With the embodiment of chaos having turned its attention toward Earth, Newtonian physics begin to break down across New York City. Gravity fails, vehicles float, and inexplicable phenomena multiply faster than the Ghostbusters can respond. The story cuts between two simultaneous threads: Peter Venkman and Ray Stantz investigating the mounting gravitational anomalies on the street, and Kylie Griffin and Special Agent Melanie Ortiz visiting Dana Barrett at her apartment to brief her on the supernatural threat posed by Tiamat. Meanwhile, Winston Zeddemore and his new wife Tiyah are at their wedding reception, accompanied by both their families, when the chaos begins to encroach on the celebration. Egon Spengler and Janine Melnitz hold down the Firehouse. Ray delivers a scene-setting explanation of the ancient Tiamat-Marduk conflict and its connection to Gozer's own history, drawing on material first established in audio displays from the Museum of (Super)Natural History level of Ghostbusters: The Video Game.
The core four Ghostbusters all appear: Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, and Winston Zeddemore. Supporting cast includes Janine Melnitz, Dana Barrett, Kylie Griffin, and Special Agent Melanie Ortiz. The supernatural antagonists Marduk, Tiamat, and Gozer are depicted or discussed. Roland Jackson from Extreme Ghostbusters appears as a wedding guest. The issue also features a pair of Talking Pigeons as a recurring background element. Winston's parents (Mr. and Mrs. Zeddemore) and Tiyah's parents (Mr. and Mrs. Clarke) appear at the reception.
Equipment appearing in this issue includes the PKE Meter, the Giga Meter, the Slime Scoop, and the KUD Meter. The Ghost Taser is mentioned in dialogue only.
The issue spans several New York City locations: Central Park and its Loeb Boathouse, the Firehouse, a Pequod's coffee shop at Columbus Circle (at the southeastern tip of Central Park), the AOL Time Warner Center, the Waltz-Partington Hotel (the wedding reception venue), and Dana Barrett's apartment. The phenomenon of Blood Rain is among the supernatural events occurring during the issue.
Cover reveals for the A and Subscription variants were published in an interview on November 21, 2013. Through December 2013, Burnham noted publicly that he was writing the Venkman-Melnitz conversation and later confirmed the completed script was delivered to editor Tom Waltz on December 29, 2013. On January 1, 2014, Burnham issued a cryptic tweet about Issue #14 using hashtags for flask, rain, gravity, and pigeons, each of which turned out to be a direct reference to story content.
Dan Schoening began posting preview art in January 2014, including Kylie Griffin thumbnails on January 16 and a work-in-progress of Janine on January 25, the latter captioned with a nod to The Legend of Zelda. On February 1, 2014, Luis Delgado hinted publicly that he would appear as a character within the issue. On March 5, 2014, Schoening posted a sneak peek that was erroneously labeled as Issue #15; Burnham confirmed the following day that the scene was set inside a Pequod's. Further preview art of the Peter-and-Ray gravitational investigation followed on March 14 and March 18. A full preview including cover, credits, recap, and the first five pages was posted on March 25, 2014, one day before release. On June 24, 2014, Delgado posted an unlettered version of page 1.
Issue #14 is notably reference-dense even by the standards of the IDW ongoing run. Luis Delgado embedded fifteen hidden easter eggs throughout the issue, with Dana's apartment unit number "15" and the ABS News channel number both serving as additional instances of his recurring "15" motif.
Selected page-by-page references:
The Retailer Incentive cover for this issue was later reprinted on page 22 of Ghostbusters: Dia de Los Muertos.
