"What Dreams May Come, Part 3!" The Class 7 entity known as Schreckgespenst (nicknamed "Shrecky" by the team) continues its strategy of using living nightmares to fracture the Ghostbusters from within. Each member faces fear-fueled illusions designed to exploit personal vulnerabilities: Erin's dread of bees, the team's mutual uncertainty, and deeper anxieties rooted in each character. While the four Ghostbusters struggle to shake off the nightmare-scape and reunite, Schreckgespenst escalates its ambitions toward a full takeover.
The issue was solicited with the tagline: "What or who is powerful enough to cut through the team's fear and self-doubt to bring them back together? Is it KEVIN?! (Spoiler alert: it is not Kevin.)" A recurring joke from earlier issues returns as well: Holtzmann's latest invention is ambiguously capable of producing perfect scrambled eggs or annihilating all life on Earth.2
Antagonist: Schreckgespenst (Shrecky), Kruger's Victims
Equipment appearing in this issue includes the 2016-continuity Proton Pack, Ecto-1, P.K.E. Meter, and the Ghost Zamboni (visible under a tarp in panel 1 of page 9, a callback to Issue #1). Holtzmann's JH Modified Trap also appears, along with the Dream Machine central to Schreckgespenst's nightmare attacks.
Locations include the Empire State Building, the Nightmare-Scape created by Schreckgespenst, Betty's Diner, the 2016-continuity Firehouse, and the Yorkville Brownstone.
A continuity note on the modified trap (page 16): Patty deploys the modified version that Holtzmann described in Issue #1, incorporating lessons learned from the events of Ghostbusters 101. Unlike the trap the design was based on, this version can contain multiple ghosts simultaneously.1 The prime-universe Ghostbusters' original trap was confirmed in Ghostbusters International #10 to be incapable of this and to violently explode under such conditions.3
Cover A (Diamond Order Code: OCT170470): Illustrated by Corin Howell with colors by Russell Badgett. Patty is dressed in her outfit from Chapter 07 of the 2016 film. The background books carry several layers of franchise and pop-culture reference:
Cover RI: A close-up of Patty drawn from the Chapter 16 celebration scene in the 2016 film, specifically based on a behind-the-scenes still posted February 2, 2016 on Ghostbusters.com. The TGI Fridays setting is recognizable in the background.
The issue's production was documented publicly across several months:
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
IDW Publishing, December 2017 Diamond Solicitation for Ghostbusters: Answer The Call #3 (Diamond Order Code OCT170470). Solicitation taglines include: "What or who is powerful enough to cut through the team's fear and self-doubt to bring them back together? Is it KEVIN?! (Spoiler alert: it is not Kevin.)" and "Will this be the issue where Holtzmann builds a weapon that either makes perfect scrambled eggs or destroys all life on earth? Ha! Trick question-that's EVERY ISSUE!" and "Part of IDW's Artist's Edition Cover Month!"
Ghostbusters International #10 (IDW Publishing, 2016). Clarifies that the prime-universe Ghostbusters' trap cannot contain multiple ghosts simultaneously and will violently explode if such conditions are imposed.
Ghostbusters II (Columbia Pictures, 1989). Directed by Ivan Reitman; screenplay by Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd. The line "He's Vigo!" is spoken by the character Janosz Poha.
Daniels, Kimberly (2013). The Demon Dictionary, Volume 1: Know Your Enemy. Learn His Strategies. Defeat Him! Charisma House, Lake Mary FL USA. ISBN 9781621363002.
Beetlejuice (The Geffen Company / Warner Bros., 1988). Directed by Tim Burton. The "Handbook for the Recently Deceased" appears as an in-world prop functioning as a guide for newly dead souls.
Shakespeare, William. The Life of Henry the Fifth, Act III, Scene 1. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, / Or close the wall up with our English dead." The speech is delivered by King Henry V before the walls of Harfleur.
"Big Stick policy," Britannica, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.britannica.com/event/Big-Stick-policy. Theodore Roosevelt articulated this foreign policy doctrine in a September 2, 1901 speech, encapsulated by the phrase "speak softly and carry a big stick."
