Ghosts of Cybertron Part 2

	; "You're probably feeling what Screamer's feeling... Decepticon kitten loss. He misses his kitten."
	"Ghosts of Cybertron Part 2"
Publisher	IDW Publishing
First published	July 17, 2019
Cover date	July 2019
Written by	Erik Burnham
Art by	Dan Schoening
Colors by	Luis Antonio Delgado
Letters by	Tom B. Long
Editor	David Mariotte and Tom Waltz
Continuity	Transformers/Ghostbusters

Teamwork skills are put to the test as Ectronymous and the Ghostbusters contend with a spectral Starscream and an electrically charged menace.

Synopsis

In Prospect Park, Ectronymous Diamatron introduces himself to the Ghostbusters—and while the Autobot expects the humans to be shocked by his appearance, he's more surprised by their nonplussed reaction than they are by him—after all, as Peter points out, they've seen far stranger things over the course of their careers. Ectronymous points out that he's come to Earth in pursuit of a mysterious signal, and the ghost trap that currently contains Starscream's spectral form is interfering with that signal.

His original plan to simply intimidate the Ghostbusters into depowering the trap having fallen through, Ectronymous asks them to comply. The four men, however, are more interested in trying to figure out what Ectronymous is—Ray wonders if he's a ghost who's possessed a vehicle, which Egon shoots down, then immediately dismisses Winston when he points out that Ectronymous clearly told them that he was from another planet. Ray tries to reason with Ectronymous, pointing out that if he depowers the ghost trap then he'll immediately release Starscream, but Ectronymous insists that he can't fail on his very first field mission. One zap from his wrist knocks the trap out of Ray's hands, and the vengeful ghost of Starscream is freed once more. The Ghostbusters scatter for cover as Starscream fires his weapons wildly, while Ectronymous realizes something: Starscream isn't just a hologram, he's the signal that he's been tracking! As Ectronymous watches, the four Ghostbusters unsling their proton packs and swing into action, quickly entangling the Decepticon phantom in their beams.

Before Starscream can be trapped again, the former Air Commander sees Ectronymous and, thinking quickly, tries to arrange a temporary truce so that he can talk things out with the heroes. Peter is understandably skeptical, but agrees to give him the chance to explain himself under stay of ghost trap. Ectronymous warns the four that Starscream is about the least trustworthy Cybertronian there is, but the Decepticon makes it clear that he just wants to speak with the Autobot. When Ectronymous asks him what he wants, Starscream reveals that he has one desire: to return to life, and claim a corporeal body for his own. Ectronymous wonders how such a fate could befall a Transformer, and Starscream explains...

After the arrival of Gozer on Cybertron, Megatron and his forces rallied to defend their homeworld—to no avail, as Gozer proved too strong for even the mightiest of the Decepticon combiners. One by one, the Decepticons fell, but, despite Starscream's insistence on fleeing while there was still time, Megatron refused to abandon their homeworld. That's when Megatron found himself approached by a mysterious, red-cloaked figure, who informed the Decepticon leader that there was no way to defeat Gozer--only to flee, or die.

Ray interrupts Starscream's story; after all, the Ghostbusters encountered Gozer when the deity arrived in New York some years ago. Ectronymous wonders aloud, was it Gozer who reduced Starscream to this phantasmal form? Starscream tells them that it was not the Traveller who did this to him, and continues his story...

The mysterious figure offered the Decepticons a choice, a way to escape Gozer's vengeance: though Megatron initially shouted down Shockwave and Soundwave's consideration of this offer, Shockwave's comment that Megatron's pride would see them all destroyed made the Decepticon leader reconsider. The price would be high, the figure warned him, but Megatron accepted... and was instantly killed, his body reduced to dust. Despite Starscream's momentary jubilation that Megatron had finally fallen for good, Megatron lived on as a ghost—like all of the Decepticons would become, permanently bound to the will of the dread being known as "Kremzeek." Starscream would find a way to escape Kremzeek's control, and found his way to Earth, but despite everything, he was unable to reconstitute himself into a corporeal body—and that's why he sent a signal to the Autobots, in the hopes that they would assist him.

The Ghostbusters are decidedly unmoved by Starscream's tale. Winston is the first to admit that something is off, to which Peter agrees, but they are interrupted as Egon detects another surge of psychokinetic energy. As if on cue, a spectral lightning bolt hits the ground, coalescing into a tiny servant of Kremzeek. Starscream shrieks for them to kill it; Peter obliges by slinging another ghost trap, but the trap is only able to hold the high-energy creature for a few seconds before Kremzeek overheats and short-circuits the delicate device, blowing it apart from the inside. Starscream howls that they need to destroy it, not merely trap it, and although Egon is initially hesitant, he agrees that dispelling the ghost—a hybrid of electricity and psychokinetic energy—is the only way to stop it, if only they can safely ground the electrically charged creature.

While Winston pins it in place with his proton pack, Ectronymous finds himself the newest member of the Ghostbusters as Winston encourages the hesitant Autobot to carry out his role in the plan—when he touches the restrained Kremzeek, the discharge evaporates the electric phantom. Though the Ghostbusters congratulate him, Starscream isn't as moved, and not-so-delicately reminds them of his own desire to get his body back. Unfortunately, the electrical surge has fried Ectronymous's communicator, and his ship's antennae was damaged while entering the atmosphere; Ray offers the assistance of the Ghostbusters if Ectronymous takes them home, and Ectronymous agrees to invite Optimus Prime to Earth as soon as he can. Neither Autobot nor Ghostbusters see Starscream smirk behind them, confident that he's played them all for fools...

