludes to the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission. Luis Antonio Delgado's recurring "15" easter egg appears on the speed limit sign (15 mph; reality is 20 mph). The police car license plate reads "1984," a nod to the first film's release year.
- Page 3: Part of the Tavern on the Green is visible; in Volume 2 Issue #1, Peter Venkman and Melanie Ortiz were en route to the Tavern, renamed the Ritz Cafe in the comics as a nod to a recurring location in the Slimer! animated series.
- Page 4: Peter Venkman calls Loftur "Snorri," a reference to Snorri Sturluson, the 13th-century Icelandic author of the prose Edda.
- Page 10: The Devil's human form is visually inspired by Brad Pitt's character in "Meet Joe Black." The Devil references Stingy Jack and the encounter from Volume 2 Issue #9.
- Page 11: Ray brings up the team's earlier escape from the Collectors' Limbo in Volume 2 Issue #3.
- Page 20: A Commodore 64 Activision Ghostbusters game screenshot appears on a computer monitor. Egon discusses the Riemann Hypothesis. Peter Venkman plays with a Slinky, a nod to the line about Egon's childhood in Ghostbusters II. A non-canon cameo of the Dimensionometer from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Egon on the Rampage" appears, alongside a can of Blody. Egon's board displays a movie theater ad for the first film, a Ghost in a Can England ad, a Ninja Pizza ad from the 1987 TMNT animated series pilot, and the McDonald's Canada tray liner advertising Ghostbusters II. Under Ray are Rowan North's drawings from "Ghosts from Our Past" as seen in the 2016 film. Behind Egon is the Latent Image Sensor, briefly visible in the Ghostbusters II montage.
- Page 21: Left of Janine Melnitz, the cabinet label references The Real Ghostbusters and 1986. Left of Kevin, the top cabinet label references Extreme Ghostbusters and 1997; the bottom cabinet label references the first film and 1984. The Sandman from RGB episode "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream" makes a non-canon cameo on a piece of paper.
Backup: Haunted America Case Files
The backup story follows Special Agent Melanie Ortiz, Lou Kamaka, and Ron Alexander on a case in Superior, Wisconsin. They investigate the Fairlawn Mansion, an actual landmark at 906 East 2nd Street that operates as a public museum. The ghost of the servant girl, the cold chill, her suspected murder, and her reason for returning are all drawn from the mansion's documented lore. The Trask Hotel mentioned in the case serves as a stand-in for the Drake Hotel on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Ron Alexander is strangled by the Skinless Man during the case; Ron has a history of similar physical harm in prior issues (strangled by Egon Spengler in Volume 1 Issue #14, attacked by the Five Points Killer in Volume 2 Issue #13). The Bayfront Festival Park in Superior, Wisconsin is also featured.
Covers
Regular Cover (Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado): Depicts the Ghostbusters in a hellish landscape, which Schoening confirmed was a homage to the concept of Hell from the unproduced Ghostbusters III: Hellbent script. The demon silhouette beneath the Ghostbusters title is visually based on Xanthador from Ghostbusters: The Return (not the Mayhem character from the 2016 film, as Schoening clarified). The cover also contains several text references embedded in the lower border: a sigil for summoning Abyss, Lord of Chaos; the Hraethigaldur rune (used to cause fear); a reference to Beelzebub, one of the seven princes of Hell; Luke Sifler, the principal villain of the unproduced Ghostbusters III: Hellbent; Manhellton, a location from the Hell Bent script; and Boo York, an alternate ghost-populated New York from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Flip Side." The Hraethigaldur rune previously appeared on the whiteboard in Ghostbusters International #10.
Subscription Cover (Corin Howell): Features Special Agent Melanie Ortiz at the gates of the Fairlawn Mansion in Superior, Wisconsin, setting up the backup story.
Development
On August 21, 2016, the issue's logline and regular cover, depicting the Ghostbusters in Hell, appeared in IDW's November solicitations. On August 24, the issue was included in the full November solicitation listings.
On September 21, 2016, Dan Schoening confirmed he was thumbnailing the issue. By October 1, Schoening had fielded questions about the cover demon and clarified it was not the Mayhem character from the 2016 film but a demon from a Ghostbusters novel cover. The following day he hinted further, and on October 3 he confirmed the hellish landscape was a tribute to the Ghostbusters III: Hellbent script concept.
On October 23, 2016, during the Interdimensional Crossrip Podcast (recorded October 19), Schoening announced he had wrapped work on the issue. On October 26, Erik Burnham confirmed that issue #11 was the final issue of the Ghostbusters International series while reaffirming that more Ghostbusters comics would follow, including the Annual 2017.
On November 15, 2016, Schoening posted a teaser showing police and Ecto-1 parked outside Central Park. On November 25, Burnham posted a teaser of the Hell sequences and admitted he had rewritten his script after seeing Schoening's cover. On November 29, a full cover, credits, and five-page preview were posted. On August 22, 2017, Luis Antonio Delgado posted an unlettered version of page 11.
Story Significance
This issue resolves the Loftur Þorsteinsson arc that ran across the full eleven-issue International series and restores Egon Spengler to the team. Egon's dispersal by Loftur in issue #7 and his restoration here are referenced in the "What Came Before" page of the Ghostbusters Annual 2017. In Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #4, Death refers to Aibell having resurrected Egon; Crossing Over Issue #6 also alludes to this event in International #11. Jenny Moran's fate in this issue is likewise noted in the Annual 2017 story-so-far page.
References
Ghostbusters International #11 (IDW Publishing, November 2016). Written by Erik Burnham; art by Dan Schoening; colors by Luis Antonio Delgado; letters by Neil Uyetake; edited by Tom Waltz. Fandom Ghostbusters Wiki, "IDW Publishing Comics: Ghostbusters International 11."
