Plot
With Starscream's ghost still at large after the events of Issue #3, the Ghostbusters and their Autobot allies Ectotron and Optimus Prime sweep greater New York City in search of the wayward Decepticon specter. Their search leads them to the Grosbeak Generating Station, a power plant standing in for the Ravenswood Generating Station on Roosevelt Island. There they encounter an even greater threat: Kremzeek, a small but massively powerful electrical entity from Cybertronian history who has been drawn to Earth by the presence of the Allspark energy animating Ectotron. Kremzeek, who shares traits with Gozer in possessing at least one formal title, has a sweeping goal that threatens the planet. The issue ends with a fierce firefight as the Ghostbusters and Autobots attempt to contain or trap both Kremzeek and the multiplying Kremzeek Sprites, setting up the series finale.
Winston Zeddemore alludes to his pre-Ghostbusters skepticism about the supernatural. Optimus Prime elaborates on the concept of the Spark, the Cybertronian soul, and Ectotron explains the Allspark as the artifact that gives life to Transformers. Ray Stantz invokes Coulomb's Law to analyze the electrical entity, and also references the Boson Caster, a Proton Pack add-on devised by Ron Alexander. Peter Venkman mentions Janine Melnitz twice. Egon Spengler identifies the Psychomagnotheric Slime sample as potentially relevant to neutralizing the threat.
Cast
Autobots: Ectotron, Optimus Prime
Ghostbusters: Winston Zeddemore, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler
Decepticons (ghostly forms): Starscream, Megatron, Shockwave, Soundwave
Other entities: Kremzeek, Kremzeek Sprites, Electric Ghost
Equipment and Locations
Equipment appearing in this issue includes the Ecto-1, the Ecto-Gyro, a Ghost Trap, the P.K.E. Meter, Proton Pack with Particle Thrower, and a canister of Psychomagnotheric Slime whose container is drawn to resemble the TGRI canister from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
Locations include a warehouse (opening recap), the Grosbeak Generating Station, and flashback imagery of Cybertron. Optimus Prime's vehicle form prominently displays the phone number 555-2368, the Ghostbusters' commercial number from the first film.
Covers
Three cover editions were produced.
Cover A (Dan Schoening / Luis Antonio Delgado): A connected cover that was part of a panoramic set for the series; this segment of the panel contains Devastator (Constructicon combined form, green and purple), Laserbeak, Skywarp, Cosmos, Predaking, Swoop, Snarl, Sky Lynx, Perceptor, Mirage, Skyfire, Bumblebee, Soundwave, Slimer, and Thundercracker, among others.
Cover B (Dan Schoening / Luis Antonio Delgado): Ectotron and Optimus Prime appear alongside the Ghostbusters. The point-of-view composition, with entities visible all around the team, is reminiscent of the cover of the final volume of Time Life's Real Ghostbusters series collection.
Cover RI (Alex Milne / Josh Perez): A schematic of Ectotron.
An edited version of Dan Schoening's connected covers was revealed on February 18, 2019. The single version of the Issue #4 Cover A was posted by Tom Waltz on February 22, 2019.
Development
Erik Burnham wrote a joke for Optimus Prime and noted he was roughly halfway through the script on May 9, 2019. He finished the script on May 13, 2019. Dan Schoening read the completed script on June 3, 2019.
Tom Waltz posted a series of preview teasers on July 22, 2019. Through August, Burnham shared a panel of Peter Venkman speaking with Optimus Prime (August 9) and a panel of Optimus, Ectotron, and the Ghostbusters firing their throwers (August 12). Luis Antonio Delgado posted a colored shot of Optimus Prime on September 2, 2019. A full cover reveal with a five-page preview was released on September 3, 2019.
Following the issue's September 4 release, Delgado continued posting unlettered panel excerpts through the month: Starscream being saved (September 6), Starscream confronting the new threat (September 9), Cybertron imagery (September 10), the full firefight sequence (September 11), Kremzeek fighting back (September 12), Kremzeek fighting Optimus (September 13), a ghost charging Kremzeek (September 17), a two-page spread of Decepticon ghosts (September 18), and a final shot of Optimus Prime (September 19).
Continuity and Annotations
The issue opens with a narrator recapping the Brooklyn bust from Issue #3 and the discovery of Starscream's escape. The narrator also references the Firehouse. Optimus Prime's color scheme in this issue matches the Ecto-35 toy figure.
