spirit
Explanation
The Joke
A ghost appears to a living person and delivers an urgent warning: "I'm dead, but I'm still here!" The ghost explains that it has been held back from the afterlife because of unfinished business -- specifically, a dangerous bus driver who has kidnapped children and committed other crimes. The ghost pleads for help, saying it cannot intervene because it is incorporeal: "I can't stop him myself. I'm a ghost." But then comes the twist -- the ghost adds, "But... ah, that's it. I'm a ghost. Despite the evil, I'll use my powers to stop the bus, deliver the children to their parents, make the bad guy face justice, make things right!"
The ghost then dramatically glows with power and flies off to confront the villain. The final panel shows the Ghostbusters logo -- the iconic "no ghosts" symbol -- with the ghost trapped inside, and a Ghostbuster saying "Got 'im!" The Ghostbusters, whose job is simply to capture ghosts regardless of the ghost's intentions, have stopped the one ghost that was actually trying to do good.
The Humor
The comic plays on the premise of the Ghostbusters franchise, where all ghosts are treated as nuisances to be eliminated. By setting up a ghost with genuinely heroic motivations -- one that is actively trying to save kidnapped children -- the comic highlights the absurdity of the Ghostbusters' indiscriminate approach. The joke is that the Ghostbusters are, in this scenario, actually the villains, capturing a benevolent spirit and presumably allowing the criminal bus driver to continue unchallenged. It is a darkly funny deconstruction of the "ghost = bad" assumption baked into the Ghostbusters universe.
References
The Ghostbusters franchise (1984 film and sequels) is directly referenced through the iconic logo in the final panel. The comic subverts the franchise's central premise that all ghosts are threats to be neutralized.