Plot
"So What's On The Other Side of the Looking Glass?"
The prime Ghostbusters are back to their roots as professors, taking on a small group of students: Jonas Schultz, Cait Banner, Zoe Zawadzki, and Evan Torres. The issue opens at Coney Island, where Peter Venkman, Winston Zeddemore, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler investigate a Psychomagnotheric Slime repository near the historic Luna Park. Egon notes he has not encountered a repository of this size this far from Manhattan, and references the death of Loftur Þorsteinsson during the events of Ghostbusters International. The team neutralizes the threat and returns to the Firehouse.
Meanwhile, Walter Peck is confronted by an EPA representative threatening a shutdown of the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission, an irony relished by the Ghostbusters given Peck's history with them.
Back at the Firehouse, the students grow curious about the equipment and begin poking at the Interspatial Teleportation Unit. Kylie Griffin warns them about the risks: insulation between dimensions, open portals attracting ghosts, and the potential for catastrophic merging. Her warnings arrive too late. The students activate the unit and open a portal, triggering the merging of two universes. The issue ends on a cliffhanger as Abby Yates and Erin Gilbert, in their own dimension's Firehouse, spot the first signs of something crossing over.1
Covers
Five cover variants were released for the initial printing on March 22, 2017, with additional convention and second printing editions following.
Regular Cover (Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado): Features Peter Venkman, Erin Gilbert, and a new unnamed character later revealed to be Garrett Parker, son of one of Peter's former psych classmates. The cover is the first of a set of interconnected covers for the series.1 Erin is depicted holding her Proton Blaster. The map credit contains easter eggs referencing Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Joe Medjuck, and Ivan Reitman, with a nod to the stars Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka of Orion's Belt.
Subscription Cover A (Dan Schoening): A homage to "Back to the Future," featuring Egon Spengler and Jillian Holtzmann with their P.K.E. Meters, and the Ecto-1a standing in for the DeLorean. Holtzmann's goggles are the Long-Range P.K.E. Scanner, as confirmed in issue #4.1 The cover appeared in Diamond's Previews January issue.
Subscription Cover B: Features Patty Tolan, Kevin Beckman, Zuul, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Zuul plays the role of Kevin's pet dog, Mike Hat.
Retailer Incentive Wraparound Cover: Uses a PR photo of the 2016 team on the front, and a PR photo of the prime team at Gozer's altar from the first film on the back.
Convention Edition (released March 31, 2017 at WonderCon, Booth #1109, $10): A PR photo of the prime team covered in marshmallow from the end of the first film on the front; the back features the 2016 team from the July 3, 2016 issue of Parade Magazine. The convention edition was also available at C2E2 on April 21, 2017, and at San Diego Comic Con from July 21 to 24, 2017 (Booth #2743 and the San Diego Comic Art Gallery, with 400 copies available total).
Second Printing (May 17, 2017): Uses Erik Burnham's title card page as its cover, after the issue sold out by March 29, 2017.
Development
Promotional material for the series was released starting in late December 2016, with individual creators sharing progress updates through early 2017.
On December 21, 2016, Erik Burnham clarified that the new character on the regular cover was not Roland Jackson and that he might need to rename the character, since Dan Schoening had chosen to draw Roland's likeness. The character was later confirmed on March 20, 2017 to be Garrett Parker.
On January 9, 2017, artist Erica Henderson posted a work-in-progress image of Patty Tolan for her Subscription cover. On January 12, Dan Schoening shared a WIP of the 2016 Particle Thrower. On January 20, Burnham confirmed Holtzmann is involved in a "small explosion" in issue #1. On January 25, editor Tom Waltz posted two unlettered colored pages, and on January 27, Schoening revealed an image of prime Slimer, 2016 Slimer, and Lady Slimer riding the Ecto-1.
On February 2, 2017, Waltz announced the issue had gone to press and posted a lettered panel of Holtzmann. On February 13, Erica Henderson posted a progression of her Subscription cover. On February 15, Burnham posted the title card artwork for the issue. The issue's title card page is a nod to the episode title card style from Batman: The Animated Series.
On March 16, 2017, Schoening posted an unlettered panel of Abby and Erin in their Firehouse. A five-page preview of the 2016 team was posted on March 20, and a cover plus first five pages preview appeared on March 21. By March 29, the issue had sold out, prompting a second printing with Burnham's title card as the new cover.
On March 27, 2017, IDW Publishing announced Wonder Con panels, signings, and exclusives. On March 31, Ghost Corps posted a photo of the convention edition at the IDW booth.
