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For those of us who truly enjoyed 2016’s Ghostbusters, any news that doesn’t point towards a continuation of the franchise is disappointing. With little hope that it will continue, it’s to comic books we turn with desperate longing for a continuation to not only the new edition of the ghost-wrangling team, but their original counterparts as well. Over several short series, IDW has set up this major event in the Ghostbusters multiverse: Crossing Over.
While they have interacted in the past, the “Answer the Call” universe and the original team have yet to get the full crossover treatment. In Crossing Over, a disreputable associate of the original team attempts to replicate the original Ghostbusters’ interdimensional portal access device with the assistance of the delightfully drawn Dr. Jillian Holtzmann. Artist Dan Schoening has captured the essence of Kate McKinnon in all her glory. The main squad has discovered interdimensional travel and exploited it for their own benefits, but have yet to officially share the deets with the rest of the teams under their leadership. Chicago’s Ron Alexander has stolen the tech and his team-up with the interdimensional mad scientist seems like it will make all the difference.
Meanwhile, the original team – plus part-time buster Kylie Griffin – take on a ghost-of-the-week in an ex-restaurant critic. This is a fun distraction from the set-up of dimensional shenanigans to come. Turns out, having the dimensional portal (which Ray left running diagnostics) on while running the containment unit (a potential pocket dimension in its own right) is what Egon might call “a bad thing.” In the other B-plot (C-plot?) former EPA administrator and man with no neck (thanks TBS censorship) Walter Peck returns to make Janine an offer she might not be able to refuse.
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There’s a great deal of exposition in this issue, but it really fills in some gaps that exist in reconciling not only the films and the comics, but the films with each other. Writer Erik Burnham has done an excellent job piecing together the disparate universes. The 2016 film universe is explicitly referenced not only with Holtzmann, but also in how they dopplegangers of the original crew were discovered as they appeared in cameo roles. In the end, whatever interdimensional roads are traveled, this might be the key to saving the “Answer the Call” universe, even if it isn’t on film. I know that the dedicated and rabid haters of the film — many of whom declared it anathema once casting was announced — will never see them as “legitimate” Ghostbusters, hopefully connecting the Ghostbusters multiverse will soothe some of the ache from the destruction of their collective childhoods. I, on the other hand, will enjoy every minute.
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