Ghosts of Cybertron Part 1

Transformers/Ghostbusters#1 »
It's that darn ghost again. He just won't leave us alone! I guess we're going to have to move.
"Ghosts of Cybertron Part 1"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	June 26,2019
Cover date	June 2019
Written by	Erik Burnham
Art by	Dan Schoening
Colors by	Luis Antonio Delgado
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David MariotteandTom Waltz
Continuity	Transformers/Ghostbusters

Cybertron has fallen, annihilated by the monstrous Gozer the Destructor. But when an Autobot rookie finds himself on a solo mission to track a rogue Cybertronian signal on a distant organic world... who is he gonna call?

Contents 1Synopsis 2Featured characters 3Quotes 4Notes 4.1Continuity notes 4.2Transformers references 4.3Ghostbusters references 4.4Real-world references 4.5Other notes 4.6Covers (9) 4.7Advertisements 5References 6External links

Synopsis

For eons, war has raged between theAutobotsandDecepticonson the planetCybertron,until the day that the Autobots fled their blighted world aboard their starship, theArk.Even thoughMegatron's Decepticons immediately made plans to pursue their ancient foes, they find their war interrupted by something far, far worse... for the extradimensional deity known only asGozerhas arrived on Cybertron! Flanked by its dread minionsVinz ClorthoandZuul,Megatron and his inner retinue—Shockwave,Soundwave,andStarscream—gather in front of thetemplethat Gozer has summoned. Though Shockwave advises caution, Starscream makes an impetuous stand against the deity, only for it to contemptuously blast all four of them with supernatural lightning. Soundwave suggests calling for assistance, while Starscream whines that they should've fled Cybertron, and Megatron shrugs them both off: he will deal with Gozer himself. Knocking Gozer's minion Clortho aside, the Decepticon leader confronts Gozer face-to-face only to be asked a simple question: to choose the form of the Destructor, the shape that Gozer will assume to annihilate the metal world.

Megatron only has a second before Gozer ominously anounces that the choice is made, and fades away... and a guilty Starscream reveals that, on hearing Gozer's words, a thought momentarily crossed his mind, his first concept of a being capable of destroying Cybertron. Megatron demands to know what Starscream could've possibly done, but no sooner has he asked the question then Gozer reappears, now clad in the form of a colossal, monstrous Starscream! Though Megatron and his forces rally to defend their world from the supernatural threat, they are swiftly vanquished, and Cybertron itself is utterly destroyed.

A thousand years later, the Autobots have turned theArkinto their new base of operations after fleeing Cybertron; the last members of their species,Optimus Primeand his troops are spaceborne nomads, left rudderless by the destruction of their homeworld. That's why the young scientistEctronymous Diamatronis so shocked when, on one lonely vigil, he unexpectedly picks up aCybertroniansignal on his homemade sensor array, his shout of surprise drawing the attention of bothCliffjumperandBumblebee.Even though "Eck" is irked by their refusal to acknowledge his full name—the pair, shocked by his findings, agree with his decision to inform Prime of the situation.

On theArk's bridge, Optimus's advisors offer their own opinions on Ectronymous's report:Ironhideremains skeptical, believing it to be a trap, whileJazzputs the whole thing down to a bug in Ectronymous's systems. Angry by the lack of faith that the other Autobots have in him, Ectronymous passionately argues in the veracity of his data, and his conviction prompts Prime to agree with his findings, and allows him the freedom to investigate, though Prime warns him that he'll receive no backup on this mission. Following the signal, theArkarrives over its source: a primitive organic world the locals call "Earth."

InBrooklyn,four such locals are having problems of their own; the four-man band of paranormal investigators known as theGhostbustersare on the trail of anotherghost,one responsible for plunging their ride, theEcto-1,into a massive sinkhole. Though the four men—Egon Spengler,Winston Zeddemore,Peter Venkman,andRay Stantz—briefly mourn the loss of the Ecto-1, they're forced to continue their hunt on foot as they set off into the nearbyProspect Park... unaware they're being watched by aCybertronian probe.The probe promptlyscanstheir downed vehicle for the benefit of Ectronymous, who gladly assumes this new disguise.

