Covers
Cover A by Corin Howell. The composition is a nod to Indiana Jones. The issue's Cover A also contains a reference to Egon Spengler's spores, molds, and fungus line from the 1984 film.1
Cover B (final) by Russell Badgett and Philip Branesky. The final printed Cover B features Funko #23, the "Ecto-1 Pop! Ride with Jillian Holtzmann" from the Funko POP! Vinyl set. The solicitation version of Cover B was different: it depicted the 1984 Ghostbusters team in their Ecto-1 pursuing Slimer.1
Cover RI (retailer incentive). This cover depicts Abby at the Stonebrook Theatre, corresponding to Chapter 8 of the 2016 film when the team splits up.12
The Diamond Order Code for this issue is NOV170465.1
Development
On October 18, 2017, the logline, initial crew credits, and Cover B were included in the January 2018 solicitations.
During January 2018, penciler Corin Howell shared a series of work-in-progress images across social media: Erin and Abby in a tunnel (January 6), Holtzmann (January 9, with Tom Waltz also sharing a WIP the same day), a page in progress (January 11), further Erin and Holtzmann panels (January 15), Patty (January 16), background cathedral work (January 17), the Ghostbusters as children (January 19, posted by Tom Waltz), background lighting work (January 21), young Erin and Abby in a graveyard (January 22, shared by Tom Waltz), the team gearing up (January 24), and colored versions of the child Ghostbusters (January 26, posted by Tom Waltz). On January 31, 2018, Tom Waltz posted a colored Holtzmann panel and noted the issue was one step closer to print approval.
On February 6, 2018, Tom Waltz posted a preview of Cover A. On February 13, 2018, Waltz received advance copies and revealed the final version of the Funko-themed Cover B.
On March 20, 2018, a cover, full credits, and a five-page preview were posted publicly. The issue went on sale the following day, March 21, 2018.
Trivia
- Page 2: Abby's fear (revealed in Issue #3) is of clowns.1
- Page 3: Erin's fear of bees manifests in the dream. The bee fear may be a nod to a production blooper from the 2016 film: during filming of an exterior scene at Zhu's Authentic Hong Kong Food, Kristen Wiig was startled by a bee.1
- Page 7: Abby's obsessive ordering of Zhu's soup is revealed to be a false memory implanted by Holtzmann inside the dream.1
- Page 8: The ladies review events from the Nightmare-Scape introduced in Issue #2 and revisited at the start of Issue #3. Holtzmann also mentions Brighton Beach, a neighborhood in Brooklyn near Coney Island, known for its Russian and Eastern European communities.1
- Page 9: Holtzmann references Kruger's journal from Issue #3. The strategy of seizing control of the dream to defeat Kruger echoes the approach used in The Real Ghostbusters episode "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream."13
- Page 10: The issue places teenage Erin and Abby in New York City. The book "Ghosts From Our Past" (Three Rivers Press edition) previously established that Erin and Abby met and attended high school in Battle Creek, Michigan, and did not investigate their first haunted location until sophomore year at the University of Michigan, after "The X-Files" premiered on September 10, 1993.14
- Page 11: The Ghost Zamboni (introduced in Issue #1) is still under a cover and only glimpsed.1
- Page 12: St. Paul's Chapel is an Episcopal chapel at 209 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, between Fulton Street and Vesey Street.1
- Page 13: Teenage Erin is depicted wearing a KISS shirt.1
- Page 15: Holtzmann shouts "It's alive!" echoing the famous line from the 1931 film "Frankenstein."15
- Page 19: The team invokes the Three Musketeers creed "One for all and all for one!" The suiting-up sequence is staged similarly to the team's preparation before entering Stonebrook Theatre in the 2016 film.12
- Page 20: Erin and Abby speak simultaneously, a callback to an identical moment at the Stonebrook Theatre case in the 2016 film.12
- Page 21: The preview image on the final page is Cover B of Issue #5, not Cover A.1
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
