Review- JOHN CARPENTER'S TALES FOR A HALLOWEEN NIGHT VOL. 1

JOHN CARPENTER'S TALES FOR A HALLOWEEN NIGHT VOL. 1 (Storm King, First Printing, 2015; Softcover)

Original Graphic Novel.

Writers: Steven Hoveke, John Carpenter, Trent Olsen, David J. Schow, James Ninness, Duane Swierczynki, and Sandy King

Artists: Jon Bogdanove, Federico De Luca, Tone Rodriguez, Darick Robertson, Richard P. Clark, Brett Simmons, and Leonardo Manco with cover art by Tim Bradstreet

Colorists: Ray Dillon, Sian Mandrake, Diego Rodriguez, Ben Glibert, and Mariana Sanzone

EC Comics had a huge impact on the children of the 1950s...children like John Carpenter. This graphic novel takes the Horror anthology found in EC titles like Tales From The Crypt, Vault Of Horror, and Haunt Of Fear and brings them up to speed with contemporary writing and artwork. Like those titles, the book has a host, the Groundscreeper. The same one page interlude Groundscreeper image, with art by Jon Bogdanove and “Ben Day” dot style coloring by Ray Dillon, introduces each story. I have to say that I wish that more comics used this nostalgic approach. It looks more “comic book”-like, only without the drawbacks of line bleed and off-register printing. The Groundscreeper page is packed with third party narrative describing each scene and then accented with his own darkly ironic humor by way of monologue.

John Carpenter pens the first story, The Ghost Maker. Some Grub is a great story with mediocre artwork by Brett Simmons. The art is too cartoony for a serious Horror story. This is just one fan's opinion, and your mileage may vary. The beauty of the Horror anthology format is that anything goes. Any writing style, any art style. Notice To Quit and Fortune Broken are both solid stories that wrap things up nicely. This was a good read and is worthy of a spot on your shelf.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This book has that sweet Chinese-made-book smell to it, although it was printed in Canada. All of the great scents without the toxic chemicals that the Chinese probably use in their sweatshop printing presses.

Paper stock: Thick coated stock with a slight sheen.

Binding: Sewn binding in a softcover.

Cardstock cover notes: The majority of the cover has a matte finish with select spot varnish. The logo is embossed, a welcome touch which adds some class to the proceedings.