As we noted before, filmmaker John Carpenter’s Storm Kids comic imprint has some good Furry stuff now and then — and Halloween seems to be a favorite time for it. Well here’s a new one we came across thanks to Previews: The Yard Gang Halloween Special. “Lucy the kitten loves Halloween almost as much as her stuffed Woof-Woof or her little brother Yob. But as she and her very eccentric animal family prepare to celebrate their favorite holiday, they discover this is no ordinary Halloween. A full moon is coming, bringing something completely unexpected to the desert ranch where they all live. On this All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy, Yob, and the entire Yard Gang must go in search of their Halloween Spirit!” It’s written by Steve Niles and Monica Richards, illustrated by Sian Mandrake and Kelly Williams, and available now from Storm King.
Halloween
It Haunts The Fruit Basket
Whoops! With everything else going on, we kinda missed this recent Halloween offering. It’s still available though, and worth a look. Storm Kids: Stanley’s Ghost is the latest comic series from filmmaker John Carpenter’s Storm King Productions. “Oh no! Who’s been stealing fruit from all the gardens in Arbordale? Was it the prankster Chester Chipmunk? Or maybe Baby Fang? Accusations fly until someone suggests that maybe it was the Ghost of Bunnyburrow Manor! Neighbors have claimed to have seen it flying around, but are ghosts even real? And if they are, why would they be stealing fruit? Stanley Squirrel offers to lead an expedition into the house to see if it really is haunted and find out just what’s been going on. But as the gang creeps around the house looking for answers, what they find isn’t what any of them were expecting!” It’s written by Paul D. Storrie, with art by David Alvarez and a cover by Jeffe Balke.
Ghost Dog. No not the samurai.
New from Tokyo Pop we have the first full-color comic follow-up to Nightmare Before Christmas — and just in time for Halloween, too. In Zero’s Journey, “When Jack Skellington’s faithful pet Zero gets lost, the ghost pup must get the help of the residents of Christmas Town to find his way back. With Halloween plans on hold while Jack mounts a search, will they be reunited in time to save both holidays?” Written by D.J. Milky, this new series features art by Kei Ishiyama, Kiyoshi Arai, David Hutchison, and Dan Conner. Check it out.
Share Your Sweets!
Sometimes you just gotta admit when other people say it better. This is direct from Comics Alliance: “Over the past few years Zac Gorman has made a name for himself paying tribute to his favorite video games with his comic Magical Game Time. This October the cartoonist will be spreading that same magic into his first graphic novel, Costume Quest: Invasion of the Candy Snatchers, a companion narrative to Double Fine’s 2010 Costume Quest RPG. While Costume Quest followed a human kid and their friends as they battled candy-stealing monsters called Grubbins to recover their kidnapped sibling from another dimension, Invasion of the Candy Snatchers will flip the script and see what the non-evil Grubbin Klem got up to that Halloween.” What he got up to, it seems, is joining up with some of his fellow young Grubbins to sneak into the human world and try and steal candy — for their own sugar-starved world. Costume Quest: Invasion of the Candy Snatchers is out now in trade paperback from Oni Press.
He Vants to Eat Bananas!
Some of you may remember Banana Tail, an illustrated children’s book created by animator Mark McKenna. It told the story of Banana Tail, a poor young brown monkey born with a shiny yellow tail. He feels like an outcast among his troupe, until he finds two equally unusual friends: Reena the pink rhinoceros and Tic Tac the checkerboard zebra. Well now Mark McKenna, Jim Calafiore, and several artistic friends bring us The Boonanna Tail Halloween Special, a one-shot full-color comic with Banana Tail and his friends celebrating the season in high style. Find out more about it at Bleeding Cool. Of course it comes out in October, with several variant covers available.