John Carpenter’s Tales For a HalloweeNight Vol. 3
Paperback
Creators include: “‹”‹John Carpenter, Sandy King, Steve Niles, James Ninness, Joe Harris, David J Schow, Louise Simonson, Duane Swierczynski, Jon Bogdanove, Tim Bradstreet, Richard P Clark, Federico Deluca, Darick Robertson, Joel Séguin, Jim Daly, Jan Duresna, David Kennedy, Frank Tieri, Amanda Deibert, Jimmy Palmiotti, Kaelan Patrick Burke, Mike Sizemore, Cat Staggs, Jaime Carrillo, Trevor Denham
“‹Cover by Tim Bradstreet
Published by Storm King Productions
Release Date: October 4, 2017

Back in 2015, John Carpenter once again re-invented himself and created Tales For a HalloweeNight from Storm King Productions. Created alongside wife and collaborator Sandy King, Storm King has produced comics and anthologies including Asylum and John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction. Volume 3 of the annual HalloweeNight horror anthology debuts today, the week of New York Comic-Con, and features stories by The Horror Master himself, Sandy King, and constant collaborators James Ninness, Duane Swierczynski, David J. Schow, Richard P. Clark, and more.

John Carpenter’s Tales For a HalloweeNight Vol. 3 contains 12 stories of horror over 170 pages. Once again the book features introductions from “The Groundskeeper,” a character created by Steve Niles and Steven Hoveke, who brings obvious comparisons to other great anthology characters like The Crypt Keeper and The Creeper. Carpenter opens with “The Awakening,” a story about a sideshow preacher drawing huge crowds with his healing abilities. Of course there’s more than meets the eye, and soon he meets a young girl possessed and all Hell breaks loose. This reminded me of elements from Carpenter’s underrated religious-themed horror film, Prince of Darkness (1987), and the main protagonist even bore resemblance to the late great Donald Pleasance, who of course worked copiously with Carpenter.

“Where the Heart Was” by David Schow was a hilarious, gruesome, and sexy story with some amazing artwork by Darick Robertson and Richard P. Clark. Clark is also responsible for writing and artwork on “Tricksy Treat,” a Halloween tale featuring an awesome Lovecraftian monster, and paying homage to a classic “monster under the bed” narrative. James Ninness, who also wrote the first 3-part story for John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction, contributes “True North” here, full of graphic decapitations and frozen bodies. My favorite story was Sandy King’s “Everlasting Peace” where three kids decide to scope out a big scary house unaware the spirits of horror literature’s past lived there, including Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. I thought this was such an original story and it would make a terrific movie idea. The art by Jan Duursema and colors by Sian Mandrake really pop for this story.

Overall, John Carpenter’s Tales For a HalloweeNight Vol. 3, which is out in comic shops now, is exactly what a horror reader needs this time of year. This is the perfect collection for October, with stories that tap into your innermost fears and make you squirm, with awesome graphic artwork throughout the entire anthology. Pick it up today and check out Storm King Comics at NYCC starting Thursday, October 5th at the Javits Center in Manhattan.

The yearly anthology John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight Volume 3

From John Carpenter, the man who brought you the cult classic horror film Halloween and all of the scares beyond comes with even more twisted tales of terror, tricks, and treats. In volume 3 of the award-winning graphic novel series, Carpenter brings together another stellar ensemble of storytellers from the worlds of movies, novels and comics for another spine-tingling collection of stories that will haunt your dreams at night

Trailer

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