Review- JOHN CARPENTER'S TALES FOR A HALLOWEEN NIGHT VOL. 3

JOHN CARPENTER'S TALES FOR A HALLOWEEN NIGHT VOL. 3 (Storm King, First Printing, 2017; Softcover)

Original Graphic Novel

Writers: John Carpenter, Steven Hoveke, David J. Schow, Louise Simonson, Joe Harris, Amanda Deibert, Richard P. Clark, Frank Tieri, James Ninness, Duane Swierczynski, Kealan Patrick Burke, and Sandy King

Artists: Tim Bradstreet, Jon Bogdanove, Luis Guaranga, Darick Robertson, Guy Dorian, Sal Buscema, Greg Scott, Cat Staggs, Richard P. Clark, James M. Daly III, Trevor Denham, Jaime J. Carrillo, Jan Duursema, Tom Mandrake, Sian Mandrake, and Ray Dillon

Colorists: Sian Mandrake, Richard P. Clark, Ross Campbell, Felipe Sobreiro, Cat Staggs, Trevor Denham, Kinsun Loh, and Ray Dillon

Letterer: Janice Chiang with Ben Gilbert (one story)

This is the biggest volume yet in this series, with eleven stories, a few sneak previews for Volume 4, and expanded Groundscreeper interludes. In previous volumes The Groundscreeper was one image with a text page which set the stage for the following tale. This time around it is a two page strip in between each tale, serving the same purpose. This has to be Jon Bogdanove's best artwork. I fondly remember his work on Power Pack and Superman, but here he is at his peak.

Like any Horror anthology, you get a mixed bag of topics with various styles of art. The first story, The Awakening, is written by John Carpenter with Luis Guaranga's Ghastly Graham Ingels inspired art. It deals with two of Carpenter's pet themes: religion and demonic possession. Let's face it, when it comes to Horror those two themes never run out of steam because it's the foundation of it all. Good versus evil in the truest sense.

Louise Simonson, another Power Pack alumni (I was a huge fan of the series in the '80s), turns in the Sci-Fi Horror tale Bug. Traveling to other worlds poses many risks. We could unknowingly contaminate ourselves with who knows what. Heck, it's possible that the rise in obesity and cancer is from something we brought back from the moon that we can't identify. That type of thing scares the crap out of me, and Bug is 21^st century Horror done right.

Indivisible is a timely political Horror story. 2017 is a strange time to be an American, as identity politics has seemingly ripped our country apart. While I have a ton of tinfoil hat theories about Communist brainwashing using social media, Indivisible is not that far fetched a story. The Warren Magazines delved into timely political tales in the early '70s and it will be interesting to see how this story reads in a few decades. If we're still here to read comic books and haven't blown up the whole planet, that is.

The Captive (written by Amanda Deibert with art by Cat Staggs) is brilliant. This is another 21^st century Horror concept, a cautionary tale about the horrors of online dating. There are plenty of losers to meet in real life, folks.

36 Baron Street treads well covered ground, but I'll be damned if those kinds of haunted house stories don't get me every time. I love them and can never get enough of them. EC had a ton of them, and they've been covered by every horror anthology under the sun, but they always work so why not do them?

Visitation Rights is the one that really got me, though. I went through a brutal custody battle during my divorce a year ago, so this piqued my interest from the word go. While the story wasn't as horrifying as the reality of fighting Michigan's draconian family court system with it's rich history of systemic discrimination and overt gender bias against men, it is pretty messed up stuff. I absolutely love Trevor Denham's art and colors. The text captions in lieu of word balloons is reminiscent of EC's short lived Picto-Fiction format. I don't give anything away in terms of plot twists or reveals in my reviews, but this one the real deal, a visceral piece of art.

Everlasting Peace is another haunted house type ghost story that works. This volume is easily the best one in the series yet, and I am really looking forward to Volume 4. Get off of the fence and get into this series.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4.75 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Nothing unusual to report.

Paper stock: Super thick glossy coated stock.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback. The binding is a little tight but loosens as you read it.

Cardstock cover notes: Matte finish on thick cardstock with spot varnish and an embossed logo, a nice touch.