Stories
Daydreams and Nightmares!
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Dan Schoening
Colorist: Luis Antonio Delgado
Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore are repairing the Firehouse when a call comes in from a house on Staten Island where residents have been put into catatonic sleep. The rogue Sandman draws the team into a shared dream world: Peter finds himself in a scene recreated from the first film with a significant role reversal, Winston experiences the wedding later undone by Tiamat, and Ray encounters his spirit guide. The story's opening recap page connects the annual to the Mass Hysteria! arc, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover, and Get Real, positioning the issue as an intentional pause between larger storylines.
The story is heavily laden with Easter eggs. The construction gear Peter, Ray, and Egon wear while patching the Firehouse mirrors the outfits from the Ghostbusters II First Avenue dig sequence. Winston's work mug reads "Reggie Sandman Martin," a reference to the boxing character Ernie Hudson played in the Full House episode "Knock Yourself Out" (which aired October 30, 1987).3 Egon's whiteboard in his dream sequence contains notes drawn from Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular (including books Egon read in his youth), Harold Ramis quotes, references to the Activision games, and a callout to Egon's twin brother Elon Spengler from the Earth Day Special 1990. Brent Mitchell, the police officer who brings in the Staten Island call, is visually based on Lieutenant Frump from The Real Ghostbusters -- Burnham had not scripted the resemblance, but Schoening wanted to draw Frump. A street sign on page 27 was renamed "Kemp Street" in tribute to recently deceased Ghostbusters fan Ryan Kemp.
The house on Staten Island is based on an actual residence combined with a fictitious one, as noted by Schoening when he posted early preview panels in November 2015.
Bait Date
Writer/Artist: Tom Bancroft
A short vignette starring Peter Venkman, who uses the Ghostbusters as bait for a date, only for a ghost to crash proceedings.
Just a Peek
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Otis Frampton
Ray Stantz and Ron Alexander face off, with Ray invoking the Interspatial Teleportation Unit -- referred to here by its Real Ghostbusters name, the "Trans-Dimensional Portal."
Trick or Treat
Artist: Sara Richard
A Halloween-themed vignette featuring Janine Melnitz in her classic Real Ghostbusters outfit.
Artist: Drew Rausch
A full-team story involving the Ghostbusters, Janine Melnitz, and a Pink Slime Creature, set around and inside the Firehouse.
The 12th Floor
Artist: Sean Galloway
A short featuring Slimer at the Sedgewick Hotel.
No Sale
Artist: Matthew Dow Smith
Egon Spengler contends with a ghost visually modeled on Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China. The choice carries a production in-joke: James Hong, who played Lo Pan, is the father of April Hong, who voiced Catherine in The Real Ghostbusters.4
The Nuclear Option
Artist: Anthony Marques
Louis Tully, in the blue track suit he wore in the first film, deals with a possessed microwave that references the "Dark Side of the Moon." Evan Shaner was originally attached to draw this story but withdrew due to scheduling conflicts.
A Fall Wind in Summer
Artist: Alex Deligiannis
Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore encounter a version of Samhain in the IDW canon. This marks Samhain's first visual appearance in IDW continuity; the character had previously been referenced only by name in a P.C.O.C. file in the ongoing series Volume 1 Issue #5. Burnham noted Deligiannis specifically wanted to draw this character, and that the story was designed to seed a future storyline threat.
World of the Psychic
Writer: Erik Burnham
Artist: Erik Evensen
A four-page backup formatted as a clip-show of outtakes from World of the Psychic, the TV program Peter Venkman hosted between the original films. The story reveals the episode shown at the opening of Ghostbusters II was the program's 32nd,1 and establishes the reason Peter ultimately quit the show. Burnham originally wrote this backup in 2011, shortly after the IDW series launched, and held it until the right vehicle appeared.
Development
The annual had a long gestation before taking its final shape. As early as August 2011, Burnham submitted a three-page World of the Psychic backup to IDW; it was approved in December 2011 but held in reserve. That backup eventually became the four-page "World of the Psychic" story illustrated by Erik Evensen.
A separate origin thread runs through Ghostbusters: Get Real. Burnham revealed in April 2015 that Get Real was originally conceived as a 48-page annual pitch. Editor Tom Waltz asked Burnham to expand it into a four-issue mini-series instead, which freed the annual slot.
IDW committed to the annual relatively close to the Diamond catalog deadline for Fall 2015. Burnham rewrote the main story three times across the scripting period; the solicitation copy and back cover reflect an earlier draft in which the Ghostbusters would have simply reminisced and eventually realized they were trapped in a dream world. Research by Burnham and Schoening shifted the story toward the Sandman concept. Burnham and Schoening discussed the Sandman's visual design at the San Diego International Airport over Thai food.
Guest artists for the backup stories were recruited primarily at San Diego Comic Con 2015. Burnham emailed Matthew Dow Smith directly. Schoening personally recruited Sean Galloway and Tom Bancroft. Each artist chose the character they wanted to draw, and Burnham wrote the corresponding scripts. On August 13, 2015, Burnham reported scrapping and restarting the script after a better idea occurred to him midway through. By September 4, 2015, with the final guest roster of Galloway, Bancroft, and Drew Rausch confirmed, Burnham described the final structure as a 28-page main story, a four-page World of the Psychic backup, and several one-page stories. Special Agent Melanie Ortiz was confirmed for a backup appearance on September 10, 2015.
Burnham stated that for the Sandman's voice he drew on an old German short story, and that the character voice and the source material "dovetailed together eerily well." He noted the Sandman might be named after the Greek god Morpheus, and confirmed the design was specifically not based on the Real Ghostbusters version.
Dan Schoening confirmed in an October 2015 interview recorded at the Cherry Bomb Toy Show in Victoria, B.C. that the annual takes place approximately five days to one week after the events of Ghostbusters: Get Real #4, and hinted the creative team would do something with the Elaine Valentine's Day prediction from Ghostbusters II.
Continuity Notes
The annual sits between the Get Real mini-series and subsequent IDW arcs. Its back matter includes a "Ghostbusters Stripped" index section. Tiyah Clarke appears in Winston's dream sequence but is depicted faceless, which Burnham described as consistent with research on how unfamiliar or absent faces appear in dreams. The wedding she and Winston experienced was established across the ongoing series Volume 2 Issues #13-14, and later undone by Tiamat in Issue #20.
The "World of the Psychic" backup establishes Ira as the specific reason Peter quit the show. A later issue, Ghostbusters 101 #3, referenced boxes belonging to Kevin that contain a nod to the Annual 2015. The IDW 20/20 one-shot's backup story "Down The Basement Stairs" later revisited the Sandman and the Staten Island location, with the SOS Ghostbusters encountering a parallel situation: the same house, Ecto Goggles used on entry, immediate supernatural attack, and a dream-state that left a physical mark on one Ghostbuster.
The regular cover features Kylie Griffin holding a copy of Spengler's Spirit Guide from Extreme Ghostbusters, though neither Kylie nor Pagan appear in the issue itself. The subscription cover features Janine Melnitz and Kylie in their primary flightsuits.
