Plot
With Ghostbusters drawn in from multiple dimensions now assembled at the Warehouse, Egon Spengler briefs the combined teams while Walter Peck receives a visitor eventually revealed to be Kevin Tanaka, who reports that nearly 50 Ghostbusters are on site. Peck asks how many Peter Venkmans are present; the answer is six.
Teams split up on separate field assignments. One group, including Jillian Holtzmann, Lou Kamaka, Dani Shpak, Rookie, Winston Zeddemore, and Special Agent Melanie Ortiz, heads out toward the George Washington Bridge and Fort Washington Park to investigate paranormal activity. The issue closes on a revelation involving Tiamat, the Mesopotamian entity who, in a prior arc, erased the world's memory of Winston's marriage to Tiyah while leaving Winston himself to bear the knowledge of what was lost.1
Cast
The issue includes a two-page Dramatis Personae spread covering all teams. Characters appearing are organized below by continuity:1
Prime Ghostbusters: Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore
Prime Support Staff: Janine Melnitz, Kylie Griffin, Jenny Moran, Kevin Tanaka, Ron Alexander, Walter Peck
Extreme Ghostbusters (68-E): Kylie Griffin, Garrett Miller, Eduardo Rivera, Roland Jackson, Egon Spengler of 68-E
Answer the Call Ghostbusters (80-C): Abby Yates, Erin Gilbert, Jillian Holtzmann, Patty Tolan, Kevin Beckman
Sanctum of Slime Ghostbusters (50-S): Samuel Hazer, Gabriel Sitter, Alan Crendall, Bridget Gibbons
Chicago Ghostbusters: Rookie, Dani Shpak, Lou Kamaka
Dimensional Variants: Peter Venkman of 68-R, Ray Stantz of 68-R, Egon Spengler of 68-R, Winston Zeddemore of 68-R, Slimer of 68-E, Slimer of 68-R, Robo-Buster of 68-V, Mike the Golem of 68-V
Other: Special Agent Melanie Ortiz, Evan Torres, Zoe Zawadzki, Garrett Parker, Cait Banner
Entities: Doom Ghost, Terror Birds, Tiamat
Ghostbusters of Dimensions 35-N, 68-Q, 68-M, and 11-W also appear in the background or in group shots.
Equipment
Equipment appearing in the issue includes the Proton Pack (including the Dimension 80-C variant and the Realistic Version), PKE Meter (including the 80-C variant), Ecto Goggles (including the J.H. variant worn by Holtzmann), Ghost Trap, Trap-Gate, Containment Unit, Remote Portal Access Band, and the Proton Glove. A Particle Thrower is also depicted.1
Locations
Events take place across several New York locations: the Paranormal Contracts Oversight Commission offices, the Warehouse (the staging area for the assembled Ghostbusters), the Firehouse, the George Washington Bridge, Fort Washington Park, and Tiamat's Dimension.1
Covers
Cover A (Dan Schoening / Luis Antonio Delgado): Features Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters, Rookie piloting the Kenner Ecto Bomber, Roland Jackson from Extreme Ghostbusters, and Janine Melnitz with the Compact Pack.1
Cover B (Tim Lattie): A deliberate nod to The Real Ghostbusters episode "Citizen Ghost," depicting Spectral Ghostbusters marching into the Firehouse. The Spectral figures are doppelgangers of Eduardo Rivera (Extreme Ghostbusters), Janine Melnitz (Prime Universe), Ron Alexander (Prime Universe), and Jillian Holtzmann (2016 film). Spectral Janine carries the Tease Ray weapon from the Kenner Fright Feature Janine figure; Spectral Ron wears a Ghost Smashers uniform and carries the Proton Bazooka. The background includes the city map from the 1984 Activision Ghostbusters video game and the box of contaminated flight suits from "Citizen Ghost," with a note referencing the fate Egon recommended for them. Lattie confirmed the homage intention when he posted his process artwork on June 4, 2018.
Cover RI (Ilias Kyriazis): Features Rachel Unglighter from the Displaced Aggression mini-series. Kyriazis was the original artist on that series.1
Development
Pre-publication activity for Issue #3 ran from January through June 2018. On January 19, editor Tom Waltz posted Covers A and RI. On February 20, Erik Burnham confirmed Rookie, Dani Shpak, and Lou Kamaka would appear. May distributor solicits (posted February 21) provided the official logline and crew credits.
