Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book publisher founded in 1986 in Oregon.

Development[]

On June 8, 2022, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan announced there will be a limited comic book series from Dark Horse coming out at the end of 2023. Kenan also remarked it was an in-canon part of the growing Ghostbusters story that began in 1984.^[1] In an interview done before Ghostbusters Day, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan revealed the story will bridge the gap between Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the sequel.^[2] A sketch of Phoebe Spengler, Trevor Spengler, Callie Spengler, and Gary Grooberson by the comic's artist Blue Delliquanti was posted.^[3]

On November 16, 2023, it was announced the title of the series was "Ghostbusters: Back in Town" and it would run for four issues. Issue #1 is set to release on March 27, 2024. It will be written by David Booher, colors are by Mildred Louis, and letters are by Comicraft's Jimmy Betancourt. Kyle Lambert will provide the main cover with a variant cover by Steve Morris. The description of the series is "Set after Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the miniseries sees Callie, Gary, Trevor, and Phoebe moving to New York City to take over the Ghostbusters business in the iconic Firehouse. But shifting family dynamics and paranormal activity may make it a harder job than it sounds."^[4]^[5]

On March 1, 2024, an interview with David Booher was released. The comic kicks off with the Spenglers and Gary moving to Manhattan. Greg Pak did an outline of the story then David Booher wrote the scripts.^[6]

On March 5, 2024, an interview with David Booher and Blue Delliquanti was posted. Both got the project through their editor on previous Dark Horse projects. Delliquanti drew in many New York landmarks but for the characters, the actors had to sign off on their likenesses. Rudd was the hardest to draw for Delliquanti. Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan were involved with scripting and gave notes. Booher recalls funny dialogue notes from them and scrapping what he wrote. Delliquanti delivered art in stages, such as a thumbnail stage in a page as a rough pass to show staging of angles and such. They got notes to like add more slime here, change angle, or "great, love it!" From the start they knew it was a story between Afterlife and Frozen Empire and what arcs were but got to pitch ideas for storylines too. Delliquanti made sure to get details right like the Proton Pack and Ecto-1 using reference photos online. They got descriptions of the entities and was to told to design them like it was practical for puppets on a movie set. The story does expand on how the Spenglers got to where they are in the movie. The story is stand alone but in continuity to give fans a full picture of what's going on with the Spenglers. They were given a lot of reference photos and schematics for the Firehouse. Delliquanti was was told to keep an eye on "this" in the Firehouse so it feels cohesive later on. Booher planted easter eggs for Frozen Empire. The scale of Firehouse is explored in the first issue. Booher threw something in the story that he didn't know was part of Frozen Empire but able to keep it in so that hints at something being further explained in the movie. Both were coy on the seris continuing past the four issues of Back in Town.^[7]

On April 10, 2024, an interview with David Booher was posted. 55 minutes into the interview, Booher announced there will be more 4 issue mini-series after Ghostbusters: Back in Town and he is writing the next one.^[8]

On April 15, 2024, a Q&A with David Booher and Blue Delliquanti was posted.^[9]

On May 7, 2024, an interview with David Booher was posted.^[10]

On December 10, 2024, it was announced Dark Horse will be publishing "The Real Ghostbusters: A Visual History".^[11]

On January 23, 2025, it was announced the next 4 issue comic book mini-series is titled "Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest" and the first issue releases on May 21. The artist for the series is Aviv Or and both colorist Cris Peter and letterer Jimmy Betancourt will be returning along with writer David Booher. The story is set between Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as was the previous mini-series. The regular and variant covers of Issue #1, along with two pages are revealed. The official synopsis for the mini-series reads, "In Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest, the Ghostbusters' increasing notoriety is throwing them for a loop. While Trevor steadies himself by trying to plan a "friendiversary" celebration for him and Lucky, Phoebe meets someone who might be a real friend instead of just a social media follower. But friendships new and old have to take a back seat to more immediate concerns when a ghostly saber summons the ghost of Captain Kidd and threatens to transform NYC into a ghostly pirate town!" David Booher was quoted, "When I researched ghostly happenings in New York City, I came across the true story of Captain Kidd. He owned a house near Wall Street with his family. Turns out, historians are divided on whether he was the fearsome pirate we know or actually framed for piracy. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to bring him back to ask him ourselves. What could be more fun than having our Ghostbusters stop an angry Captain Kidd from turning Manhattan into a 17th century ghost pirate den?"^[12]^[13]