Cast
Autobots: Optimus Prime, Jazz, Trailbreaker, Grapple, Brawn, Bumblebee, Windcharger, Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ectotron.
Decepticons: Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Nacelle, Laserbeak, Hotlink, Sunstorm, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Reflector.
Entities: Gozer, Zuul, Vinz Clortho, Megascream, the Prospect Park Ghost.
Ghostbusters: Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore.
Supporting: Officers Burton and Cullen. Their names are visible on name tags beneath their badges: Burton is a nod to Corey Burton, who voiced Spike Witwicky in the G1 animated series; Cullen is a nod to Peter Cullen, the longtime voice of Optimus Prime.
Equipment
The issue features the Autobot ship the Ark, the Proton Pack, the Particle Thrower, the Ectomobile (Ecto-1), a Proton Pistol carried by Winston, the PKE Meter, the Sky Spy (used to scan and collect vehicle data, including a scan of the Ecto-1), and a Ghost Trap.
Covers
The issue was released with multiple cover variants:
- Cover A: Art by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado. Features Starscream, Bombshell, Cliffjumper, Ectotron, Astrotrain, Jazz, and Ray Stantz.
- Cover B: Art by Nick Roche. Features the Firehouse, the Ghostbusters, Ectotron, Slimer, and Ghost Starscream.
- RI Cover 1:10 and RI Cover 1:50 (RI-A and RI-C): Art by Alex Milne. Feature Ectotron and the Ghostbusters. Cover RI-A includes the Firehouse.
- RI Cover 1:25 (RI-B): Art by Paulina Ganucheau. Features Ectotron blasting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
- Fan Expo Dallas Cover: Features the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Slimer, the Ghostbusters, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Starscream, Ectotron, and Bumblebee.
- Con Cover (June 8, 2019): Ectotron holds up a behind-the-scenes photo from Ghostbusters II showing Ivan Reitman, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd posing in front of Ecto-1a.
- SDCC Cover: The Ghostbusters and Optimus Prime in his Ecto-35 design travel through the Autobots' orange grid tunnel, referencing a sequence from the G1 animated series' second season intro. Winston carries the Proton Pistol.
- Scorpion Comics variant (May 2019): Art by Clayton Crain; limited to 300 copies.
- Afterlife variant (January 1, 2021): Art by Dan Schoening, confirmed as a brand-new piece rather than a repurposed rejected cover. Bundled exclusively with the Transformers Generations Ghostbusters: Afterlife Ecto-1 Ectotron figure. Unlike other variants, it carries no letter designation, is fully paginated, includes a 2-page spread of the Ghostbusters: Afterlife wheat-field Ecto-1 poster, and contains a selected cover gallery (pages 24-28) drawing from covers for issues #1 and #2, plus the "Prime Gets Slimed" promotional ad.
The Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron trade paperback reuses Cover B as its front cover and the last two pages of this issue as its credits pages.
Development
Tom Waltz posted the first rough thumbnails of the four core Ghostbusters on December 11, 2018, with a hint toward a June 2019 release. Over the following months, the creative team released a steady stream of previews and teasers:
On December 28, 2018, Waltz posted more finished versions of those thumbnails. Erik Burnham reported on January 13, 2019 that he had written an unexpected splash page. Waltz teased work-in-progress cover art through late January and early February 2019, including early glimpses of Slimer and the Firehouse.
On February 15, 2019, Burnham noted that the first five words of dialogue in the series was "one surreal sentence to write." On February 18, 2019, a partial variant cover preview was released alongside an edited version of Schoening's five-issue connected covers layout. The full connected cover layout followed on February 20. The cover artists for Issue #1 were confirmed on February 21: Paulina Ganucheau, Nick Roche, and Alex Milne alongside Schoening and Delgado. On February 22, Waltz posted the standalone Cover A by Schoening and Delgado. On February 25, Waltz shared a finished page of Gozer and the Terror Dogs on Cybertron.
An interview published February 27, 2019, with the creative team described Ectotron as "a bit of a nerd," placed him as an outlier among Autobots in the same way the Ghostbusters were outliers among academics, called him "kind of uptight," noted he is teased by other Autobots but will "loosen up" by the series' end, and confirmed that the mini-series opens in a way no reader would expect, with the Ghostbusters and Autobots facing ghostly common enemies.
