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Your favorite Halloween comic issues
I'm thinking more about the non-horror titles who have the occasional horror story here, although if you're a big Tomb of Dracula fan, by all means, speak up.
Being a huge Batman fan, there are three I always re-read at Halloween. The classic " Night of the Reaper" from Batman #237 is at the top of the list, and is most definitely a Halloween story, as it takes place on Oct. 31st in Rutland, Vermont. Great Neal Adams/Dick Giordano artwork, and Denny O'Neil masterly weaves two separate ideas from Berni Wrightson and Harlan Ellison into a poignant story about holocaust survivors AND Halloween. No small feat. Plus it features cameos by all sorts of comic pros, like Wrightson, Gerry Conway, Alan Weiss (who REALLY digs floats), Len Wein, and O'Neil himself! Look for real-life Batman fan Tom ***an as well.
The other two are more in the vein (pun intended) of classic horror movies. "Moon of the Wolf" from Batman #255. Another artistic tour de force by Adams (his last Batman story) and of course ably inked by Giordano, it's pretty much what you expect, with Batman vs. a real werewolf. But Len Wein (one of my all-time favorite comic writers) mixes in some old Batman history in the form of long forgotten foe Professor Milo, and gives the werewolf, Anthony Lupus, some Larry Talbot-like pathos. This story was adapted pretty straight into an episode of BTAS.
The last one is a mostly-forgotten gem where Batman takes on Christopher Lee. Or a vampire that looks very much like him! "Heart of the Vampire" from Detective Comics #455 has Bruce and Alfred stopping at an old abandoned mansion miles from Gotham when their car breaks down. What they find is a vampire with a twist, named Gustav DeCobra! I won't give away the hook, as it is very well conceived by Elliot S! Maggin, in a very Rod Serling-like fashion. Mike Grell draws a very familiar looking vampire, and I recently learned he intended this as a tribute to Lee's Dracula, but Julie Schwartz wouldn't allow it, and made Grell rework the visuals. It's still obviously based on Lee, and some of the vampire's poses are lifted directly from "The Horror of Dracula".
So what comics do you re-read every October 31st?
Chris
Being a huge Batman fan, there are three I always re-read at Halloween. The classic " Night of the Reaper" from Batman #237 is at the top of the list, and is most definitely a Halloween story, as it takes place on Oct. 31st in Rutland, Vermont. Great Neal Adams/Dick Giordano artwork, and Denny O'Neil masterly weaves two separate ideas from Berni Wrightson and Harlan Ellison into a poignant story about holocaust survivors AND Halloween. No small feat. Plus it features cameos by all sorts of comic pros, like Wrightson, Gerry Conway, Alan Weiss (who REALLY digs floats), Len Wein, and O'Neil himself! Look for real-life Batman fan Tom ***an as well.
The other two are more in the vein (pun intended) of classic horror movies. "Moon of the Wolf" from Batman #255. Another artistic tour de force by Adams (his last Batman story) and of course ably inked by Giordano, it's pretty much what you expect, with Batman vs. a real werewolf. But Len Wein (one of my all-time favorite comic writers) mixes in some old Batman history in the form of long forgotten foe Professor Milo, and gives the werewolf, Anthony Lupus, some Larry Talbot-like pathos. This story was adapted pretty straight into an episode of BTAS.
The last one is a mostly-forgotten gem where Batman takes on Christopher Lee. Or a vampire that looks very much like him! "Heart of the Vampire" from Detective Comics #455 has Bruce and Alfred stopping at an old abandoned mansion miles from Gotham when their car breaks down. What they find is a vampire with a twist, named Gustav DeCobra! I won't give away the hook, as it is very well conceived by Elliot S! Maggin, in a very Rod Serling-like fashion. Mike Grell draws a very familiar looking vampire, and I recently learned he intended this as a tribute to Lee's Dracula, but Julie Schwartz wouldn't allow it, and made Grell rework the visuals. It's still obviously based on Lee, and some of the vampire's poses are lifted directly from "The Horror of Dracula".
So what comics do you re-read every October 31st?
Chris
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