John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night Volume 1
Written and illustrated by various authors and artists
Storm King Productions
November 19, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry
Reminiscent of the classic 1950’s Tales from the Crypt series, John Carpenter’s Tales for a Halloween Night Volume 1 brings back the graphic novel anthology format with six short tales of horror. It’s so homage-y to Tales from the Crypt that it even has its own version of the Cryptkeeper: the Groundscreeper is our narrator of this series, providing a brief, pun-filled introduction before each tale.
The king pooba of horror himself, John Carpenter, isn’t the type to just throw his name on something and not be involved with it in one way or another. Aside from owning Storm King Productions (along with his wife Sandy King), Carpenter penned the opening tale, “The Ghost Maker.” This short is probably the best throwback to the TftC era with a nod to ghost stories of way back when. In it, a man becomes the pawn in an experiment that pushes the boundaries between life and death. The beautiful illustrations of Frederico De Luca, along with his use of dark blues, greens and earth tones give the story the dreary edge it needs to take it from one-dimensional to a fully fleshed out story.
Following Carpenter’s story is “At Sea,” written by Trent Olsen and illustrated by Tone Rodriguez. In this short story, something sinister and Lovecraftian stalks four vacationing men aboard a ship in the middle of the pacific. This tale is probably the weakest of the bunch due to its brevity and pacing – it tries to pack too much story into the small space it has, and when the big reveal happens, it’s more of a “meh” moment than anything.
“Bunny Didn’t Tell Us” is a revenge tale written by David J. Schow. It’s predictable plot-wise but showcases some wonderful illustrations by Darick Robertson, with Richard P. Clark working the inks and colours by Diego Rodriguez.
“Some Grub,” written by James Ninness and illustrated by Brett Simmons, is more comical than the other tales in this anthology, something that’s nicely reflected in the style of its illustrations. This short is also the most comic book-y out of all six stories, but this gross-out story about some hungry bugs fits the anthology’s bleak tone perfectly.
“Notice to Quit” is all about an unwanted visitor. One of the best of the bunch, the short fairly complete and the life-like illustrations by Richard P. Clark add a layer of beauty to this story of a man lost in his own life, and his own body.
Sandy King, both publisher and editor of Storm King, pens the last tale of the anthology, “Fortune Broken.” It’s fairly formulaic in its delivery of the ‘be careful what you wish for’ motif but delivers a solid tale that leaves an impression.
The different styles in every story work well to showcase each tale as their own individual story rather than have some underlying theme tying everything together. The one thing that remains constant throughout is the Groundscreeper and his introductions – the same template is used at the beginning of all six stories. It would’ve been nice to see some variety there, especially considering the character was created by graphic novel legend, Steve Niles.
At just over 90 pages, John Carpenter’s Tales from a Halloween Night Volume 1 is a quick and fun read for those in need of a solid throwback to the old Tales from the Crypt comics. You could always go read one of those, of course, but as the old saying goes: imitation is the best form of flattery – and this collection is a fine tribute.
