Preview & Review: Halloween: 30 Years of Terror from Devil’s Due
John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ is my favorite movie of all time. Nothing in cinematic history comes remotely close to my love of all things ‘the Shape’; so, you can imagine that I took very special interest when Devil’s Due revealed earlier this year that they would be working together with writer Stefan Hutchinson and Malek Akkad of Compass International Films (a subsidiary of Trancas International Films, Inc.) to produce new Halloween material for fans of the franchise and horror comic fans alike.
Click HERE for a 5 page preview of Halloween: 30 Years of Terror.
At the beginning of 2008, DDP released ‘Halloween: Nightdance’, a 4 issue mini-series written by Hutchinson with artwork by Hack/Slash creator, Tim Seeley, that featured a “continuity-free” Shape who terrorized another teenage girl from Russellville, a town neighboring Haddonfield, Illinois. Critically lauded, ‘Halloween: Nightdance’ proved that there’s still a lot of people who believe in “the boogeyman”. 2008 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of John Carpenter’s original film which spawned a generation of horror films like Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Devil’s Due has plans to celebrate the anniversary as well—with the release of ‘Halloween: 30 Years of Terror’ in September. This 48 page one-shot features five new short stories—three of which are relevant to the “current continuity” (Halloween, Halloween II, H20, and Resurrection) featuring mainstays like Laurie Strode and Dr. Sam Loomis. Featuring popular artists like Tim Seeley and Danijel Zezelj (Loveless, REX)—this new book, celebrating the Halloween franchise, establishes new “in continuity” material for the Halloween mythos and it also provides some glimpses into future Halloween comic book projects.
Well, let me be one of the first to say that this project is ridiculously awesome. For fans of the movies—as I mentioned earlier—three of the five stories actually enrich the stories presented in the movies. Stefan Hutchinson exceeds the expectations of hardcore fans like me by actually quoting the movies directly or deriving images in these stories from images straight from the films. There are two particular scenes in the book that really stood out in this manner—one in the story by Danijel Zezelj that depicts Tommy Doyle and Lindsey Wallace fleeing down the street to the Mackenzie’s house—much like the apex of the first Halloween movie. Also, in the story featuring Brett Weldele, the striking dream sequence from Halloween II revealing that Laurie Strode is in fact related to Myers is luridly accurate—so much so that I got the chills looking at Michael as he cut his eyes at Laurie.
Without giving too much away, here is a brief run down of the stories presented:
“Trick or Treat”, with artwork by Danijel Zezelj, is one of the creepier stories. I’m a HUGE fan of Zelzelj–to be able to enjoy my absolute favorite horror character with artwork from one of my favorite industry artists…well that just kind of sealed the deal for me.
“Visiting Hours”, with artwork by Brett Wedele; as I mentioned earlier–this story is has that wonderful sequence from Halloween II that revealed that Laurie Strode was Michael Myer’s sister. Hutchinson and Wedele give readers a very surreal tour of Laurie Strode’s mind post-H20…prior to her final confrontation with Michael at the beginning of Resurrection.
In “P.O.V.” artist Tim Daly does an amazing job under Stef’s guidance; the story has a very unique gimmick in that you witness the events of the story via the Shape’s POV as well as his victim’s POV–simultaneously. You have to see it to believe it–it’s a technically unique story.
“Tommy’s Web” introduces Jeff Zornow to the DDP/ Halloween project prior to his work on the upcoming First Death of Laurie Strode mini-series in a short that delves into the mind of Tommy Doyle, the boy Laurie babysat during the original Halloween, after he’s all grown up and working in the comic book industry. It’s a very subtle meta-story; the seeds planted in this story apparently bare fruit in a mini-series after the Laurie Strode-based mini next month.
“Repetition Compulsion” reunites Hutchinson with Tim Seeley and Elizabeth John for a story focusing on Sam Loomis and Marion Chambers as they fail in their hunt for Michael as he terrorizes Haddonfield, Illinois over the years.
The big thing that I think Hutchinson absolutely nails in these stories is tone. He’s got a knack for really cutting into the sadistic nature of ‘the Shape’ and these short stories are a shining example of his reverence to the source material. He’s bringing a new sense of depth to the original Halloween franchise that seemed to falter when the franchise chose to delve into strange things like cults and outlandish astrological patterns in the 90’s with Halloweens 4, 5, and 6.
As a fan of the entire franchise (except Halloween III, of course), I trust Hutchinson’s work with these characters–it’s like he hears their voices in his head…as well as a couple of others that are pretty dark, indeed. He proved his mettle as a storyteller earlier this year with Halloween: Nightdance and now, he’s really going to start shaking things up with new material that is relevant to the mythos. If you’re a fan of these movies–you will absolutely die for these new projects from Devil’s Due.
Halloween: 30 Years of Terror hits shelves August 27th.
For more on The First Death of Laurie Strode–check out Newsarama’s article with Hutchinson.
