When there’s something strange in Poveglia who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!!! Our boys from Manhattan are still at it in Italy on the Island of Poveglia as is where we left off in issue #3 of this wonderful series from IDW Publishing‘s Ghostbusters International #3. Just to a small recap of the last issue, Scandinavian Businessman Mr. Vinter was trying to negotiate the complete purchase of Ghostbusters with Peter, Ray, Winston, Egon and of all people Walter Peck, who is now a liason between the City of New York and the Ghostbusters. The sale was not agreed upon as the gang (except for Peter) and Walter are unwilling to sell the business. Instead and arrangement was made between all parties that the Ghostbusters Services would be rented to go to sites Mr. Vinters company has purchased to rid them of ghosts and anything that may prevent these eventual attractions from being nothing more than fully successful. The gang minus Egon (he was injured in a previous ghostbusting job) were flown in a private jet to Italy, and to the deserted Island of Poveglia where things just seem a little off.

Which now brings us to the present issue, Mr. Vinter is speaking with I assume to be Kaia Maie, his personal assistant, but it was ominous dialogue, which means to me that there is something more than what just meets the eye (hey it is a comic book series after all), then the book jumps to the guys walking around the island and Ray is take P.K.E. readings to see the amount of paranormal activity there is on the island and all of a sudden they are face to face with this ghost who looks like the Doctors you would see on the earlier versions of Assassins Creed with the long robes and the weird mask with the long beak and the black hat, just really creepy. Anyways Ray has named him the Plague Doctor and he is the whale (or main guy) they are looking for. The guys try to catch him with their proton packs but was unsuccessful (hey there are more books to go, can’t be that easy).

The guys continue their search for the whale and back in New York Janine is holding interviews for new recruits to join the team as the business keeps growing. There was a huge line but there were no good candidates applying and Janine was left a little perplexed and exhausted! Meanwhile back in Italy, the gang continues the search for the Plague Doctor, they are searching this old creepy mansion where they find their man again. But this time he is much bigger and mad, he grabs Ray and picks him up in the air. Ray is able to grab his proton gun and try and shoot the Plague Doctor and Ray is dropped and falls through the floor.  While waiting for the guys to get down there, Ray gets some incredible readings on his P.K.E. meter and finds a hidden wall and a piece of cloth with a weird looking symbol, Ray tries to break through the wall by using his proton pack and duh, duh, duh, the Plague Doctor shows up behind him and he his mad and he is a giant chicken skeleton with glowing red eyes and a couple of feathers. The Guy’s finally get down to ray, they Zap the giant chicken, get him into the trap and all seems well (again there is more books coming out) and head home to where they are staying while in Italy.

Back in NYC Egon is talking to the guys on the phone about the readings that Ray sent to Egon to do some research for them and he is telling them that he is very concerned (then again Egon has always been sort of a worry-wort) because the symbol that Ray found on the Fabric correlates with some research Egon had done in Sweden back when he was in College. Peter informs Egon that they have to do one more mission before they come home as Mr. Vinter wasn’t fully satisfied. Egon warns the guys to be careful and that he is going to continue to do some research for the guys as he is very concerned for the guys and their safety.

The 1^st issue of this series that I had read was issue #2 and I was happy with issue, probably because it was the Ghostbusters, which is one of my favorite movies and cartoons of all time, but it was a build up issue which means it was slow with little to no actions. With this issue it was action from basically beginning to end with some comedy in between with Janine interviewing new candidates for an open position. There were some familiar faces, one I think was Terry Crews from the Old Spice commercials and the father in Everybody hates Chris, The breakfast Clubs John Bender (played by Judd Nelson) and the only other actor I could recognize is Aziz Ansari who is a comedian and actor who played in Parks and recreation. I think writer Erik Burnham did another solid job with the flow of the issue. I am definitely looking forward to issue #4.

The artwork by Dan Schoening, was good as usual, the look of the characters is truly unique yet recognizable, which I really think is key. This issue was not as dark in color as it was previous and I think that has a lot to do with the colorization by Luis Antonio Delgado, the parts where the Ghostbusters were using their proton packs was done very nicely as well as the glow around the very angry giant chicken really set the tone. Good job by both the artist and the colorist.

Overall I am very satisfied with this issue, there was a lot of action (finally), there is still tons of mystery that makes you look forward to the next issue, which is key (gotta sell those future issues). As a side note here, how many of you readers tend to get emotionally sad to see Egon, even though it is in the form of art. I hope it’s not just me, I was really sad when Harold Ramis passed away, like a piece of my childhood died (please feel free to leave you thoughts in the comments section below). Anyway back to the original topic on hand, I think the creative team has done a really nice job of setting up the remaining issues for an epic conclusion. This issue is a must read.

Story: Erik Burnham Art: Dan Schoening Colors: Luis Antonio Delgado
Story: 8 Artwork: 9 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Must Read

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review