In the park, even the advancedproton packsof the Ghostbusters are having trouble against their latest quarry: only barely able to restrain the gigantic, tentacled ghost, the Ghostbusters are only able to overpower their foe after Ray hurls aghost trapat the creature, at which point it is safely sucked into the device and neutralized. The job done, the gang head back to the sinkhole to check on their car—unaware that the local police have just had a run-in with Ectronymous, who's easily convinced them to leave after disintegrating their parking ticket.

Confused to find the "Ecto-1" parked on the grass, Peter confirms that the other Ecto-1 is still stuck in the sinkhole. Egon checks hisPKE meter,confirming another spectral presence in the area... a spectral presence that manifests as a ghostly Starscream! Starscream tells the humans to leave so that he can speak to the Autobot... only for the humans to easily catch and restrain the spectral Cybertronian with another well-slung ghost trap. Though Peter enthuses at the prospect of overtime pay, Egon is concerned; the second phantom's readings are wildly inconsistent with any of the other phantoms they've dealt with.

It's Winston, however, who asks the more salient question: whatisan Autobot, anyway? That question is answered a second later when the mysterious Ecto-1 transforms, and Ectronymous introduces himself to the Ghostbusters!

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

 

Quotes

"Cybertron... the Traveler has come."

—Gozer

"It'sEctronymous Diamatron,Bumblebee,please.I workedhardfor my title—the least you could do is respect that. "

—Eck...,sorry, we mean,Ectronymous Diamatron,gets tetchy

"We need to informPrimeat once! "
"That'sOptimus Prime,Eck. You don't want to be alldisrespectful,likeme."

—EckandBumblebee

"The Dodgers? Seriously? You have two and a halfperfectly goodteams within 100 miles of here, so... why? "
"Caught a game on vacation when I was a kid andlikedwhat I saw. "
"But the songclearlytells you to root, root, root for thehome team,Winston. "

—PeterandWinston

Notes

Continuity notes

• Before we begin, it might be worth going over the Ghostbusters' own history withIDW Publishing.Much like IDW'sTransformersoutput, the team starred in a variety of ongoings and one-shots from 2009 to 2020, forming a long-running universe that picks up around 1994, five years after the events ofGhostbusters IIand three years afterGhostbusters: The Video Game.Unlike IDW'sTransformerscomics, however, which relegated the vast majority of its crossovers (Mars Attacks,Star Trek,etc.) into variousmicro-continuitiesentirely divorced fromits primary universe,Ghostbusterstook the opposite tack, and worked a variety of crossovers directly into its canon. Over the course of their adventures, the Ghostbusters have encountered a variety of other characters: theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,their animated alter-egos,and eventheir female counterparts,though thisTransformerscomic is one of the few crossovers achievedwithoutany interdimensional travel taking place.
• In addition to the traditionalproton pack,Winston is depicted wielding a unique "proton pistol"as a sidearm. This weapon didn't appear in either of theGhostbustersfilms, but was instead a development that first appeared during the Ghostbusters' involvement in IDW'sInfestationcrossover event, and has since become one of Winston's signature weapons in the IDW comic universe.

Transformers references

• Moreso than the recently publishedStar Trek vs. Transformersminiseries, the opening scene of this issue takes some direct cues from theSunbow Generation 1 cartoon,featuring a battle on Cybertron that's clearly inspired by the opening act of "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1,"featuringBumblebee,Wheeljack,Jazz,Laserbeak,and theSeekersin their cartoon-accurate Cybertronian forms, and even featuring an original, Sunbow-styled Cybertronian form for Trailbreaker.
• The Temple of Gozer is backlit by a swirling, psychedelic vortex of colour. This isn't something that appeared in the actualGhostbustersfilm, however; instead, it's sampled from the opening credits ofThe Transformers: The Movie.
• Iconography in front of the Temple of Gozer depicts a pair ofQuintessonheads, and an exact replica of the mural ofMenoniathat appeared in "Madman's Paradise."Now,Ghostbusterslore has established that Gozer itself cannot enter a dimension unless it is specificallysummonedby someone or something from within; the Generation 1 cartoon, meanwhile, established that the Quintessonsdopossess knowledge of the supernatural. All of that, combined with the fact that the Brooklyn ghost bears a very strong resemblance to a "prosecutor"-type Quintesson, certainly suggest there's more going on than appears at first glance...
• Gozer's monstrous Starscream form is shown wearing the iconic crown that first appeared in the 1986 film, and has subsequently gone on to make several appearances in other continuities. "Starscream" also sports a necklace of severed heads; in addition to his obvious rivals Megatron, Optimus, and Shockwave, there's alsoJetfire,presumably referencing their old friendship as seen in "Fire in the Sky."
• Ectronymous muses that the signal on Earth might emanate from a "lost colony;" while this obviously isn't the case here, itwasso inIDW's 2005-2018 Generation 1 comics,which would eventually include Earth as part of the mythical "thirteen colonies"of ancient Cybertronian lore.
• Ectronymous's use of aSky Spyprobe to scan the Ecto-1, and the translucent "cube" it projects over the vehicle, are both evocative of the sequence from "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1,"which would itself receive an homage in theTransformers Animatedpilot movie.
• "Tim" and "Frank", the two police officers who try to ticket Ectotron, are modeled onJoeand his coworker from "More than Meets the Eye, Part 1"(albeit, of course, in police uniform instead ofhard hats).
• Finally, the concept of Starscream—and Starscream alone—somehow being able to cheat death by persisting as a "ghost" is a concept that began in theThe Transformersepisode "Starscream's Ghost,"but still sees frequent use to this day.

