Ominous prelude: Some mysterious dude who'd been...not very nice makes a deal with "Old Scratch' (also known as "Old Nick", the Devil, Satan, Dick Cheney, and Dib Devlin. Except Dib Devlin was a minor demon and not the Devil per se) to not be dragged off to Hell. I can only imagine what this took--I mean, everybody knows ol'Lucifer has all the best lawyers down in his place. Anyway, but it didn't give our mysterious narrator immortality, so when he kicks the bucket, the Pearly Gates don't want anything to do with him either. So here we find out what ol'Nick gets out of the deal--the scoundrel gets to wander the world as a restless spirit forever, which, let's face it, is maybe a little bit too petty a dick move for the Prince of Darkness, but he's got to change up the torment program every once in a while to keep from getting bored, I guess.
But what if, say, there was a way for our mystery scoundrel to get his restful reward without going through Heaven or Hell? Maybe through some guys with nuclear backpacks who blast ghosts or something?
"Happy Horror Days" part one opens proper with Kylie and Venkman dealing with a ghost horse. I mean, why not, Venkman is college educated, after all--this has got to be old hat for him. (Sorry...ever since I saw that Lewis Black special I can't stop making those jokes). It pukes on Venkman--ghosts always get to slime Venkman; it's a law--before being zapped and trapped.
The scoundrel ghost smiles. It's a loophole!
Speaking of loopholes, Venkman and Kylie return to GBCentral where Wally Wick is giving them as hard a time as he can even though they've been doing a good job lately and the Mayor is pleased. The Ghostbusters remind him the busy season is coming up, and Ray suggests hiring Jenny Moran--well,
of course he wants to be around
her a lot more than he has been--but Peck shoots the idea down and cryptically tells them he's already made some "calls". Hm. Venkman's none to pleased, and the rest of the gang goes outside to avoid having to listen to the inevitable spat. They get outside just in time for the sky to fill up with red lightning bolts for like two seconds, then return to normal (This being New York, normal being--say it all with me now--a fairly relative term).
Then there's a much nicer interruption--a cab arrives and out steps Melanie Ortiz, FBI agent and former New Ghostbuster. I hope she tipped that cabby well--he looks like he hasn't eaten in like a hundred years or something. Ortiz, turns out, is the one Peck called in, and she's now on "loan" from the FBI in return for giving the Feds updates on supernatural activities. You know, like when red lightning bolts appear in the skies of New York City before noon.
We gotta hand this one to Wally--this is a darn good idea. Probably the best we could hope for short of introducing another new character--everybody else they could call is either irritating or stone dull.
Okay...about the red lightning--Egon can't really say much about it yet. It was a one-time isolated incident, but he's strongly suspecting that it will happen again. But don't worry, the issue won't get boring and talky--the fire department just called the Ghostbusters for help.
They get to the fire, and Ray brought the slime blower--which seems to do the trick against it, allowing the five Ghostbusters (the originals and Kylie, as Ortiz has to stay and fill out paperwork) to get inside the park.
They split up into two groups, with Ray, Egon, and Winston going one way, and Venkman and Kylie going another. It's funny how the last few issues Kylie and Venkman have bonded--I thought while watching EGB that Kylie and Eduardo were as close as the cartoons would ever get to Venkman and Dana (ie smartass but charismatic slacker having sexual tension with a more uptight but just as snarky woman who hates admitting she really likes him) so this sorta makes a kind of sense. Not that I think Venkman and Kylie are going to become an item--between Ortiz, Eduardo's impending arrival, and the age difference--but it's fun to see them as sorta a snarky uncle and niece or something. The more people working to keep Venkman’s massive ego in check the better.
Oh, and then Egon figures out who/what they're dealing with. As is often the case in this series, it's a figure of actual folklore who's been subject to Erik Burnham's deft touch:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingy_Jack (Remember, after all, this issue was supposed to come out in October. It couldn't get much more Halloween without some dude with a pumpkin for a head showing up)
A couple of neat touches: Jack realizes that Winston is wearing a crucifix and/or the most genuinely devout of the Ghostbusters (all true), and uses him in his plan: Jack basically trips Winston's ghost trap himself, and gets sucked into it. Which understandably confuses everyone--ghosts just don't usually do that, especially since Venkman hasn't built any ghost attracting machines lately.
Then a glowing demonic hand appears and snatches up Jack's discarded turnip. I guess Ol' Scratch is kinda pissed that he got cheated after all--I guess he'll have to find someone to sue.
No backup story this issue--just some pin-ups by Erik Burnham of Venkman torturing the same grad student as the beginning of the movie, done up like Lucy and Charlie Brown from Peanuts, and young Ray eating Stay Puft Marshmallows at Camp Wakonda.
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