Ghostbusters (IDW)

In 2011, IDW Publishing got the license for the Ghostbusters property, and launched a line based on the original film.

Taking place some time after Ghostbusters the Video Game, several series focus on the ongoing adventures of the Ghostbusters as they fight new threats, recruit new members, go on outlandish adventures, and continue to overcharge people.

The reading order is as follows:

• Ghostbusters: Year One
• Ghostbusters: Volume One
• Ghostbusters: Volume Two
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters
• Ghostbusters Get Real
• Ghostbusters International
• Ghostbusters 101
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters 2
• Ghostbusters: Crossing Over
• Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary
• Transformers/Ghostbusters

Tropes used in Ghostbusters include:

• Actor Allusion:
  • Ray's Spirit Guide is visually based on John Belushi's character from The Blues Brothers. Dan Aykroyd (Ray) was Belushi's co-star in that series.
  • Ghostbusters 101 references:
    • The Remake Cameos of Murray, Hudson, and Aykroyd. Erin is quite freaked out by it. At the end, Dr. Rebecca Gorin (played by Sigourney Weaver, the actress that played Dana Barrett) appears, much to Venkman's delight.
    • After Patty realizes that Winston looks like a younger version of her uncle, Ray mentions a time where they entered a universe where a doppelgänger of Venkman blew up a golf course.
    • The series also makes an oblique reference to Thor. The backmatter of Crossing Over even theorizes that Kevin is an extraterrestrial.
  • Jenny, Ray's girlfriend, is visually based on Donna Dixon, Dan Aykroyd's wife.
• Adaptational Wimp: Many of the ghosts are from The Real Ghostbusters but reimagined as feral creatures who don't have the brainpower to be the threat that they were in the cartoon.
• Alternate Continuity: The official stance on the comic's relation to the films and video game, taking place in a Broad Strokes universe. Even the Ghostbusters wiki considers these comics as "secondary canon." Reinforced by Afterlife claiming that the world has been ghost free since The Eighties.
• Ambiguous Gender: Gozer is referred to using male pronouns here, contrasting the film using "it."
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Egon. Ghosts, demons, parallel universes, and even gods are fine. Aliens? No sir.
  • Optimus Prime is also guilty of this in the Transformers crossover, accepting all the madcap things of the larger galaxy but dismissing the idea of ghosts until he sees one. He lampshades that, with everything he's seen, he should have known better.
• Art Shift:
  • Happens a lot in the Turtles crossovers. Usually relating to whatever universe the heroes are in this time.
  • The Real Ghostbusters are always drawn in the style of the cartoon.
• Audience Surrogate: Winston really slides into this role here. In crossovers, he's always the most eager to meet the other party and the most accepting of their explanations.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Volume Two. Thankfully, Tiamat never wanted to destroy the world, just mess with Gozer.
• Brick Joke: Ray, in a dream that opens the first issue, tells Gozer that he is a god. Gozer calls BS on this.
• Comic Book Time: Hovering sometime around 1994.
• Cosmic Retcon: Tiamat leaves after making it so that Tiyah's marriage to Wintson never happened.
• Crossover: See the reading order, it happens quite a lot and it's always fair game to impact the plot.
• Decomposite Character: Slimer is given the same "feral creature" treatment as the other ghosts in the comic. Slimer's usual role in the franchise as the Token Non-Human Sixth Ranger Non-Malicious Monster is instead given to Jenny Moran. 
• Demoted to Extra: Dana and Louis. Per Word of God, this was the result of Executive Meddling.
• Friend to All Children: Winston and, underneath it all, Peter.
• Halfway Plot Switch: At first, Ghostbusters: International is a rather standard usage of Sequel Goes Foreign. Then Egon is kidnapped...
• Heaven: Winston ends up here after his Heroic Sacrifice. Then Tiamat shows up and drags him back to Earth, declaring that she wants a better sacrifice.
• Hero Insurance: The Ghostbusters are now registered with the city of New York.
• Innocuously Important Episode: The first Turtles crossover. The interdimensional portal introduced therein proved vital to the plot of later issues.
• Killed Off for Real: Jenny. But she comes back as a Class 4 full torso apparition.
• Loophole Abuse: Peter promised to give Aibell the book. No one ever said anything about Jenny then blowing it up.
• The Multiverse: The boys in grey head to a variety of different universes. The list counts:
  • The main one.
  • The world of Filmation's Ghostbusters
  • The world of The Real Ghostbusters (Dimension 68-R).
  • The world of Extreme Ghostbusters (Dimension 68-E).
  • The world of the 2016 reboot (Dimension 80-C).
  • The world of Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (Dimension 50-S).
  • The Ghostbusters of Dimension 68-M are the "Penguin Hunters" from episode 3 of Tokyo ESP.
• Mythology Gag: Ron Alexander named his company "Ghost Smashers", a working title for the first film.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Player Character from the video game is given the name Bryan Welsh.
• Noodle Incident:
  • The weirdest thing to happen to Egon involved an emu.
  • When the dimensions begin returning to normal, Kevin, the 2016 version, notes that he's becoming one with the universe again.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Walter "Dickless" Peck. He acknowledges that the Ghostbusters aren't frauds and do provide an important service to the city but will continue to antagonize them, simply because he hates them that much.
• Retcon: Extreme Ghostbusters was released as a Sequel Series to The Real Ghostbusters. This comic treats the two shows as taking place in separate universes, even if Extreme retains its Real Ghostbusters inspired backstory, probably to avoid having to deal with a Timey-Wimey Ball during Crossing Over. The same goes for Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime with relation to the main timeline.
• Sequel Goes Foreign: Ghostbusters: International.
• Sequel Hook: Per Word of God, the line "Ectotron Will Return" was meant to try and nudge Hasbro to agree to a sequel mini-series.
• Shout-Out:
  • The floating car that Ray is examining during Mass Hysteria is a Delorean.
  • After finding a Bigger on the Inside structure, Egon compares it to a TARDIS. During his college days, he even dressed like the Fourth Doctor.
  • In the opening of Ghostbusters 101, the interns compare the interdimensional portal to a Stargate.
  • During Crossing Over, Time Travel is tossed out as an idea for how to solve the current crisis noting that it never goes wrong for anyone. Expect Barry.
  • When Venkman is chatting with an Ecto-painted Optimus Prime, he notes that all they need is now is an Ecto-inspired Pontiac Firebird.
• Start My Own: Ron Alexander and his "Ghost Smashers."
• Spanner in the Works: The Transformers crossover is really a Transformers story that the Ghostbusters happened to get caught up in. And by doing so, they comprehensively derail the villain's whole scheme.
• Story-Breaker Team-Up: One of the (many) possible reasons why the Filmation Ghostbusters never showed up. The Proton Guns ensnare ghosts and spirits, while the Ghost Dematerializers destroy ghosts and spirits. The Filmationverse Ghostbusters could take on most of the "main universe" ghosts and spirits all by themselves. 
• Strong Family Resemblance: You can really tell that Cait is Janine's niece.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Egon is quite used to Venkman's quips by now.
• Villain Decay: The comic doesn't even pretend to take Gozer seriously.
• Worthy Opponent: Tiamat really grows to respect the Ghostbusters, Winston in particular, over the course of her introduction.