Dani Shpak is a former member of the Ghost Smashers and currently works as one of the Chicago Ghostbusters.
History[]
Dani was hired by Ghost Smashers, founded by Ron Alexander. She was recruited because she was locally famous as a nationally ranked archer, and infamous for not making it to the Olympics because of personality conflicts, and Ron believed the former might help him secure funding. He was not wrong. Dani liked the difficulty of the work, shooting at moving targets, namely ghosts. [1] She was present with the others when the group made their debut atomizing the Phantom of the Opera. In November, Dani was given a Proton Pack in the battle against the Megaspook. After the Megaspook was defeated, Dani went off for a drink with Peter Venkman and Lou Kamaka.
Dani was hired by the Ghostbusters to help with the Hart Island incident. After Ray came out of a trance, Dani reminded him he was talking about Vigo's disappearance and the spike in P.K.E. at the island's potter's field. After Ray continued and quickly went through the history of Hart Island, Dani was amused he remembered all that and not her and Lou's names.
After the Hart Island battle, the Chicago Ghostbusters were called back to Chicago to deal with the ghosts of slaughtered cows from the stockyards of decades past who were running through the Magnificent Mile and goring the tourists. Dani and Lou were hired by and joined the Chicago Ghostbusters. They were able to trace and neutralize the source of the haunting before anyone was seriously hurt but the Chicago River burned for three days afterward. Dani Shpak was contracted by Special Agent Melanie Ortiz to investigate The Alamo on October 2 and deal with the Alamo Ghost. On October 30, Dani, Lou, and Ron were contracted by Melanie for a case on Highway 287 to catch Edward Quinn and Ghost Buffalo. Dani and the rest of the Chicago Ghostbusters went with Kylie Griffin to Japan to search for the Map to Nikulausson's Tomb and ended up fending off a horde of Yurei with Lou and Ron.
Dani Shpak wanted to brand herself. [2] She noticed a copy of the "Spooky Chicago Tour Guide" in a clearance bin at Book Land. Dani decided to be the "team researcher" and used the guide as a prop. [3] During the start of a case at The Trask Hotel, Dani recalled reading about the Woman in Blue in a paragraph and half about the Trask when the manager asked if they heard about her. Dani found it in the guide and recited she was killed on the tenth floor in the 1920s and haunted the Trask Hotel ever since. Rookie mistook it as an actual spectral reference book. Dani and Rookie split off to cover a section of the tenth floor. She didn't detect anything on the P.K.E. Meter and double checked it wasn't broken again. Rookie asked if there was anything else in her book but she came clean that it was just a prop. She forgot the channel on their radio was open and questioned if Ron's literacy or lack of. Ron asked them to rejoin them. Rookie and Dani pushed through a small flood of red Ectoplasm and caught up just in time. Dani fired her thrower and wrangled the Killer in Black while Rookie trapped it.
On August 14, Dani was contracted, along with Lou and Ron, by Melanie to work a rapidly escalating situation in Las Vegas. They were tasked with drawing away the hordes of ghosts lured to Vegas by the inciting entity Ethan Kaine. After Ray and Melanie severed Kaine's connection to the River of Slime under Vegas, Lou and Dani trapped Kaine. Dani helped trap all of Connla's Army on Liberty Island weeks away from Halloween. Egon Spengler asked the rest of the Chicago Ghostbusters for their help in retrieving ghosts that escaped from the Containment Unit and escaped into the multiverse. All of the teams involved in the operation gathered in the Warehouse. While the Ghostbusters were preoccupied with finding and recapturing the ghosts missing from their Containment Unit, a P.K.E. spike near the George Washington Bridge went unnoticed and a Doom Ghost manifested then enveloped the area in a purple fog. Special Agent Melanie Ortiz borrowed Winston Zeddemore, Jillian Holtzmann, Rookie, Dani, and Lou for the case. They arrived at Fort Washington Park and Dani picked up two readings with Holtzmann's P.K.E. Meter. Rookie verified with his meter. Holtzmann suggested splitting up and chose Lou and Dani for her team. Holtzmann was the first to sight the ghost and fired but it receded and the Proton Stream passed harmlessly through a hole in the fog. Lou and Dani found Holtzmann but the ghost formed tentacles and held them in midair. Holtzmann attacked it with the Proton Glove but it vanished again. Dani checked the P.K.E. Meter again and was confused. It said the ghost was the still present. It whacked them with a tentacle soon after. Dani ended up in a tree. Melanie, Rookie, and Winston provided cover fire but the ghost vanished again. Dani berated Rookie for taking so long to find them. Winston joked Ron's personality was contagious. Holtzmann realized the fog was the ghost and broke into the Lighthouse. She activated the searchlight and fog horn. Holtzmann's theory was correct and the ghost revealed its true form after its senses were rattled. They soon trapped it. Dani and the rest of the Chicago Ghostbusters volunteered to monitor the Containment Unit just in case anymore ghosts escaped.
