Ghostbusters: Back in Town #3

Field	Detail
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Release Date	May 29, 2024
Script	David Booher
Art	Blue Delliquanti
Colors	Cris Peter
Letters	Jimmy Betancourt
Editor	Jenny Bingham-Blenk
Assistant Editor	Misha Gehr
Cover A Artist	Christopher Mitten
Cover B Artist	Mike Norton
Diamond Order Codes	FEB240962 (Cover A), FEB240963 (Cover B)

Ghostbusters: Back in Town #3 is the third issue of a four-part canon mini-series published by Dark Horse Comics, released on May 29, 2024, written by David Booher with artwork by Blue Delliquanti and colors by Cris Peter.¹ The series bridges the narrative gap between Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). Issue #3 is the pivotal chapter in which Phoebe Spengler uncovers the identity of the supernatural force targeting the team: the malevolent Madame Malveaux. Outmatched and alone, Phoebe escapes through the New York City sewers and stumbles into an encounter at the Laugh Riot Comedy Club.

The four issues were later collected in the trade paperback Ghostbusters Volume 1: Back in Town (Dark Horse Comics, November 5, 2024, ISBN 978-1-50673-527-6).²

Field	Detail
Publisher	Dark Horse Comics
Release Date	May 29, 2024
Script	David Booher
Art	Blue Delliquanti
Colors	Cris Peter
Letters	Jimmy Betancourt
Editor	Jenny Bingham-Blenk
Assistant Editor	Misha Gehr
Cover A Artist	Christopher Mitten
Cover B Artist	Mike Norton
Diamond Order Codes	FEB240962 (Cover A), FEB240963 (Cover B)

Plot

As tensions rise within the Spengler family and over the new Ghostbusting business, Phoebe Spengler confronts the entity behind the supernatural attacks on the team: Madame Malveaux.⁴ Outmatched in a direct confrontation, Phoebe escapes by fleeing through the city sewers, emerging at the Laugh Riot Comedy Club, where she encounters the Laugh Riot Ghosts. Meanwhile, Ray Stantz reflects on the family's recent battles and what it means for their mission.

Cast

Phoebe Spengler: the central protagonist of this issue, played by Mckenna Grace in the films
Callie Spengler: Phoebe's mother
Trevor Spengler: Phoebe's brother
Gary Grooberson: Callie's partner
Ray Stantz: original Ghostbuster

Entities

Madame Malveaux: the series antagonist, revealed in full this issue. She invokes the Ghostbusters' past defeat of Vigo the Carpathian to underscore her own threat.⁴ Phoebe nicknames her "Maleficent" after the villain of Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959). Her name is also spelled "Malveaux" across the series.
Cockroach Acolytes: supernatural servants under Madame Malveaux's command, present throughout the series.
Laugh Riot Ghosts: a group of ghosts encountered by Phoebe at the Laugh Riot Comedy Club after her escape through the sewers.
Green Slime Ghost: a recurring entity from earlier in the series.

Equipment and Vehicles

Standard Ghostbusters equipment featured in this issue includes the Proton Pack and Particle Thrower, Ecto Goggles, the Ghost Trap, a Remote Trap Vehicle, and the PKE Meter. Ecto-1 (the Ectomobile) also appears.⁴ Environmental elements referenced include Green Super Slime and Psychomagnotheric Slime (Mood Slime), the latter mentioned by Phoebe in dialogue on page 3.

Locations

New York City: the primary setting for the series
Laugh Riot Comedy Club: the venue Phoebe reaches after escaping through the sewers
The Firehouse: the Ghostbusters' base of operations

Continuity and Callbacks

This issue contains detailed callbacks to earlier Ghostbusters media and to the preceding issues in the series.⁴

Within the issue, page by page:

Page 2: Madame Malveaux references the Ghostbusters' defeat of Vigo the Carpathian in Ghostbusters II.
Page 3: Phoebe mentions Mood Slime; she calls Madame Malveaux "Maleficent"; she alludes to Egon Spengler.
Page 6: Trevor alludes to his encounter with the siren ghost from issue #2.
Page 9: Phoebe makes a joke about zombies.
Page 11: Phoebe jokes about the Knights of the Round Table.
Page 12: Callie's line "Ghostbusting is easy, comedy is hard" is a play on director Peter Bogdanovich's remark "Drama is easy, comedy's hard."
Page 13: Ray Stantz mentions Gary and Callie's battle with the bird ghost and Trevor's first siren ghost encounter from issue #2. Ray is wearing the outfit he wore in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Chapter 11.
Page 15: Phoebe alludes to Egon and mentions Winston Zeddemore and Peter Venkman; Ray recalls using Psychomagnotheric Slime to defeat Vigo in Ghostbusters II; Phoebe references the team's use of the Statue of Liberty in Ghostbusters II and uses the film-monster term "kaiju."
Page 17: Callie references the ghost battle from issue #1 and the family's lack of teamwork; Phoebe jokes about Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity.

Referenced in later issues:

Issue #4, page 7: Gary refers to Madame Malveaux as "Maleficent," echoing Phoebe's nickname from this issue.⁵
Issue #4, page 12: Gary alludes to an incident involving Trevor that originates in this issue.⁵
Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest #1, page 13: Gary mentions the microwave being broken again, a detail Trevor noted in this issue.⁶

References

Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.

Dark Horse Comics, "Ghostbusters: Back in Town #3" product page, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/3011-017/Ghostbusters-Back-in-Town-3 ↩

Dark Horse Comics, Ghostbusters Volume 1: Back in Town (November 5, 2024). ISBN 978-1-50673-527-6. ↩

Ghostbusters News, "Get a sneak peek inside Ghostbusters: Back in Town Issue #3" (May 28, 2024), https://ghostbustersnews.com/2024/05/28/get-a-sneak-peek-inside-ghostbusters-back-in-town-issue-3/ ↩

Ghostbusters: Back in Town #3 (Dark Horse Comics, May 29, 2024). Script: David Booher; Art: Blue Delliquanti; Colors: Cris Peter; Letters: Jimmy Betancourt. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

Ghostbusters: Back in Town #4 (Dark Horse Comics, June 26, 2024). Script: David Booher; Art: Blue Delliquanti. ↩ ↩²

Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest #1 (Dark Horse Comics, 2024). Script: David Booher; Art: Blue Delliquanti. ↩

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Ghostbusters: Back in Town #3

Publication Details

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Plot

Cast

Entities

Equipment and Vehicles

Locations

Continuity and Callbacks

References

Publication Details

Publication Details

Sign up free to join the GBFans.com community.

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Plot

Cast

Entities

Equipment and Vehicles

Locations

Continuity and Callbacks

References

Footnotes