Page 1: The satellite equipment visible in panel 2 is the energy disk component stolen at the start of the Transformers animated episode "Heavy Metal War." The vehicle behind Ectotron in panel 2 is the Cage Car accessory from the Playmobil Real Ghostbusters Egon Spengler figure (released April 13, 2018). The monitors in panel 2 display stills from Transformers (1984-1985) commercial bumpers: the season 1 title sequence glimmer, the "We now return to Transformers" Starscream bumper, Mount Saint Hilary from the season 1 title sequence, a Skywarp jet-mode schematic from "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1," the Omega Supreme "We will return to Transformers" bumper (1985), and the Optimus Prime bumper (1984). The toolbox in panel 3 bears stickers of an unused No Ghost logo from the first movie's production, the WUGH logo from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Mr. Sandman, Dream Me a Dream," and Luis Antonio Delgado's recurring "15" Easter egg. A Mitsubishi Ghostbusters Halloween Crackers box is visible near the Trap in panel 3.
Page 2: Winston alludes to his disbelief in the supernatural before joining the Ghostbusters. Optimus explains the Spark. Peter mentions Janine Melnitz. Peter also alludes to the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am and wardrobe from the Smokey and the Bandit films. The monitors in panel 4 display Transformers commercial bumpers featuring Trypticon (1986) and Shockwave (1985).
Page 4: Peter exclaims "Dah!" as he does in the first film. The Ghostbusters work on equipment also appearing in recent Ectotron and Optimus Prime toy releases.
Page 5: Ectotron accidentally destroys equipment the first time he fires his Proton Pack, mirroring the Ghostbusters' own accidental destruction during their first use in the first film. The monitors display schematics of Snarl and Swoop from "War of the Dinobots" and the HYPNO-CHIP CONTROL screen from "The Ultimate Doom, Part 2." The Containment Unit monitor from The Real Ghostbusters episodes "Xmas Marks the Spot" and "When Halloween Was Forever" makes a non-canon cameo on the console. A schematic of Scrapper from Teletraan I (Transformers episode "Heavy Metal War") also appears. Optimus says "Let's roll out!"
Page 6: The Roosevelt Island Bridge is visible in panel 1. Optimus Prime's vehicle form displays the 555-2368 phone number from the Ghostbusters commercial in the first film. The design and location of Grosbeak Generating Station identify it as a stand-in for Ravenswood Generating Station.
Page 9: Kremzeek mentions the Allspark; Ectotron explains it as the Cybertronian artifact that grants life to Transformers. The Kremzeek Sprites appear in multiple colors, as in the Transformers episode "Kremzeek!" when the character multiplied. Kremzeek alludes to the sprite dispersed in Issue #2.
Page 10: Kremzeek references the destruction of Cybertron and the bargain established in Issues #1 and #2. Kremzeek alludes to Gozer, and like Gozer, possesses at least one formal title.
Page 11: Ray mentions Gozer. Winston references the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man's destruction in Central Park, from both the first film and IDW Volume 1 Issue #4.
Page 14: Ray references the Boson Caster, a Proton Pack add-on devised by Ron Alexander. Ray also mentions capturing the ghost from Issue #3. The Psychomagnotheric Slime canister's visual design resembles the TGRI canister from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
Page 15: Peter alludes to the city-wide power outage Ray caused in the second film.
Page 16: The Electric Ghost is visually based on Killerwatt from The Real Ghostbusters episode "Killerwatt." The blue Con Edison sign is visible in panel 2, referencing a company mentioned in both films.
Page 17: Ray cites Coulomb's Law, which quantifies the electrostatic force between charged particles.
Page 19: Optimus Prime references Starscream's plea for a new body from Issue #2.
Page 20: Optimus invokes his characteristic war-weary trait and alludes to Grimlock's "afraid of no ghost" remark from Issue #3. Optimus' Proton Axe is visually similar to the Energon Axe he used in the Transformers episode "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2."
Page 21: A preview of Cover A from Issue #5 is included. On page 2 of Issue #5, Shockwave references Optimus' offer made in this issue. On page 18 of Issue #5, Winston alludes to the destroyed Ecto-Gyro. The Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron trade paperback collection reuses Issue #4's page 19 as its title page.
References
Transformers/Ghostbusters: Ghosts of Cybertron #4 (IDW Publishing, September 4, 2019). Written by Erik Burnham, art by Dan Schoening, colors by Luis Antonio Delgado, letters by Tom B. Long, edits by David Mariotte, Tom Waltz, and Megan Brown. Diamond Order Code: JUL190692.
