Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest
Issue: Issue #1
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 21, 2025
Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest is the second comic book mini-series from Dark Horse that serves as a canon tie-in to the original movie continuity. The first, Back in Town, takes place about a year and a half after the events of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, and Dead Man's Chest takes place after Back in Town. Both comic book mini-series take place a year and half well before the events of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and delve into the early adventures of the Spengler Family when they first moved to New York City and took over the newly resurrected business. To summarize Back in Town, the Spengler Family figured out team dynamics and worked together to save the city from the ghost of Madame Malveaux, a psychic who wanted to flood it with another river of slime and create another paranormal surge of activity.
Now in Dead Man's Chest, the comic opens with the family out on a job dealing a ghost and they have drawn a crowd and news reporters. The first issue does convey David Booher is a lot more confident in writing these characters. He already had a strong grasp of Phoebe in Back in Town and he continues to build on her arc of being a Ghostbuster and becoming a teenager that really enriches her ongoing struggles in Frozen Empire of trying to find her place and identity in the grand scheme of things and to find real friendship. It felt evident Booher is having fun thinking of new Phoebe jokes as well. What Frozen Empire didn't have the space for that Back in Town and now Dead Man's Chest is thankfully exploring is Phoebe off-duty and more importantly at school. In Back in Town, she was for the most part invisible but now because of her connection to the Ghostbusters being well known, everyone wants a piece of her. Phoebe makes a new friend who really could be a genuine friend but in typical Ghostbusters fashion, a ghost is on the loose and we have the new big bad, the ghost of Captain Kidd. Trevor, on the other hand, it remains to be seen. He had a small role in this issue and continuing a thread from Back in Town, Trevor remains overly obsessed with hanging with Lucky and making sure they don't drift apart. Gary seems to be treated as the most static character of the team, nothing phases him and he's always optimistic to a fault. Callie's arc which like Phoebe's has the potential to enrich what she's going through in Frozen Empire. As Phoebe and Trevor get older and hang with her less, she's unsure what that means for her.
In terms of critiquing this comic, there's not much I find fault with but, like Callie, I'm concerned with the kids. I'm hopeful but like with Back in Town and Frozen Empire, I am a little concerned Phoebe will continue to have a monopoly on the spotlight while the others fall into a supporting role when they all deserve some character development especially in this tie-in material. With Trevor, his writing is too surface level. What the heck is going on in his head? Is he still in love with Lucky? Has he accepted being friendzoned but still frantically trying to preserve the hope he'll get a shot eventually? It feels like Phoebe's not the only one having problems with making more friends.
Let's talk about a white elephant in the room with this comic. Knowing what happens in Frozen Empire, will local law enforcement and government have a role in the proceedings? The writing on the wall seems to be Mayor Walter Peck pounced on the Ghostbusters because of the collateral damage caused by the Sewer Dragon chase but will we get to see the police and politicians' initial reaction to the return of the Ghostbusters in these comics? If they are mirroring mayoral terms from the real world, Peck is mayor during this comic's timeline. The police and the mayor always had a presence in the original movies and continued to in lauded releases like Ghostbusters: The Video Game and the comics by IDW Publishing. It stands reason the police and Mayor's Office should pop up here as well.
It stands to reason, Ray Stantz will be the guy that schools the team on the lore of the new threat. Similar to his role in Back in Town. Should he do more? I don't know. Will or should Winston Zeddemore, Janine Melnitz, and Peter Venkman show up? Maybe? I wouldn't be against a story putting in the mileage on developing the new team but the originals having a small role doesn't hurt either.
Let's talk about the art. Big, big improvement. I like Aviv Or's style but a lot like Blue Delliquanti, locations and the equipment tend to be too simple in detail. Yes, Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado set a really high bar when IDW Publishing had the license for comics and we can't expect Or to emulate Schoening 1:1 but we need "more".
Dead Man's Chest #1 was a solid read. David Booher did his job: set up where Phoebe, Trevor, Callie, and Gary are at, we got to see a bust in progress, by issue's end we clearly what their struggles will be this series, and unveiled the new threat. Now, we got 3 issues to see how the Spengler Family is going to solve this one. The potential for greatness is always at its zenith with a #1 and we shall see what happens, good or bad. Aviv Or is a welcome addition to the crew and the art is amazing so far, though with some reservations about not getting too detailed in some aspects. The stage is set, now let's see a city in peril, let's see destruction, let's see ramifications. Fingers crossed but not the streams.
Rating: 8/10
Please note that while Dark Horse Comics provided Ghostbusters Wiki with an advance copy of Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest #1 to review, that had no bearing on the product's final assessment.