At last! We’ve reached Halloween Day! To help celebrate, we present to you here our third and final installment covering the various Halloween comic books featuring everyone’s favorite seasonal madman, Michael Myers. If you need to do some catching up…

Part 1: The Chaos! Comics Run

Part 2: The 25th Anniversary Trilogy

Following up on the heels of his last two Shape outings (One Good Scare and Autopsis), returning writer Stefan Hutchinson teamed up with Devil’s Due Publishing for a line of Halloween comics meant to tell a mix of one-off tales and franchise gap-fillers, hopping back and forth throughout the various continuities along the way. For the initial outing, Hutchinson teamed up with Hack/Slash creator Tim Seeley for the four-issue miniseries Halloween: Nightdance, a spectacularly creepy tale which began publication in February 2008.

Nightdance concerns a group of characters who have the great, grave misfortune to find themselves in Michael’s orbit: Lisa, a teenager with a traumatic recent past linked to Michael; her headstrong boyfriend Sean; Ryan, a young man who loses his girlfriend to the Shape following an auto accident caused by one of Michael’s victims; and Abby, the aforementioned victim who managed to survive Michael’s wrath…mostly. The story follows these victims-to-be as Michael moves behind the scenes, toying with and stalking his prey, eliminating their friends, before eventually confronting and attacking them in some truly horrific ways. It all culminates in a genuinely shocking finale, leaving readers on a final moment which is perhaps the single most ice-cold ending a Halloween tale has ever had – films, comics, or otherwise.

Boasting Hutchinson’s great script and Seeley’s marvelous artwork, Nightdance stands as the very best Halloween comic and one of the best tales in the entire Myers canon. Much like the writer’s previous outing, this story stands mostly on its own, telling a tale which doesn’t require much knowledge about the franchise before diving in – Michael Myers is the boogeyman. That’s all you really have to know here (though references to Russellville and “the Old Bowles place” will be fun to spot for fans). Furthermore, Nightdance is an upsetting, cold, utterly cruel tale at times, bringing The Shape back closer to his original trickster persona from Carpenter’s first film. He’s downright playful at times, even – delivering lewd crayon-sketched images to Lisa, using lipstick to paint a victim’s face up like a clown before killing them, and affixing razor blades to a door handle. Hell, he even Ben Tramers a poor bastard with a spare mask, leading to an unfortunate incident involving a number of police officers with itchy trigger fingers. It’s an interesting and essential take on The Shape, and it’s well worth seeking out.

Not long after Nightdance’s final issue took a bow, DDP released Halloween: 30 Years of Terror. Written entirely by Hutchinson, 30 Years is a collection of five stories set within the Halloween universe, including:

“Trick or Treat”, with art by Danijel Zezelj. The story begins with Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace racing away from Laurie and the Shape on that fateful night in 1978, with the two winding up at Joe and Mary Mackenzie’s home. Mary narrates the tale from a later date, mourning the loss of her husband and ruminating on the terror that visited their hometown on that Halloween night, before a shocking and unexpected visit turns Halloween into yet another night of terror for the now elderly Mrs. Mackenzie.

“P.O.V.”, featuring art by Jim Daly, tells a wordless tale which details the horrifying murder of Miss Haddonfield 1991, all depicted from Michael’s point-of-view – which heavily recalls his very first murder of his sister Judith.

“Visiting Hours”, illustrated by Brett Weldele, is a haunting short which gets inside Laurie Strode’s head and charts her journey from Halloween, all the way to Resurrection. This story juxtaposes both Michael’s time in an institution with Laurie’s own stint behind locked doors, and adds a good deal of emotional resonance to Laurie’s overall journey.

“Tommy and the Boogeyman”, with art by Jeff Zornow and Lee Ferguson, plays out as an issue of “Tarantula Man” – a very Warren-esque comic that’s revealed to be in the hands of a grown-up Tommy, now a comic book artist currently penciling a book about Michael Myers. A glimpse at his art reveals what appears to be Jamie Lloyd, making one wonder if this tale is meant to be presenting the 4-6 timeline as a mere funnybook in the H20 continuity.

And “Repetition Compulsion” finds Nightdance artist Tim Seeley returning to draw this fairly aimless story which details the Shape’s stalking and murdering of a school teacher as Sam Loomis and Nurse Chambers mill about the streets of Haddonfield. It’s beautifully drawn, just more than a little slight.

Much like Nightdance, this one-off proved that Hutchinson has a strong grasp on the characters and world of Halloween. And, as with Nightdance, this comic proved to be a strong outing for Devil’s Due Publishing. Unfortunately, even for all of their plans, their next Halloween comic tale would be their last…

Arriving on the heels of 30 Years, Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode was a miniseries meant to run for three issues and cover the time just after the events of Halloween II, wherein Laurie Strode decides to fake her death and move far away from Haddonfield and the spectre of her murderous older brother. With Hutchinson once again scripting (with penciling duties falling to Vampirella / Grimm Fairy Tales artist Jeff Zornow this time around), First Death opens with a nightmarish dream sequence which gets into Laurie’s head and illustrates what the trauma of that fateful Halloween night has wrought upon this young woman. The story then picks up with Annie’s funeral nearly a week after the events of Halloween, in a sequence that deftly illustrates how wounded the town of Haddonfield is following that horrific night.

The first and second issues then chart Laurie’s journey throughout her final year of high school. A rift has been created between she and her parents following the revelation that she was adopted, while her sole friendship with a fellow classmate/potential bad influence leads Laurie down a dark path. Worse still, she begins to see Michael everywhere she goes (which is initially chalked up to post-trauma hallucinations, before sinister events begin plaguing her and the town). Along the way, we are treated to some prequel sequences concerning young Michael and his sister Judith, Sam Loomis returns to town trying to atone for his sins, and we even learn what became of poor paramedic Jimmy following his spectacular spill in Halloween II.

Unfortunately, just as Michael appears in earnest (adorned in a ridiculously creepy, adult version of the clown suit he wore as a child), the story is cut short. Unfortunately, due to financial issues, Devil’s Due Publishing was unable to publish the third issue of this tale, leaving it sadly unfinished (worse still, the second issue of First Death includes an ad for a follow-up miniseries, tantalizingly titled The Mark of Thorn). Nevertheless, this arc was a strong entry in the franchise, cementing Hutchinson as one of the better writers that the Halloween saga has ever had. If only we’d gotten more from him.

With that, we bring this series of articles to a close just in time to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve. There are pumpkins to be carved, treats to be passed out, scary movies to be watched. And, should you have the time and inclination, there are spooky comic books to be read as well. So if you have the chance to check out any of the Halloween comics we’ve covered in these three articles, make certain to check in with us in the comments section below to let us know what you thought of them. And, perhaps, how much they may have frightened you.

After all, it’s Halloween. Everyone’s entitled to one good scare.