On March 6, Burnham responded to reader questions about whether time travel explained the cross-era team-ups, hinting Issue #3 would provide an answer. On March 21, in an interview, he teased that the personal stakes powering the rest of the maxi-series are revealed in this issue and that there are two of them.2
During April, Waltz shared work-in-progress pages including Egon Spengler lecturing the assembled teams, Jillian Holtzmann alongside the Chicago Ghostbusters, Peter Venkman being slapped by Janine Melnitz, and Holtzmann taking on an entity. On April 5, Dan Schoening posted colored teasers of the multi-dimensional Slimers featured in Egon's lecture. On April 17, Waltz posted a finished page of Janine taking charge. On May 1, three finished panels of the Sanctum of Slime team discussing time travel were shared. On May 30, Waltz teased a twist occurring in the issue.
A five-page preview, cover image, and credits were released on June 4, 2018, two days before the issue's release date.
Notes
The following continuity references and visual easter eggs are embedded throughout the issue:
- The bottle Peck pours from is labeled "Kildarby," a stand-in for Jameson whiskey. The brand name originates from the Lord Kildarby character in The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Bird of Kildarby" and first appeared as a neon sign in Ghostbusters International #1.
- The portrait of a woman in yellow visible in Peck's office is Anne Gorsuch Burford, head of the EPA during the Reagan administration, a recurring image in earlier issues. A separate photo shows Peck meeting President Reagan in the Oval Office.
- Ray refers to the interdimensional device as the "Transdimensional Portal," the term used in The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Copycat."
- Gabriel Sitter and Bridget Gibbons of Dimension 50-S allude to DC Comics' The Flash and the then-current CW television adaptation. Gabriel also mentions Dumazu, the main antagonist of the Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime video game.
- Peter references meeting the Ghostbusters' future selves in Ghostbusters Vol. 2 #16, in the stairwell of Dana Barrett's apartment building.
- The whiteboard visible in the Warehouse background includes the notation "Dave L," a nod to Dave Laenen of the Ghostbusters of British Columbia, who supplied Dan Schoening with a significant portion of the equations depicted.
- Holtzmann's POV goggle display contains several easter eggs placed by colorist Luis Antonio Delgado: his recurring "15" signature, 1967 (Leslie Jones' birth year)3, 01061984 (Kate McKinnon's birth date)4, 07152016 (the 2016 film's theatrical release date)5, and the initials "KM." The upper-right corner of the display reuses the screen graphic from the Kenner Real Ghostbusters PKE Meter toy.
- The fog form of the ghost encountered at Fort Washington Park is visually modeled on Belleranthon from The Real Ghostbusters episode "The Thing in Mrs. Faversham's Attic." Its true form, revealed later in the issue, is the Doom Ghost that menaced Ron Alexander in the Annual 2015 story "Just a Peek."
- In Extreme Ghostbusters Slimer's scenes, he eats from a bag of Wise Potato Chips, as seen in the original 1984 film. Dani Shpak is shown reading Creature Magazine from the Slimer and the Real Ghostbusters intro sequence.
- Kevin Beckman wears the white T-shirt from his possession scene in Chapter 13 of the 2016 film. By the next panel (page 20), he is inexplicably in the brown coat from Chapter 8 of the same film.
- The Dramatis Personae misspells Patty Tolan's surname as "Nolan."
- The Dimension 35-N designation was first publicly revealed by Tom Waltz in a tweet on May 10, 2018, promoting Issue #4, before Issue #3 was even released.
- Abby Yates' concern about the 101 intern team is noted; those interns caused the Dimensional Bleed incident that ran through the Ghostbusters 101 mini-series.
- The back cover is a reproduction of The Real Ghostbusters Potato Snacks advertisement.
- Issue #3 carries narrative consequences across the rest of the series: on page 18 of Issue #6, Rachel Unglighter sees Janine addressing the teams at the Warehouse, an event that occurs in Issue #3; Issue #7's recap page mentions the call answered here; and on pages 1 and 7 of Issue #8, Erin Gilbert references the Warehouse presentation and Winston confirms knowledge of Holtzmann's Proton Glove from their shared field assignment in this issue.1
See Also
References
Some content on this page was researched using the Ghostbusters Wiki on Fandom.
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IDW Publishing, Ghostbusters Crossing Over #3 (IDW Publishing, June 6, 2018). Written by Erik Burnham; art and covers by Dan Schoening; colors by Luis Antonio Delgado; letters by Neil Uyetake; edited by Tom Waltz and Elizabeth Brei. Diamond Code: MAR180443.
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Freaksugar, "Erik Burnham on Samhain, 'Crossing Over,' & All of the Ghostbusters!" (March 21, 2018), https://www.freaksugar.com/erik-burnham-ghostbusters-2018-annual-and-crossing-over-interview/. Erik Burnham: "I thought of two things that would give it the right heft, and how they would affect things emotionally. That revelation comes on page 20 of issue 3."
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"Leslie Jones (comedian)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Jones_(comedian).
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"Kate McKinnon," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_McKinnon.
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"Ghostbusters (2016 film)," Wikipedia, accessed 2026-06-13, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(2016_film).
