October 20, 2015

Holy smokes!

Get this – just in time for Halloween, there’s a new horror anthology graphic novel collecting 6 stories and spanning over 100 pages from Storm King Comics. That’s right. John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter are behind this spooky collection of brand new horror tales featuring the talents of genre alumni like Steve Niles, David J. Schow, Trent Olson, James Ninness and of course the Carpenter’s themselves.

The announcement for the book came back in August, but Carpenter and King have just started making personal appearances to promote the release, and we popped over to the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles to be the first to snag a copy and say hello to the main man. (See header pic.) So what’s the scoop with the book itself?

It kicks off with a story by John Carpenter himself titled The Ghost Maker, in which a man of science is forced by his long time rival to face the darkness within himself. At Sea from Trent Olson puts us out on the lonely sea where a crew fall sick to the unseen forces just below the surface of the ocean. David J. Schow’s Bunny Didn’t Tell Us has got a TALES FROM THE HOOD vibe as two men are hired to dig up a pimp gangster who was buried in his limo to steal his ring. Some Grubb by James Ninness takes a turn for the darkly comedic as a thief in a diner recounts his tale of a heist gone horribly wrong. Notice To Quit by Duane Swierczynski follows the horrors of a man shortly after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. Closing the book is Sandy King’s story Fortune Broker about the negative influence of a ring and the bad fortune it brings to the wearer.

There are brief one page wrap-around/interstitials with your host The Groundscreeper, created by Steve Niles (30 DAYS OF NIGHT) and Steven Hoveke. The beautiful thing about any anthology collection is there’s always something for every type of genre fan. All the stories are fun and quick reads. For me personally, the center of the book with David Schow’s Bunny Didn’t Tell Us and James Ninness’ Some Grub are the highlights.

I should also warn you that despite the title of the collection, none of these stories take place on, nor do they revolve around the Halloween holiday at all. They’re all stand alone horror stories in the tradition of EC Comics TALES FROM THE CRYPT or CREEPSHOW. As the title suggests, these are tales for Halloween night, when you’re just looking for a quick scary fix.

The Amazon listing for the book has it scheduled for November 10th, which is obviously after Halloween. So I’d call up and check your local comic shop to see if they’ve got them in stock so that you’ll be able to read it in time for Halloween night.

If you’re in the LA area and you missed the signing at The Grove, be sure to mark Sunday, October 25th on your calendar. John Carpenter, Sandy King, Steve Niles, Tim Bradstreet, Trent Olson & Tone Rodriguez will all be signing at Golden Apple Comics, located at 7018 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038 at 1PM! Full details at this link.

Keep tabs on Carpenter and company via his official Facebook page, as well as his Asylum FB page!