Happy Halloween! The lead up to the most wonderful time of the year (sorry, Christmas) has finally brought us here! We’re always excited for the Halloween season–which officially begins on September 1st, no notes–and this year is no different. We’re especially excited this year to share with you some of our favorite comic pros’ fond Halloween memories! Check them out below and be share to give us your memories in the comments! And a big thank you to everyone who contributed to this article!
Hanna Bahedry, publicist for Superfan Promotions, writer, & contributor to AHOY Comics’ Project: Cryptid: “At around 6-years-old I was rolling down a hill just before going trick or treating and bashed my skull open on some brick stairs. I ended up at the hospital getting staples in my head, which had the benefit of making my unicorn costume incredibly metal. Never did get to go trick or treating that year, though my friends brought me a garbage bag of leftover candy to make up for it. Still chasing that high…’
Young Steve as The Shadow
Steve Orlando, writer of the upcoming Sorcerer Supreme for Marvel Comics: “So as far as the Halloween memories — there are many, as it comes to comics! I was a comic book character most of the years I remember when I was young, and the costumes were almost always art projects with my mother. I know I was Robin. I was Cyclops. I was the Shadow, and most of all I was Swamp Thing. And Swamp Thing involved dying pantyhose green to make moss to cover my body! And I was Spider-Man one year, too–even to the point of moving my arms around like I was web slinging while I walked. It got tiring after a few hours! Making those costumes with my mother, in the macro sense, is the real best memory. And it’s a bonus to me that in one case, the case of the Shadow, who remains my favorite character…when I finally got to write The Shadow, I was lucky enough to be able to include a photo of myself as The Shadow for Halloween as part of the book design!”
Kieron Gillen, writer of The Power Fantasy & Die: Loaded: “I fondly remember dressing as the Grim Reaper at an indie club, and realising my plastic scythe’s head was detached, so you could spin it round dramatically to punctuate my dancing. I like to think Death would approve.”
Robert Feldman, creator of Cyko KO & Dr. Shroud: “I grew up along the Jersey Shore and when I was about nine, I begged my mother on my birthday to let me go to the Long Branch Haunted Mansion because I’d seen the commercials on TV. I loved horror movies and I heard so many stories about this place–a three story live action haunted house and back then, this was a rarity, not like today where they have these all over. My sister agreed to drive me, along with her boyfriend — who’s now my brother-in-law — and my older brother came too.
“The place was three stories of sheer terror. I remember closing my eyes almost the entire time, clutching my neck, absolutely horrified. My poor brother had to lead me through all three floors. By the end, I was so scared that I slept with the covers wrapped around my neck — and I kept doing that until I was about twenty-three years old.”
Vincent Kings, creator of Time Dog: “Halloween 2019, I saved two full boxes of fancy cookies from a couple college students who opportunistically walked out of a house party with them, while dressed as Sharkboy from The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Lucky for me the would-be-thieves didn’t put up a fight when I came sprinting after them in full regalia. Lavagirl is my kid sister.”
Nate Cosby, editor for Dynamite Entertainment & writer of Cheetara: “One year (one of those pre-teenager years, they’re all the same), I dressed as a birthday cake. But not just a birthday cake. MY birthday cake from the previous June, which was a Cookie Monster birthday cake (nom nom). I took a cardboard box, made a hole for my head, then a bunch of little holes where I stuck candles. The stroke of brilliance was that I spray-painted the box blue, and used blue face paint. It was about 45 minutes into trick-or-treating that the box was abandoned due to the noxious spray paint fumes. Rest of the evening, I was just some kid in a shirt and jeans with a blue face. I like to think I was ultimately the inspiration for Blue Man Group, rather than a pitiful costume-less idiot kid unable to walk straight due to paint-induced nausea.”
Young Ryan (right) and his brother Eric
Ryan Dunlavey, writer & artist of Bad Guy: “The first year my brother Eric and I were allowed to trick-or-treat on our own (ages 8 and 9) was one for the ages. Eric wore a Long John Silver costume complete with a tri-cornered hat, wooden crutch, fake peg leg and a fake parrot on the shoulder – all painstakingly hand-made by our mom. I was a hairy-handed, rubber-masked Lon Cheney, Jr. werewolf. We were determined to hit every house in our suburban Virginia neighborhood that was giving out treats – about 100 in all – all in one night, something always wanted to do but had never been able to with a slow-poke parental escort.
“We had it all planned – one big loop that started and ended at our house, which was smack dab in the center of the development. We’d shared our plan with our friends on the school bus and 6 of them decided to join us. Our gang of 8 met at our house exactly at sunset. We SPRINTED from house to house in a spiral pattern – cutting through yards and bushes to cut down on time and absolutely SHREDDING our costumes in the process. Eric quickly ditched his crutch, his peg leg and parrot simply fell off him at some point and my werewolf mask became a sauna so I just wore it like a hat between the stops at front doors.
“As the night went on, we kept losing group members. One girl (also dressed as a pirate) ran into a friend who was by herself and not interested in our quest so they ditched us. Another girl (a witch) tuckered out early so her older brother (Han Solo) walked her home and he never caught back up to us. The two youngest in the gang (a cowboy and a firefighter) got tracked down by their parents and dragged back home – leaving just me, my brother and our next door neighbor (Dracula). The streets got emptier and porch lights started switching off. Houses started running out of candy or didn’t answer the doorbell. One of our friends lived near the furthest cut-du-sac and he spotted us from his driveway. He couldn’t believe we were still out. ‘Hey – your mom called my parents, they’re looking for you!’ It was 10-o-clock on a school night, and with less than a dozen houses to go we had to admit defeat. So we didn’t get to trick or treat every house in the neighborhood – but we came pretty close! My candy haul lasted about two weeks – a new record. My brother hoarded his for almost a year until the mice found it. No other Halloween topped it, before or since.”