Ghostbusters references

• The opening scene—which features the Temple of Gozer, its two minionsVinz ClorthoandZuul,and a rite in which Gozer forces its supplicants to choose "the form of the Destructor" —are all straight from the ending of the originalGhostbustersmovie. Starscream's blunder, in which he inadvertently provides Gozer's Destructor form, similarly evokes of the film's climax, in which Gozer picks up on one of Ray's stray musings and uses it to transform itself into a rampagingStay Puft Marshmallow Man.
• Gozer's first form in the comic is a suitably Transformer-ized version of its androgynous humanoid avatar, played by Serbian model/actressSlavitza Jovanin the firstGhostbustersfilm.
• Winston mentions watching aDodgersgame; his love of baseball is a long-running character trait across a variety of continuities.
• The parking ticket getting disintegrated is a callback to a cut scene from the originalGhostbustersfilm, where Ecto-1 does the same thing before a befuddled police officer's eyes. The scene was included in the movie's novelization.

Real-world references

• While assessing the damaged Ecto-1, Egon muses that they can hoist the car and repair it; Ray agrees that they have the technology, and Peter sardonically agrees that it'll be "better, stronger, faster," lines from the opening narration toThe Six Million Dollar Man.
• Prospect Parkis a real location in Brooklyn.
• The "song" that Peter and Winston discuss is presumably the children's song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."

Other notes

• Originally solicited for the end of June, this issue arrives one week late. Despite this, several copies of the comic were given away early at Ghostbusters FanFest 2019.^[1]

Covers (9)

• Cover A:Ghostbusters and Autobots battle the Decepticons in New York, byDan SchoeningandLuis Antonio Delgado,part 1 of a 5-part composite cover
• Cover B:Ectotron and the Ghostbusters pursueSlimeras the ghost of Starscream menaces them, in a homage toa famous piece ofReal Ghostbusterspromotional art,byNick Rocheand Luis Antonio Delgado
• Retailer incentive cover A:Ectotron and the Ghostbusters, byAlex MilneandJosh Perez
• Retailer incentive cover B:Ectotron takes on theStay Puft Marshmallow Man,byPaulina GanucheauandKendall Goode
• Retailer incentive cover C:A black blackground of retailer incentive cover A
• Ghostbusters FanFest exclusive cover:Ectotron poses with a photo of the cast and director ofGhostbusters II,by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado
• Fan Expo Dallas exclusive cover:Autobots and Ghostbusters take on Megatron and Gozer, byClayton Crain
• SDCC exclusive cover:The Ghostbusters and Optimus Prime, in his Ghostbusters-inspired livery, by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado
• Ectotron (2021) pack-in cover:Ectotron and the Ghostbusters aim their protons beams skyward while the Temple of Gozer, ghostly Decepticons, andKremzeeksapproach from behind, in homage to the classic poster forThe Transformers: The Movie,by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado

• 

  Ray may be in over his head here.

• 

  Extreme Ghostbusters?

• 

  Louis Tully was out sick.

• 

  Mr. Stay Puft just can't help being happy.

• 

  Black repaintcover.

• 

  Hey, who are these weird guys?

• 

  Man, I just had this hand replaced.

• 

  Yes, wewillget this repaint.

• 

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References

External links

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• Ghosts of Cybertron 1 at the Ghostbusters Wiki