Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest Comic Book Review

Dark Horse Comics is set to release the Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest trade paperback on January 6, 2026. It is a compilation of the four comic book issues that were released from May through September of 2025. Although I don't have the trade paperback, I do have digital copies of the four individual issues, so I'll share some brief thoughts on the story...

First, let's read the official product descriptions for each of the four issues.

• ISSUE #1 - The Ghostbusters' increasing notoriety is throwing them for a loop. While Trevor steadies himself by trying to plan a "friendiversary" celebration for him and Lucky, Phoebe meets someone who might be a real friend instead of just a social media follower. But friendships new and old have to take a back seat to more immediate concerns when a ghostly saber summons the ghost of Captain Kidd and threatens to transform NYC into a ghostly pirate town!

• ISSUE #2 - The ghost kraken attacks as Trevor and Lucky meet for their rocky one-year "friendiversary"! Before they jump into action, the rest of the crew deal with personal problems and tech issues while Dr. Ray reveals some of the secret history behind Captain Kidd... What awaits Manhattan amongst these nautical threats?

• ISSUE #3 - Phoebe and Sammy venture off on their own to track down Captain Kidd, leaving the rest of the Ghostbusters to face the greater ghostly pirate threat alone. But finding the captain's quarters is only half the challenge - and puts one of the two sleuths in definite danger!

• ISSUE #4 - It's a buccaneer blowout in NYC! The city becomes a mix of old pirate port town and present-day metropolis as ghost pirates wreak havoc throughout the city. The crew follow Kidd's psychokinetic trail back to his newly-reformed lavish 17th century mansion. Here they'll finally come to cross blades with the dreaded (and perhaps misunderstood) pirate captain...

The creative team behind the mini-series is writer David Booher, artist Aviv Or, colorist Cris Peter, and letterer Jimmy Betancourt. Pretty much the same team as last year's Back in Town.

Not too much to say as, even in four parts, it's really short. Without ads, covers, and credits, the whole story runs 80 pages (20 pages per issue). The story by David Booher, which takes place before the events of Frozen Empire (the team has only been in business six months at this point), is a tale of pirate ghosts, something the franchise has seen before. Not much ghostly activity happens, aside from a few panels here and there, and the final bust at the end. Most of the time it's just family dynamics. Booher seems to think there's a need for nearly every line spoken by Phoebe and Gary to be a lame joke. It gets tiring very quickly.

Worst than the Dad Jokes is that Booher stops the story dead for some non-binary nonsense - which has no bearing on the plot - because, sadly, we live in a world where people are allowed to make up whatever nonsense suits their own personal narrative and we, as a society, are expected to validate it. I reject that conceit. When it comes to pronouns, society should always refer to people by sex, not gender, of which there are only two: male and female, because there are only two different types of chromosome sets and genitals. Biology matters more than a made-up personal preference. Even before the Sammy Velez character was introduced into the story, my Spidey-senses went off when I read a credit for "Sensitivity Reading by Ronan Sadler" on the first page.


Take out the lame jokes, the non-binary nonsense, and the family drama, and there isn't much in the way of actual ghosts and ghostbusting. There will be a pirate ghost appearance in a panel or two here and there, and a couple of quick busts, but it really feels more like you're reading a "Young Adult"-genre graphic novel than something that should be titled "Ghostbusters".

The "Young Adult" feel is felt even more in the artwork by Aviv Or, which isn't much better than the work Blue Delliquanti did in Back in Town. Why does Dark Horse continue to go down this "Young Adult" path? It really makes their Ghostbusters series feel subpar. Seriously, bring back Dan Schoening and Luis Antonio Delgado. Everything has been a huge step down since.


The Ghostbusters: Dead Man's Chest trade paperback comes out in five months on January 6, 2026. The digital version of all four individual issues can be purchased right now for the Amazon Kindle: Issue #1, Issue #2, Issue #3, and Issue #4. You're welcome to buy any that you see fit, but I really don't think Dead Man's Chest is worth it. Back in Town was better.

A digital copy of all four issues has been provided by Dark Horse Comics for review on this site.