Plot
"What Dreams May Come, Part 1!"
On what appears to be a routine Class III house call in Yorkville (a neighborhood in the Upper East Side, between East 79th and 96th Street), Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann, and Patty Tolan discover a ghost child named Timothy, initially classified Class III by Erin and later reclassified as Class IV once Dr. Kruger identifies him. The situation quickly escalates when the team encounters a far more dangerous entity: the Schreckgespenst (a German name for the Bogeyman), doing business as "Dr. Kruger," a Class VII ghost that feeds on fear and projects illusions targeting each Ghostbuster's deepest anxieties.1
The entity possesses Abby Yates, echoing her possession by Rowan North in the film. Holtzmann deploys the De-Possessor, a device with a conceptual resemblance to the technique used in The Real Ghostbusters episode "Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood" to separate Wat from Peter Venkman.2 The team also has access to a Ghost Zamboni and their standard 2016-era equipment: Proton Packs, Traps, and P.K.E. Meters. Back at the 2016 Firehouse (which, like its prime-universe counterpart, now has a skylight), Kevin Beckman continues expressing his desire to join the team as a full Ghostbuster. The issue closes with the team aware that Dr. Kruger has designs on turning the world into its own nightmare dimension.1
Patty references a litany of horror touchstones during the investigation: Children of the Corn (1984), The Ring (2002), Village of the Damned (1960 and 1995), The Shining (1980), The Exorcist (1973), and Rosemary's Baby (1968). Holtzmann's reaction to Dr. Kruger's name is a nod to Freddy Krueger of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. A toaster visible on a shelf in the brownstone alludes to the Animated Toaster from Ghostbusters II, and Patty references both Zhu's Authentic Hong Kong Food and the Ghost Chipper.1
The character biography panels on page 1 note that Erin and Abby Yates's book "Ghosts From Our Past" and Erin's preference for pantsuits, while Patty's bio references possessed mannequins as a nod to the Mayhem sequence in the film. The flightsuits in this issue feature black name labels styled after those worn by the prime Ghostbusters team.1
Covers
Five cover variants were released for the October 25, 2017 printing, with a sixth confirmed for the Stan Lee Comic Box in December 2017.1
Cover A (Corin Howell and Luis Antonio Delgado): The primary retail cover, featuring the 2016 team.
Cover B (Valentina Pinto): Second standard variant.
Retailer Incentive Wraparound Photo Cover: A promotional cast photo taken outside the Zhu's Authentic Hong Kong Food set is used as the cover image.
Retailer Incentive Cover (Erica Henderson): Originally produced for the Ghostbusters 101 mini-series. The image depicts Slimer and Abby Yates reaching for her soup, with the Containment Unit visible in the background.
POW!/Stan Lee Comic Box Variant (Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado): Features the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the prime universe, with Holtzmann seated atop him wielding her Proton Pistols, Slimer appearing to the left, and Stan Lee depicted as a Ghostbuster. Dan Schoening confirmed on October 19, 2017 that he drew Stan Lee into the cover.
Development
The series was announced on July 18, 2017, as a five-issue mini series titled "Ghostbusters: Answer The Call," with Kelly Thompson as writer and Corin Howell as artist. The announcement confirmed the first issue would arrive in October 2017 under the story title "What Dreams May Come, Part 1!" and previewed two covers: Cover A (Corin Howell and Luis Antonio Delgado) and Cover B (Valentina Pinto).
Howell shared work-in-progress art consistently through August and September 2017, including character roughs of each Ghostbuster, double-page spread layouts, and Firehouse background artwork. Editor Tom Waltz posted uncolored, unlettered pages in late August and September. On September 25, Erica Henderson's cover (originally for the Ghostbusters 101 mini-series) was confirmed as the RI-B retailer incentive for this issue. Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado were later confirmed as the artists behind the POW! variant.
The issue was approved to print on October 5, 2017. Advance copies arrived by October 17. A five-page preview including the cover and credits page was posted on October 21. On November 17, 2017, it was confirmed the Stan Lee Comic Box variant would be distributed in the December 2017 box.
Trivia
- The credits page contains a miscredit: Luis Antonio Delgado is listed twice as an artist instead of in his actual role as colorist.1
- Page 3, panel 5 from this issue is reused on the credits page.1
- The recap on the credits page references the Ghostbusters 101 mini-series, connecting this book's continuity to that crossover event.1
- A special thanks to Erik Burnham appears next to the Ghost Corps logo on the credits page.1
- Starting with issue #2, the character biographies used on each issue's credits page are sourced from the biography panels on page 1 of this issue.1
- Holtzmann's theory about why Abby Yates was susceptible to possession is paralleled by a moment in the prime-universe IDW ongoing: in Issue #3 of that series, Idulnas explained to Ray Stantz that his openness to the paranormal made him the Selector for Gozer's Destructor form.3
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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Ghostbusters: Answer The Call #1 (IDW Publishing, October 25, 2017). "What Dreams May Come, Part 1!" Written by Kelly Thompson, art by Corin Howell, colors by Valentina Pinto, letters by Neil Uyetake, edits by Tom Waltz.
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"Mrs. Roger's Neighborhood," The Real Ghostbusters, Season 1, Episode 4 (ABC, September 27, 1986). Written by Len Janson and Chuck Menville. Production #75004. Via Spook Central, https://www.spookcentral.tk/sclib/the-real-ghostbusters-mrs-rogers-neighborhood.html.
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Ghostbusters Vol. 1 Issue #3 (IDW Publishing, November 2011). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
