Plot
The Turtles remain stranded in the Ghostbusters' dimension, and a new threat has arrived with them: Chi-You, an ancient all-powerful ghost from centuries past, is loose and building an army. With two very different teams having to learn each other's methods on the fly, the situation escalates sharply when Casey Jones falls under Chi-You's possession. Both the Ghostbusters and the Turtles must work together quickly before Chi-You's influence spreads any further.
Cast and Locations
The issue features Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, Janine Melnitz, Kylie Griffin, and Slimer alongside the Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello), Casey Jones, and April O'Neil. Chi-You and his Thralls of Chi-You serve as the primary antagonists, with a group of possessed humans also appearing.
Equipment depicted includes the Proton Pack, P.K.E. Meter, Ecto Goggles, Ghost Trap, Ectomobile (Ecto-1), Ghost Sniffer, Aura Video-Analyzer, Paranormal Containment Research Tank, Dimensional Inverter, Containment Unit, Tobin's Spirit Guide, and Fairfax's Demonologia. Key locations are the Firehouse, Emmanuel Baptist Church, and Madison Square Garden.
Covers
Multiple cover variants were produced for Issue #2.
The regular Cover A by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado was solicited in the November 2014 previews alongside the issue's logline. August 19, 2014 solicitations first revealed this cover.
Tristan Jones provided a Cover RI (Artist Edition retailer incentive), posting a work-in-progress teaser July 24, 2014, and the finished art August 14, 2014. IDW confirmed this as part of November 2014's Artist Edition RI variants. Jones noted on August 13 that this would be his last cover in the mini-series due to deadline pressure from his concurrent Silent Hill project.
Adam Gorham produced a Cover RE featuring Michelangelo alongside Slimer; he posted progressive work-in-progress images between October 4 and October 9, 2014, culminating in an unlettered final version.
Brent Peeples provided a Cover RE, teasing it September 29, 2014, and posting a pre-colored version October 1 and a fully colored version October 2, 2014.
Shannon Ritchie produced a Cover RE for Comicxposure, confirmed October 10, 2014.
Hot Topic received an exclusive Cover RE featuring Slimer on the front. The four possessed humans depicted on page one of this cover are visually modeled on voice actor Rob Paulsen, actress Betty White, editor Bobby Curnow, and Mariel Romero.
Blank cover variants were also confirmed for the issue.
Development
On July 15, 2014, Bobby Curnow hinted at a possible blank cover variant in the November 2014 solicitations. July 18, Erik Burnham confirmed he had seen Dan Schoening's cover for Issue #2.
On August 29, 2014, Burnham declared he was halfway through the mini-series. On October 3, Schoening posted a work-in-progress of Bebop and Rocksteady as human characters. On October 9, Burnham confirmed Schoening's Easter eggs remained "in full effect" for this issue after seeing finished artwork.
On November 10, 2014, Schoening posted a work-in-progress of Kylie Griffin carrying a stack of books. A five-page preview with cover and credits was posted November 23, 2014.
On December 1, 2014, Erik Burnham discussed his favorite gag in the issue: a trephination pun. On May 29, 2015, Burnham posted full commentary on Issue #2 written jointly with Tom Waltz.
Continuity and Annotations
This issue contains a large number of visual and dialogue references to Ghostbusters continuity, documented below by page.
Page 4: Peter's running frustration with red-headed characters was Tom Waltz's favorite gag across the entire series, and was originally Erik Burnham's idea.
Page 5: Ray Stantz explains Chi-You's mythology, citing the Nine Li Tribe, the Battle of Zhuolu, and Emperor Huangdi. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, the Battle of Zhuolu is dated to approximately 2500 B.C. and was fought between Chi-You and Huangdi; Huangdi's victory is traditionally credited with establishing Han Chinese civilization. Egon Spengler pokes April O'Neil on the shoulder, a callback to Egon doing the same to an elderly gentleman in the lobby of the Sedgewick Hotel in the first film.
Page 6: Donatello references the Interspatial Teleportation Unit and the dimensional glitch from Issue #1. Ray's question about whether the Turtles might be aliens is written as a dig at then-current rumors that the Turtles would be portrayed as aliens in the 2014 Paramount live-action film.
Page 7: Peter remarks that the color-coded masks on the Turtles will help him remember who is who, a joke that also calls back to the Ghostbusters' own different-colored jumpsuits in The Real Ghostbusters. Peter jokingly assigns himself and the other Ghostbusters the names of Renaissance painters: El Greco for himself, Botticelli, Signorelli, and Titian for the others. Peter also alludes to Dana Barrett and her career restoring art at the Manhattan Museum of Art, as established in Ghostbusters II.