Featured characters

Characters in italic text appear only in flashbacks.
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots	Decepticons	Ghostbusters	Others
Ectronymous Diamatron (1)	Starscream (6) Sentinel (7) Dark Guardian (8) Dropkicks (9) Bruticus (10) Warriors (11) Devastator (12) Hotlink (13) Predaking (15) "Crosscut's successor" (16) Soundwave (17) Shockwave (18) Straxus (19) Megatron (20)	Winston Zeddemore (2) Egon Spengler (3) Ray Stantz (4) Peter Venkman (5)	Gozer (14) Kremzeek (21) Kremzeek Sprite (22)

Quotes

"We always tell 'em it's a bad idea to turn off the power to a thing, and they never believe us."
"Nope."
"Good news is, if it happens again, we get a free hat from the insurance agency."

—Peter and Winston

"How did this happen?"
"Usually they die first."

—Ectronymous and Peter on Starscream's ghost

Winston: Something about this guy smells off. What's your read?
Peter: Oh yeah. Big time off.
Ray: Is it our place to interfere here?
Peter: Not without a paycheck.

—The Ghostbusters remain skeptical of Starscream

"I tried to warn you, but would you listen? No! It's a wonder your species ever managed to pull itself out of the muck!"

—Starscream

Notes

Continuity notes

The opening dramatis personae page notes that Egon "knows that aliens don't exist;" as Ectronymous explains that he's not from Earth, Egon indeed points out that he can't accept that. Dr. Spengler was previously established to be skeptical about the prospects of extraterrestrial life in issue #11 of the first ongoing, in which he butted heads with FBI agent and alien believer Jim Savage while investigating paranormal activity in Roswell, New Mexico.
The dramatis personae page also mentions that Winston is a former Marine, a plot element that has been frequently explored in the IDW comics. While Winston's military background solely applies to the comics, it was derived from an early draft of the original Ghostbusters script, in which Winston was a former member of the Air Force.
When faced with an un-trappable Kremzeek, Egon points out that he's hesitant about "dispelling"—outright destroying—ghosts rather than his tried-and-true method of capture and containment. He saw the effects of dispelling firsthand in the storyline that ran from issue #13 through #15 of the first ongoing, in which the Ghostbusters contended with a sleazy knock-off company, the Ghost Smashers. Their slipshod practices of merely "blowing up" ghosts rather than capturing them ended with the remnants of those destroyed ghosts reconstituting and combining themselves into a far larger, nastier form.

Transformers references

Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

Starscream's flashback is a smorgasbord of obscure references. Characters present during the spread depicting the battle against Gozer include a Guardian robot from the Generation 1 cartoon, sporting the blue, grey, and red colour scheme of the Dark Guardians seen in the episode "Forever Is a Long Time Coming"; multiple warrior robots and one transport drone from "War Dawn"; and numerous bubble-headed Sentinels, the drone army commanded by Shockwave in "The Revenge of Bruticus." The next panel features the dead bodies of Marvel comic fan-favorite Straxus, and Decepticon soldier who was forced to test the space bridge after Crosscut (distinguished from Crosscut himself by his green coloration and head-mounted gun), from issue #18 of the series.
Starscream's tale also features a few subtler references to the 1986 movie: Megatron prefaces his deal with Kremzeek by stating that he accepts his offer, evoking his pact with Unicron from the film, and his subsequent death—in which his body crumbles to dust—homages Starscream's own demise during that film.
After learning of Starscream's fate, Ectronymous muses that he needs the AllSpark, which has, in various other continuities like Transformers Animated, been shown to be capable of constructing new bodies for Cybertronians out of whole cloth.
Anyone who's seen the Transformers cartoon will immediately recognize Kremzeek's red-hooded outfit as that of the "Red Wizard" Mara-Al-Utha, a Quintesson who appeared in the episode "Madman's Paradise." Iconography lifted from that episode also appeared in the previous issue in the Temple of Gozer... curiouser and curiouser...
And then, of course, there's Kremzeek's child, with the little sprite lifted pretty much right out of his sole appearance in the cartoon episode "Kremzeek!," right down to his Pokémon-like verbal tic.

Ghostbusters references

Peter grimly muses that "we always tell 'em it's a bad idea to turn off the power to a thing;" naturally, this has happened several times in various Ghostbusters series, though the most famous one is, of course, Walter Peck's decision to deactivate the firehouse containment unit in the original Ghostbusters film.
Corroborating at least part of Starscream's story, Egon points out that Gozer has indeed visited and destroyed other worlds before, a fact that they learned from Vinz Clortho in the original Ghostbusters film.

Covers (3)

Cover A: Winston and Hound leap into action, by Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado, part 2 of a 5-part composite cover
Cover B: Starscream poses in a spoof of the logo for Ghostbusters II, by Priscilla Tramontano
Retailer incentive cover: The Ghostbusters take on Starscream and a horde of Kremzeeks, by Andrew Griffith and Thomas Deer