Plot
The story is titled "Part One: H2 Ghost."
Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Winston Zeddemore bust a two-headed H2 Ghost on Lexington Avenue, then return to the Firehouse, where Egon Spengler monitors the Dimensional Inverter. The device triggers: the Turtles (Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Donatello), having just concluded the "Trial of Krang" in Dimension X, were diverted by the Collectors before they could reach home. Splinter and the Foot Clan observe a mysterious "magic window" showing the Turtles' situation from Bronson's Limbo.
Darius Dun, now a spectral entity following his death at the hands of Splinter in TMNT #64, has arranged the Turtles' capture with the help of Bronson, alluding to "an awful cost" involved in pulling beings into the Collectors' Limbo. The Collectors take the Turtles to their dimension, while Egon deduces what has happened and the Ghostbusters begin planning how to cross into the Collectors' Limbo to retrieve them. The issue ends with Egon warning Donatello, who has arrived in the Limbo alongside the team, that time works very differently there: what feels like hours inside may be months outside.
Covers
Cover A (Dan Schoening): The four Turtles look down into a Ghost Trap, a deliberate nod to Egon Spengler's warning in the first Ghostbusters film never to look into the trap. The Turtles' positioning and ordering (Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo) mirrors a poster for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, with the Trap substituting for the TGRI canister. The shadowed silhouettes of the Collectors at the top are visually based on the Dark Turtles from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward animated series. Egon is depicted reading Tobin's Spirit Guide; Ray wears his Ecto Goggles and carries the Giga Meter.
Cover B (Dave Wachter): Features Darius Dun as the cover subject.
Cover RI: Features the Ecto-1 alongside the Turtle Van.
Cover RE: Heroes & Fantasies (Tim Lim, limited to 1,000 copies, $10): A nod to the climactic scene at the end of Ghostbusters II, with the Turtles appearing in the painting in place of the Ghostbusters. Peter wears his charcoal flightsuit from the second film and quotes his "Fettucini" line from the same scene.
Cover RE: Rhode Island Comic Con (Chris Campana and Ian Nichols, released November 15, 2017): Available at the Fall River, Massachusetts and Rhode Island convention.
Continuity
This issue takes place immediately after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #75 and during the gap between that issue and #76. Although Issue #75 ended with the Turtles going through a portal, writer Tom Waltz clarified that they passed through a minor local teleportation portal before reaching the interdimensional one home to Earth, at which point the Collectors intercepted them.
The Collectors appear in their true forms for the first time since the start of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #4, where Janosz Poha altered a summoning spell and they departed with Idulnas instead of the Ghostbusters. Egon explicitly reminds Ray that the team never defeated them in that earlier encounter. The "awful cost" Bronson references is the loss of a human's sanity, consistent with how Idulnas was extracted from Janosz in that same issue.
Darius Dun's backstory connects directly to events in TMNT #64: his death at Splinter's hands is referenced both in his Dramatis Personae biography and in dialogue from Leonardo, who alludes to the moment the Turtles cut ties with Splinter after witnessing the execution.
The Dimensional Inverter, last seen in the original TMNT/Ghostbusters Issue #1 where it detected the Turtles' crossing from their dimension, triggers again here to signal the Collectors' activity. Ray revisits ongoing concerns about the difficulty of securing the Interspatial Teleportation Unit, a topic raised in Ghostbusters 101 Issue #5.
Winston's Dramatis Personae bio establishes that his honorary doctorate was in parapsychology (distinct from the history doctorate he received in Ghostbusters: The Video Game), and that he is nearing completion of night school law studies begun in the first Ghostbusters IDW ongoing series.
Peter Venkman's Dramatis Personae mentions that he recently offered his professional services to Erin Gilbert, a reference to events in Ghostbusters 101 #4.
Development
On July 20, 2017, IDW announced a sequel to the 2014 TMNT/Ghostbusters mini-series. Cover A was previewed at that time.
On August 22, 2017, Cover B and an initial logline were released in a first look.
On August 30, 2017, Tom Waltz previewed an unlettered page from Issue #1.
On September 13, 2017, Tom Waltz posted a portion of a completed, lettered page.
On October 5, 2017, Tim Lim revealed the Heroes & Fantasies retailer exclusive cover, limited to 1,000 copies and priced at $10, created for the Universal City, Texas store.
On October 13, 2017, Dave Wachter posted a process walkthrough for Cover B.
On October 30, 2017, a full cover, credits, and five-page preview were made available.
On December 6, 2017, Luis Delgado posted unlettered versions of pages 1 and 9.
Notable Easter Eggs
Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado packed this issue with the series' characteristic easter eggs. Selected highlights:
- Page 1: The restaurant on Lexington Avenue has the name "Bobo's" on the awning, a nod to Bobo's Restaurant from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Station Identification." The H2 Ghost entity is visually based on Kenner's H2 Ghost toy. The businesswoman is modeled after Marla Bloodstone from Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
- Page 3: Ecto-1 is parked by a Meanie Wienie hot dog cart, as seen in Ghostbusters IDW Volume 1 Issue #14. The cart's mascot is modeled after the Meanie Wienie Ghost packaged with Kenner's Super Fright Feature Winston figure.
- Page 7: Ray's casual outfit is based on Louis Winthrope III's mug shot look from Trading Places, the 1983 film starring Dan Aykroyd. The vacuum cleaner from Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Realistic Versions) appears on the floor. A can of Blody and the Summoner's Bell from GBTV Realistic Versions are visible on the kitchen counter.
- Page 8: The Singing Slime from GBTV Realistic Versions sits on top of the refrigerator. A box from Dick's Pizza, introduced in Ghostbusters IDW Volume 1 Issue #13, appears on the counter.
- Page 10: The Real Ghostbusters Data East arcade machine is visible to the left of Donatello.
- Page 11: The cork board in the Firehouse includes a black-and-white photograph of Mark Lister and Jim Garvey, founders of the 1984 Official Ghostbusters Fan Club, pictured with merchandise at their Swissvale, Pennsylvania location.
- Page 12: Winston wears a two-tone striped T-shirt commonly worn by the animated Winston on The Real Ghostbusters. The Star Gazer arcade from the first Ghostbusters film is visible to his left. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II arcade appears behind Peter.
- Pages 17-20: Egon and Donatello's improvised lab in the Collectors' Limbo is filled with equipment from stylized versions of GBTV, including a Slime Mine, a Proton Pack with Boson Dart, a Stasis Stream, Paragoggles, and the stylized P.K.E. Meter and Trap. Donatello examines the Globuscope from Ghostbusters II. The workbench console is from the stylized GBTV; on top sits a 2016 Ecto Cooler can.
- Page 20: Ghost sprites on the screen are drawn from the city map in the 1984 Ghostbusters Activision game. Sprites for Peter, Winston, and Ray are sourced from New Ghostbusters II. Arcade cabinets include Ghost Capture (Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Stylized), Moonstrosity X (GBTV Realistic), and Star Castle (from the first Ghostbusters film).
References
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters 2 #1 (IDW Publishing, November 2017). "Part One: H2 Ghost." Written by Erik Burnham and Tom Waltz, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Shawn Lee, edited by Bobby Curnow. Diamond Order Code: SEP170484.
