Publication Credits
| Role |
Credit |
| Writer |
Erik Burnham |
| Penciler |
Kyle Hotz |
| Colorist |
Dan Brown |
| Letterer |
Chris Mowry |
| Editor |
Tom Waltz |
| Cover A |
John K. Snyder III |
| Cover B |
Kyle Hotz, Dan Brown |
| Cover RI A |
Gabriel Rodriguez |
| Cover RI B |
Gabriel Rodriguez, Dan Schoening |
Covers
Cover A
Cover B
The Infestation Crossover
Ghostbusters: Infestation is a chapter in IDW's "Infestation" event. The crossover's framing story, told in the standalone Infestation #1 and #2 (written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, released January 26, 2011), establishes the threat: at the Kirtland Underground Munitions Storage Complex in New Mexico, a vampiric Covert Vampiric Operations field agent named Britt contracts a zombie virus that makes her both vampire and zombie. Controlled by the Undermind (a zombie hive intelligence), Britt uses interdimensional portal technology to spread the infestation into four alternate universes, including the Ghostbusters' universe.
Pages 8 and 9 of this issue were printed as a preview within Infestation #1, alongside preview pages from Transformers: Infestation #1, Star Trek: Infestation #1, and G.I. Joe: Infestation #1. IDW also produced a promotional pamphlet titled "Classified Secrets of Infestation" that included a page derived from material in this issue.
Plot Summary
[A brief recap at the opening describes the events of Infestation #1, in which the zombified vampire Britt opened portals to four alternate dimensions to spread the zombie virus.]
A drunk driver crashes his car into a tree, also striking a zombie that bites him on the leg. As he stomps on the zombie, Britt appears and tells him he has interrupted her schedule. Two days later, Peter Venkman blasts a vending machine displaying a newspaper headline reading "Poltergeists! Ghostbusters Outmatched?" He and Ray Stantz are pursuing a dog-like poltergeist; Ray blasts it with his particle thrower, barely missing Peter, and Peter captures the spirit in a Ghost Trap. The driver from the opening, now a zombie, approaches them, and Ray radios Egon Spengler to alert him to this new phenomenon.
Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore join the others. Egon's instruments show the zombie "has almost no soul left." Peter asks whether Egon has yet retooled the Containment Unit, which cannot hold the canine poltergeists currently packed into ghost traps. Egon explains the poltergeists' ectoplasmic signature lets them break through the containment grid, and believes something else may also have escaped the last time the grid was breached. When the zombie lurches toward Ray, who is recording it through his Ecto Goggles, Egon pushes Ray out of the way. Winston blasts the zombie with his proton pistol, but the zombie absorbs the proton stream, swells up, and explodes, splattering Ray, Egon, and a nearby cat with black necrotic slime. The cat instantly becomes a monstrous zombified creature. Winston, Ray, and Egon destroy it with proton blasts, but Egon and Ray are now covered in the slime.
Driving back to the Firehouse in Ecto-1, the team discusses their simultaneous poltergeist and zombie problems. Ray and Egon have stripped off their uniforms, and Peter strips off his as well unnecessarily. Because the necrotic slime is easily destroyed by proton energy, Egon decides they can return their attention to the poltergeists. The team does not notice a zombie standing near the Firehouse.
The next morning, Janine Melnitz takes a stream of calls about zombie incidents, dismissing them as prank calls. A zombie enters through the Firehouse front door. Janine throws a Ghost Trap at it as a makeshift projectile; it strikes the zombie in the head, then activates and releases a canine poltergeist from inside. The poltergeist forces itself into the zombie through its mouth and transforms the merged pair into a motionless figure of black slime.
Fifteen minutes later Egon arrives downstairs, scans the figure, and concludes the poltergeist felt compelled to enter a body without a soul. The merger has changed both entities at a subatomic level, meaning the ghost can now be safely contained if removed from the zombie. Testing the theory, Egon activates the trap, drawing the poltergeist out and causing the zombie to explode, again splattering everyone. Peter notes many more zombies remain to handle the same way. Egon begins analyzing the necrotic slime and believes he can build a device to locate zombies. The issue ends when Ray calls from Ecto-1 to report what escaped the Containment Unit when the poltergeists last breached it: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.
Characters
Equipment Appearing
Locations Appearing
- The Firehouse
- 20 Clinton (the street where the first zombie is encountered; corresponds to 20 Clinton Avenue in Brooklyn, New York)
Cover RI B Variants
The Cover RI B was produced in 250 different permutations by Dan Schoening over four days and was not released until May 2011, approximately two months after the main issue. Confirmed subjects appearing on known variants include:
Trivia
- Erik Burnham began work on this script in late July 2010.
- Cover A by John K. Snyder III features the Slime Blowers from Ghostbusters II.
- Pages 8 and 9 of this issue appeared as a preview in Infestation #1, alongside previews from Transformers: Infestation #1, Star Trek: Infestation #1, and G.I. Joe: Infestation #1. A page also appeared in IDW's "Classified Secrets of Infestation" promotional pamphlet.
- Infestation #1 page 32 borrows the scene from page 9 of this issue in which Winston shoots a zombie with his Proton Pistol, reprinting it as part of that issue's preview pages.
- Peter asks Egon whether he has "drilled a hole in his head yet," a callback to a line from the first film.
- The drunk driver mentions the Will-o'-the-Wisp, a phenomenon associated with supernatural activity in folklore across many cultures.
- Ray references a previous off-screen bust at Coney Island.
- Ray's grandmother is mentioned in passing.
- When the team first encounters the zombie, the Boston Red Sox are mentioned in jest.
- Egon's hobby of collecting spores is referenced.
- Ray mentions Dr. Duncan MacDougall, an early 20th-century physician who theorized that the soul weighs 21 grams.
- PETA is referenced in connection with the poltergeists and a dog named Fluffy.
- The Ghostbusters stripping off their slime-soaked uniforms parallels a similar scene in Ghostbusters II involving Mood Slime.
- Peter spots a newspaper article about a "Count Dracula fad diet." Count Dracula appeared as a toy in the Kenner The Real Ghostbusters Classic Monsters action figure line.
- Janine mentions a caller's cockapoo being eaten by a zombie, and jokes the next call will involve "neutering a werewolf," nodding to the Real Ghostbusters episode "No One Comes to Lupusville" and the Classic Monsters toy line.
- Peter says being ignored is his "kryptonite," referencing Superman's weakness.
- Egon and Peter refer to the necrotic slime as "Black Slime," though this is a distinct substance from the unrelated Black Slime that appears in Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
Also See
References
- IDW Publishing Comics: Ghostbusters: Infestation #1 (March 9, 2011), story credits, cast, equipment, plot, cover details, trivia
- IDW Publishing Comics: Infestation #1 (January 26, 2011), crossover background, Britt and Undermind context
Comic