On March 4, 2019, Waltz posted a colored page of the Decepticons meeting Gozer. On March 13, Delgado posted three colored but unlettered pages and confirmed he had finished his color work on Issue #1. On March 21, Waltz posted a colored panel showing the Ghostbusters alongside Ghost Starscream.
On March 22, 2019, the June solicitations were officially revealed, confirming the logline and June 19 release date. The ashcan edition -- a four-page preview printed as a miniature comic -- was distributed to attendees of the Transformers panel at WonderCon on March 31, 2019.
On April 4, Schoening posted a fully colored Cybertron scene. On April 5, early credits and a four-page preview were published. On April 9, Burnham saw the proof of Issue #1. On April 15, four more unlettered pages (pages 12-15) were made available. On May 3, Clayton Crain revealed his Scorpion Comics variant, limited to 300 copies. On May 4, Schoening posted a colored panel featuring Optimus Prime.
On June 1, 2019, pages 18-19 were included in a preview, along with work-in-progress art from interiors and Nick Roche cover sketches. On June 10, it was confirmed that a few copies of Issue #1 were distributed at Ghostbusters Fan Fest. On June 21, Waltz posted the finished panel of Winston pointing out Ghost Starscream.
On November 13, 2020, the Transformers Generations Ghostbusters: Afterlife Ecto-1 Ectotron figure was announced, and among its included accessories was a new variant cover for Issue #1. On November 14, Schoening confirmed it was a brand-new piece. On January 20, 2021, Schoening posted the textless version of the Afterlife variant.
References and allusions
The opening panel of page 1 reproduces the establishing shot of Cybertron from the Transformers G1 animated series pilot, "More Than Meets the Eye" Part 1, with character designs matching that series throughout the Cybertron sequence.
The Gozer encounter on Cybertron is structured as a mirror of the rooftop sequence from Ghostbusters (1984). Gozer repeats the line "The Traveler has come." The twin pillars and altar from the film appear in panel 2 of page 3. Gozer shoots lightning from its fingers as in Chapter 26 of the film. The statue faces on the temple are based on two Quintesson Judges, Death and Rage (page 4) and War and Wisdom (page 6). The door hieroglyph on page 5 is visually based on a carving Grimlock taps in the Transformers episode "Madman's Paradise."
The roles from the original Ghostbusters rooftop scene are redistributed: Megatron ascends the stairs in Ray's position on page 4. On page 6, Megatron's reaction mirrors Peter Venkman's, and Shockwave's "What did you do?" mirrors Winston's line. Starscream occupies Ray's position of inadvertently choosing the Destructor Form. The Destructor Form is a giant Starscream wearing a crown based on his coronation in Transformers: The Movie and a necklace bearing the heads of Skyfire, Megatron, Optimus Prime, and Shockwave. A similar concept appeared in the IDW Transformers Deviations comic, in which Starscream was upgraded by Unicron and combined with other Decepticons into a giant form called Megascream.
On page 9, Ectotron invokes Primus, the creator-god of the Transformers. On page 10, the Ark bridge layout matches "More Than Meets the Eye" Part 1. Ectotron's theory that Earth may be one of Cybertron's colonies is noted as technically accurate across multiple Transformers continuities, including the G1 animated series (Antilla), Beast Wars (Omicron), and IDW's 13 legendary colonies.
On page 12, the Ghostbusters climbing out of a sinkhole echoes a scene near the end of the first film. Ray's "we have the technology" and Peter's "Better. Stronger. Faster" are nods to The Six Million Dollar Man title sequence. Page 14 includes Winston mentioning the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a note that the franchise was founded in Brooklyn before moving to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. Page 15 has Peter alluding to the Yankees, Mets, and Phillies, and referencing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," while Ray discusses the Iroquois and lacrosse. On page 16, the Peristyle visible behind Egon places the ghost encounter in the southwest corner of Prospect Park. Ectotron vaporizing a parking ticket on page 16 references a deleted scene from the first Ghostbusters film.
Ghost Starscream's appearance on page 17 is rooted in G1 lore: he was reduced to an ethereal form after Galvatron killed him in Transformers: The Movie and repeatedly schemed to restore his physical body before being banished into space.
References
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IDW Publishing, Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron #1 (June 2019). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Tom B. Long.
