Ghostbusters Infestation Issue 2

Credits

Role	Name
Writer	Erik Burnham
Penciler	Kyle Hotz
Colorist	Dan Brown
Letterer	Chris Mowry
Editor	Tom Waltz
Cover A	John K. Snyder III, Jason Wright
Cover B	Kyle Hotz, Dan Brown

Plot

The Ghostbusters rush to implement a plan that may solve both their poltergeist plague and their zombie problem simultaneously. The real threat, however, is that the vampire agent Britt has orchestrated the infection of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, not simply to cause chaos, but to weaken Stay Puft enough to extract an essence of Gozer. Meanwhile, a newly freed and furious Stay Puft threatens to destroy the city even before the zombie crisis is resolved.

Summary

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, who escaped the Containment Unit along with the canine poltergeists in Issue #1, has marched up to West 57th Street. Britt coordinates 37 zombies to attack Stay Puft on a massive scale, infecting it with the Necrotic Slime virus in order to weaken it. Her actual goal is to capture an essence of Gozer, which resides within Stay Puft.

Egon Spengler proposes a plan using rock-paper-scissors logic: the poltergeists are compelled to enter soulless zombie bodies, and the Necrotic Slime covering Stay Puft is functionally a zombie. If the team releases all of their trapped poltergeists onto the Necrotic Stay Puft, the poltergeists should inoculate the infected mass. Peter Venkman refers to the bloated, infected Stay Puft as "Humpty Dumpty." Egon argues against crossing the streams as a solution.

The plan works, but imperfectly: Stay Puft splits off from its Necrotic portion, producing two distinct entities. Egon speculates the dominant entity will reabsorb the other, though the victor would still carry residual Necrotic Slime. The team releases all trapped poltergeists onto the Necrotic Stay Puft. The combination of the poltergeists, Necrotic Slime, and the trace of Gozer's essence proves uniquely disruptive; the Necrotic Stay Puft implodes safely, and the original Stay Puft disperses.

Winston Zeddemore draws on the Twinkie analogy from the first film to frame the scale of the problem. Ray Stantz references the concept of Bokor, practitioners of voodoo who work both light and dark magic, to explain the zombie-poltergeist interaction. Britt, now exposed, calls the team "private sector types," echoing language from the original film. The issue closes with Peter suggesting the team stock up on garlic, acknowledging that Britt is now their next problem.

Cast

Characters

Egon Spengler
Peter Venkman
Ray Stantz
Winston Zeddemore
Janine Melnitz
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
Necrotic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Zombie Stay Puft)
Britt (CVO vampire agent)
Zombies (Infestation)
Canine Poltergeists

The Necrotic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

The Necrotic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (also called Zombie Stay Puft) is a portion of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man infected by the Infestation virus after 37 zombies attacked it on West 57th Street under Britt's direction. The entity served as a vehicle through which Britt intended to access Gozer's essence. It was neutralized by the simultaneous release of all the Ghostbusters' captured poltergeists. Writer Erik Burnham has confirmed that IDW editor Chris Ryall specifically requested a Zombie Stay Puft for this miniseries.

Equipment

Containment Unit
Proton Pack and Particle Thrower
Proton Pistol
Ghost Gun
Ghost Trap
Ecto-1
P.K.E. Meter

Locations

Firehouse (Ghostbusters HQ)
West 57th Street, New York City (Stay Puft's rampage)
New York City Hall (mentioned)

Trivia

Stay Puft's rampage is centered on West 57th Street.
Winston Zeddemore uses the Twinkie scale from the first film to illustrate the scope of the Infestation.
Britt refers to the Ghostbusters as "private sector types," echoing Ray Stantz's line from Ghostbusters (1984).
Gozer from the first film is the actual target of Britt's operation; infecting Stay Puft is a means to reach Gozer's lingering essence.
Ray references the Bokor, practitioners in voodoo who work both light and dark magic, traditionally associated with zombie creation.
Ray explains the poltergeist-zombie interaction with a rock-paper-scissors analogy.
Egon advocates against crossing the streams as a potential solution.
Peter calls the infected Stay Puft "Humpty Dumpty," after the nursery rhyme character who fell and shattered.
The closing suggestion that the team stock up on garlic is a reference to garlic as a folkloric weakness of vampires, aimed at Britt.
New York City Hall and the Mayor are mentioned by Peter in the final pages.
The concluding IDW crossover issue Infestation #2 (April 6, 2011) includes a page borrowing a scene from page 10 of this issue, in which the zombies infect Stay Puft.
A photo of the Necrotic Stay Puft later appears in Stay Puft's PCOC file in Ghostbusters Issue #4, catalogued under Infestation dossier File #3742.
Gozer later assumes the form of the Necrotic Stay Puft during the Tiamat incident, as seen in the IDW ongoing series.

References

IDW Publishing, Ghostbusters: Infestation #2 (March 23, 2011). Writer: Erik Burnham; Art: Kyle Hotz.
IDW Publishing, Infestation #2 (April 6, 2011). Writers: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning.
IDW Publishing, Ghostbusters: Infestation #1 (March 9, 2011). Writer: Erik Burnham; Art: Kyle Hotz.

Ghostbusters Infestation Issue 2

Covers

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Ghostbusters Infestation Issue 2

Covers

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Credits

Plot

Summary

Cast

Characters

The Necrotic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

Equipment

Locations

Trivia

References

Comic