Story: "Year One, Part Two"
The story continues the interview format established in Issue #1. Rebecca Morales is writing a book on the Ghostbusters and has assembled multiple interview subjects from the early days of the team.
The issue opens where the previous issue left off: Rebecca interviewing Dana Barrett, along with Jennifer Adams and Bob Douglas, two of Peter Venkman's early ESP research subjects at Columbia University. Jennifer's last name is established here in the IDW canon as Adams, and Bob's last name is established as Douglas. Bob reveals that he developed a genuine precognitive ability after Peter's experiments: he experienced a dream foreshadowing the events of Ghostbusters II, including Vigo and Oscar. Dean Yeager is also interviewed inside Columbia's Low Memorial Library; his first name is established in the IDW canon as Harold. Alice Sherman, the librarian terrified by the Library ghost at the start of the first film, has apparently retired to a care facility following her encounter.
The bulk of the issue follows Ray's own interview at the American Society for Psychical Research. Ray recounts the backstory of how he came to know Egon: Peter had introduced them while Ray ran out of Columbia's Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library. From there the narrative covers their ESP research program, Peter's disregard for the academic consequences, and the eventual dismissal from Columbia. Ray then takes Rebecca through the Library ghost investigation shown at the start of the first film, including the initial detection of the anomaly, the ghost shushing Peter, and the group's panicked retreat. He also reveals that the nuclear material used in the Proton Pack came from a previously approved experiment, and that Egon designed the P.K.E. Meter with a few tweaks suggested by Ray during graduate school.
The centerpiece of the issue is the return visit to the New York Public Library, set several months after the original encounter and after Winston Zeddemore had joined the team. The Ghostbusters face Eleanor Twitty again; Ray addresses her by name, first revealed publicly in Ghostbusters: The Video Game. The capture is successful, and the Library's occult collection ends up as the primary source of inventory for what will eventually become Ray's Occult Books: Rebecca's suggestion that Ray open a bookstore foreshadows the shop's founding.
Characters
Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, Janine Melnitz, Dana Barrett, Dean Yeager, Jennifer (Jennifer Adams), Alice (Alice Sherman), Bob Douglas, Rebecca Morales, Library ghost (Eleanor Twitty), Book Bat
Equipment
Locations
Columbia University, New York City Public Library, American Society for Psychical Research, Firehouse
Covers
Cover A features Ray alongside the Library ghost and recreates two scenes from the first film: Ray in a period costume from the Fort Detmerring deleted scene, and Ray's first encounter with Slimer. The Slimer depiction omits his cigarette as shown in the home video chapter "He Slimed Me!"
Cover B by Timothy Lattie is a collage-style layout built around Ray's personnel file and associated objects. Notable inclusions: Ray's employee ID number is 0111952; a Post-It note references "Jean" (Ray's sister from the Ghostbusters: The Supernatural Spectacular novelization) and a first mortgage payment due November 1, 1984; Dean Yeager's Columbia University business card lists his first name as "Jordan" (taken from actor Jordan Charney), while the issue itself gives him the first name Harold; Stephen Dane's Ghost Trap sketch appears; and a passage from the August 5, 1983 first-film script draft describes the Librarian's ghost observing her from above. The classifieds section continued from Issue #1's Cover B includes a Columbia University reference.
Cover RI depicts Ray working on Ecto-1 in the Firehouse bay. The image is dense with cross-continuity references: the Ghost Claw and Gunner seat from the Kenner Ecto-1 toy appear in the lower left and upper right; spotlights and extending traps are from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Halloween II 1/2"; the water raft is from "Sticky Business"; the Ghost Tether is from "Partners in Slime"; and the floor and turquoise tile wall are visually based on the Kenner Firehouse playset. Ray is also wearing K-Swiss x Ghostbusters Si-18 International "Stay Puft" shoes, released at Foot Locker in June 2019 following their debut at Ghostbusters Fan Fest.
Development
On October 4, 2019, Tom Waltz made a cryptic post tagging Burnham, Schoening, Delgado, and Lattie, revealing four covers featuring each of the original Ghostbusters with nods to the first film.
In a November 18, 2019 interview (recorded November 12), Burnham confirmed Issue #2 would focus on the Ghostbusters returning to the New York Public Library to capture the Library ghost, and noted Schoening had just submitted layouts.
On January 20, 2020, Burnham revealed the issue is set after Winston was hired and includes a scene depicting Egon and Ray's first meeting in college. He elaborated on January 27 that the introduction spans only a few panels and that both Ray and Egon have noticeably different hairstyles in the flashback.
On January 3, 2020, Burnham announced the issue was complete. IDW and the creative team released preview pages and panels on March 2 and 3, 2020, ahead of the March 4 on-sale date.
Trivia
- The flashback hairstyles for the college-era Ghostbusters are each modeled on specific film roles: Ray's is based on Dan Aykroyd in "Spies Like Us" (1985); Peter's on Bill Murray in "Meatballs" (1979), directed by Ivan Reitman; Egon's on Harold Ramis in "Stripes" (1981), also directed by Reitman. Egon's scarf is modeled on the Fourth Doctor's from "Doctor Who," which was colorist Luis Antonio Delgado's idea.
- In the first film, a deleted scene titled "Nobel Prize Aspirations" has Peter mention he introduced Ray and Egon to each other. This issue dramatizes that introduction, consistent with the reference on Peter's Crossing Over virtual trading card.
- Eleanor Twitty, the Library ghost's real name, was first publicly revealed in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, when Rookie, Ray, and Egon spot her after destroying the Book Golem in the reading room.
- The deep-sea submersible Ray pilots in his flashback is visually based on Alvin from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, used to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in 1964, to discover deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977, and to explore the Titanic wreck.
- Bob Douglas's precognitive dream of Ghostbusters II events is a parallel to Milton Angland's similar premonition, shown near the opening of that film. Bob's surname is a nod to SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie.
- Dean Yeager's first name appears as "Jordan" on the Cover B business card (taken from actor Jordan Charney's real first name) but is given as "Harold" within the issue itself.
- Ray mentions MKOFTEN and MKUltra. MKUltra was a real CIA mind-control program that ran from 1953 to 1973; CIA director Richard Helms ordered all documents destroyed in 1973, and the program was disclosed publicly during the 1975 Church Committee Senate hearings.
- Janine Melnitz's mug contains tea; chamomile has been her preferred flavor since Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
- Rebecca's suggestion that Ray open a bookstore at the end of the issue directly foreshadows the founding of Ray's Occult Books, with the Library's confiscated occult collection serving as its core inventory.
- Winston's duck-call line in this issue and the announcement of a Ghost Whistle toy at Toy Fair 2020 were a coincidence, confirmed by the creative team.
- Peter's word balloon on page 14 is erroneously pointed at Egon rather than Peter, a noted production error.
References
- IDW Publishing, Ghostbusters Year One #2 (March 4, 2020). Written by Erik Burnham, pencils by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado.