On November 9, Dani was contracted with Lou to work a case with Melanie in Hollywood. In the first encounter with The Fayne Sisters, they failed to identify them when asked and were knocked down with telekinesis. Two days later, on November 11, they were able to trap the ghosts after failing to name the one movie in their resume. They went to Mount Lee to verify that the flaming "LAND" letters had dissipated after the sisters were trapped. Dani was startled when she encountered Peg Entwistle's ghost. The silent ghost of Entwistle vanished as soon as she was noticed.
Trivia[]
- Dani Shpak is visually based on Vanessa Angel. [4]
- Dani is, in part, named after Dan Schoening. [5]
- On the Subscription Cover of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #1, Dani's photo is on the left of Janine.
- On the RI cover of Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #13, Dani makes a cameo.
- Dani's biography in the Ghostbusters Annual 2017 revealed she is a hobbyist archer and is highly image conscious.
- In the 2015 mobile game Ghostbusters Puzzle Fighter, Dani is depicted with a bow and arrow.
- On the Subscription Cover of Ghostbusters 101 #5, Dani appears below Rookie and Ron.
- Dani appears on the 15th Crossing Over Virtual Trading Card, released on April 10, 2018, which featured the Chicago Ghostbusters. [6]
- On May 24, 2018, Tom Waltz posted the 28th Crossing Over Virtual Trading Card, featuring Dani Shpak. [7]
- Dani was alluded to in Rookie's bio in the 30th Crossing Over Virtual Trading Card, released on May 31, 2018. [8]
- On page 9 of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #3, Holtzmann refers to Lou and Dani as Daphne and Velma, two of the lead characters from "Scooby-Doo".
- On page 19 of Crossing Over Issue #3, panel 2, Dani is reading Creature Magazine from the Slimer and The Real Ghostbusters intro.
- On Cover A of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #7, Dani is featured.
- Dani appears on Cover B of Ghostbusters Crossing Over Issue #8.
Appearances[]
- Ongoing Series
- Volume One
- Volume Two
- Volume 3
- Ghostbusters International #3
- Haunted America Case File only
- Ghostbusters International #5
- Haunted America Case File only
- Ghostbusters International #7
- Haunted America Case File only
- Ghostbusters International #9
- Ghostbusters International #10
- Haunted America Case File only
- Ghostbusters International #3
- Ghostbusters Annual 2017
- Second City Ghostbusters
- Ghostbusters 101
- Ghostbusters Annual 2018
- Ghostbusters Crossing Over
References[]
- ↑ TomWaltz Tweet 5/24/18Virtual Trading Card reads: "DANI SHPAK was initially recruited as a member of the GHOST SMASHERS by RON ALEXANDER because he figured her local notoriety as nationally ranked archer (despite never making the Olympics due to personality conflicts) might help him secure funding for his operations. He was not wrong. Dani took to the work because of the difficulty -- she likes shooting at moving targets, and ghosts are the most difficult target she's ever found."
- ↑ Dani Shpak (2017). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Annual 2017" (2017) (Comic p.25). Dani Shpak says: "I gotta build a unique brand. I figure "team researcher" was wide open since none of the rest of you like to read... I'm not even sure Ron knows how."
- ↑ Dani Shpak (2017). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Annual 2017" (2017) (Comic p.25). Dani Shpak says: "I got that out of a clearance bin at Book Land. Still' it's a decent prop."
- ↑ Dapperpomade Tweet 9/19/12
- ↑ erikburnham Tweet 3/9/18
- ↑ TomWaltz Tweet 4/10/18
- ↑ TomWaltz Tweet 5/24/18
- ↑ TomWaltz Tweet 5/31/18
- ↑ Ray Stantz (2013). IDW Comics- "Ghostbusters Volume 2 Issue #9" (2013) (Comic p.7). Ray says: "... We could always call Jenny. Her and the others."