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Ghostbusters IDW Reading Order

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Like with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, G.I. Joe, and Transformers, IDW has been the house of the Ghostbusters comics for years–starting in 2008, the last miniseries was published in 2020. That’s a lot of miniseries, one-shots, ongoing series, and crossovers.

The Ghostbusters franchise started with the first movie directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It introduced us to this team of ghost hunters, professors Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler–quickly joined by Winston Zeddemore–who had to face the evil Zuul to save New York. They became heroes and came back for a second movie, and a lot more.

The Franchise gave us some pretty successful TV animated shows,  video games, books, and of course comic books. In that domain, NOW Comics and Marvel UK started publishing The Real Ghostbusters, comics based on the TV series of the same name, in the late 1980s. The Quebec-based comic company 88MPH Studios also did that in the 2000s. There even was a one-shot Manga in 2008.

And then, IDW acquired the right to publish the Ghostbusters comics and went in a different direction, forgetting the TV show to focus instead on the main continuity established by the first two movies–and the 2009 Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Ghostbusters IDW Reading Order

In 2008, IDW publishing started with a few Ghostbusters miniseries and one-shots. Sadly, some of them are hard to find nowadays, like the omnibus that collected them.

IDW Publishing logoAlert Crossover! Complete Infestation! A dimensions-spanning zombie outbreak and The Elder Gods of H.P. Lovecraft invade the worlds of CVO, The Transformers, G.I. JOE, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, 30 Days of Night, Dungeons & Dragons, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Ghostbusters Ongoing Series

In 2011, IDW launched a Ghostbusters monthly ongoing series from Erik Burnham, Dan Schoening, and Tristan Jones. The story takes place in the mid-1990s. Pshychokinetic energy is on the rise and the boys are as busy as ever! But a new contract engineered by Walter Peck limits their ability to bust ghosts in the city. As they take their act on the road, a new team swoops in to give them some competition. 

This is a deluxe hardcover edition. The 16-issue series was also collected in multiple paperbacks.

In 2013, Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening returned for a new ongoing series, picking up the story after the conclusion of the first series.

The second Ghostbusters ongoing series concluded in 2013, but the adventures continued with new miniseries:

Then, in Ghostbusters: Get Real, when a confrontation with the elder God Proteus goes awry, Peter, Ray, Winston, and Egon will meet…The Real Ghostbusters!

  • Ghostbusters: Get Real
    Collects Ghostbusters: Get Real #1-4.

    • also collected in the hardcover deluxe edition Ghostbusters: Interdimensional Cross-Rip.
  • Ghostbusters 2015 Annual (also in Ghostbusters: Interdimensional Cross-Rip)

Once again, Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening launched a new ongoing series, Ghostbusters International. There’s something strange in the neighborhood… and whether that neighborhood is in New York City or Venice, Italy, the Ghostbusters will be there! After a bust at the United Nations, the boys in gray are engaged to investigate an Old World haunting, where they begin to unravel a mystery that sends them around the globe (while still trying to keep their contract with the City, County, and State of New York!).

The 11 issues of Ghostbusters International are also collected in the now hard-to-find hardcover deluxe edition Ghostbusters: Interdimensional Cross-Rip.

That’s it for the ongoing Ghostbusters series. From that point on, there only are miniseries and annuals, still from Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening.

  • Ghostbusters Annual 2017

First, with Ghostbusters 101, IDW gave us a crossover between the original 1984 team and the controversial team from the 2016 Ghostbusters movie (Holtzmann, Yates, Tolan, and Gilbert). Ghostbusters: Crossing Over 

Then, the Turtles are stuck in a ghost dimension by an old adversary and only the Ghostbusters can save them in this sequel to the previous TMNT/Ghostbusters crossover.

In the Crossing Over miniseries, all of the Ghostbusters team unite to recapture a lot of ghosts!

To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the franchise, IDW gave us four spooktacular stories featuring the original Ghostbusters, The Real Ghostbusters, the Answer The Call team, and the Extreme Ghostbusters.

  • Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary Collection
    Collects: Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Answer The Call Ghostbusters, and Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: Extreme Ghostbusters.

After the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Ghostbusters got a crossover with the Transformers.

Before the new Ghostbusters movie came out in 2020, Erik Burnham and Dan Schoening went back to the beginning to explore the team’s first year on the job.

That’s it. Since the last movie came out, no new Ghostbusters comics have been published.

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