Page 8: Michelangelo's admiration for the Ecto-1 and his wish for the Turtles to have one echoes the Turtle Van present in several versions of the TMNT franchise.
Page 11: The computer under Donatello's elbow displays the information screen from Area 1 of the 1989 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game, including Splinter's "The map shows your position on the ground" message. Egon Spengler's "It's...technical" response when asked about the Ghost Sniffer mirrors Peter Venkman's same deflection to Dana Barrett in the first film. Visible on the second floor are the New York poster and ladder with towel from Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Version). The black monitor in the right corner shows the title screen of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV.
Page 12: Peter raises the topic of Trephination, recalling the first film's gag where Peter reveals that Egon once tried to drill a hole in his own head. Tom Waltz admitted he had to look up the term. A box on the shelf contains the Stasis Field Generator from Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Portable Version.
Page 13: Egon's skepticism about the existence of aliens is a running thread in the IDW series, established as far back as Volume 1 Issue #11. Winston's remark about "going in first" is a nod to the United States Marine Corps, reflecting his military background.
Page 14: Janine brings a tray of Pequod's coffee. The arcade machine behind Kylie Griffin is displaying the burning apartment first level from the TMNT arcade game.
Page 15: Ray Stantz mentions his late mother and her Swiss heritage, a reference that traces back to a February 27, 1989 draft of Ghostbusters II (page 109), where Ray mentioned his great-grandparents were Swiss. Ray holds Fairfax's Demonologia, a 19th century text on witchcraft, up to Slimer for reference. Slimer's Pin-Up Calendar of Doom is open to April.
Page 16: The hockey theme around Casey Jones was Tom Waltz's suggestion while plotting the series. The Madison Square Garden sequence references the NHL Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Game 1 between the New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens, which historically took place April 16, 1996. Advertisements visible around the arena contain multiple Easter eggs: "Some Time" from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Three Men and an Egon"; "Blody" and "Caste" from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Halloween Door"; "Hasty Pastry Bakery" from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Joke's on Ray"; "Molta" from the Extreme Ghostbusters episode "Darkness at Noon, Part 1"; and "Ninja Pizza" from the TMNT 1987 animated series episode "Turtle Tracks." Luis Antonio Delgado's personal Easter egg number 15 is placed on a New York player's jersey. There is also an ad for the Bijou Theatre seen in the Slimer! episode "Movie Madness," and an ad for the Manhattan City Bank from the first Ghostbusters film. The film "From Beyond" is advertised, adapted from an H.P. Lovecraft story about an experiment that causes a character to be dragged into another dimension and transformed.
Page 17: The civilian who calls the police is visually modeled on comedian Patton Oswalt. The two men behind him are modeled on the original human forms of Bebop and Rocksteady from the TMNT 1987 animated series.
Page 19: The power source device is modeled on equipment that Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz work with during the opening sequence of The Real Ghostbusters.
Page 20: A box by the stairs holds a Flex-O-Man comic from the Slimer! episode "Room at the Top." Janine's desk has a Ghostbusters Mug and Balloon from Ghostbusters II. Egon Spengler's locker continues Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado's Harold Ramis tribute, with visible items including: a box of Cheez-Its from the first film, a Ghost Trap, a P.K.E. Meter, the Ghostbusters II Icon Ghost, a jar of Psychomagnotheric Slime, a newspaper article referencing the events of Groundhog Day (directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray), and a Walley World figurine from the National Lampoon's Vacation films.
Page 21: Egon Spengler eats a Twinkie.
Page 22: Ray's locker contains: an article about another Mass Sponge Migration (first mentioned by Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters); a copy of Popular Phantasmics magazine (from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Ghostbuster of the Year"); Rasputin's Spiritual Exercises (also from "Ghostbuster of the Year"); a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man doll frequently seen in The Real Ghostbusters; a bag of Stay Puft Marshmallows; Agent Mulder's "I Want To Believe" poster from The X-Files; a bottle of Crystal Head Vodka produced by Dan Aykroyd; Ray's reading glasses from Ghostbusters II; a jar of Singing Slime from Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Realistic Version; a partially obscured photograph of the Pallo Mansion from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Look Homeward, Ray"; an article about the Philadelphia Mass Turbulence of 1947 (mentioned by Ray in Ghostbusters); a Dopey Dog item from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Boogieman Cometh"; and articles about UFOs and the Tunguska region.
References
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters #2 (IDW Publishing, November 26, 2014). Written by Erik Burnham and Tom Waltz, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Neil Uyetake, edits by Bobby Curnow. ISBN 978-1-61479-612-1. Spotlight library binding edition also issued.
