It’s the last day of August, which means it’s time to start thinking about Halloween season, with autumn breaking through and all this 100 degree temperature heat will at least start to fade.  We’re looking forward to the national Halloween ComicFest the weekend of October 26-27, 2013 and Elite Comics’ Comic Book Day of the Dead.

Dark Horse Comics and Sequential Pulp Comics are releasing a hardcover volume this month with a great holiday themed adventure involving a group of odd superheroes.  The Halloween Legion: The Great Goblin Invasion, written by Martin Powell (who wrote an earlier prose version), co-created by Diana Leto, with art by Thomas Boatwright, could be considered the Halloween answer to Christmas’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Other than The Peanuts’ It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, there aren’t many recurring classic Halloween works that have become iconic.  The Halloween Legion is a good attempt to create such a work.

Appropriate for all ages, The Halloween Legion tells a story of a group of masked and not-so masked heroes as they attempt to save the town of Woodland from an invasion of alien goblins.  The Skeleton is a softer version of The Punisher, but with a distinctive dark attitude much like Batman.  The Devil is a teenaged girl named Molly who wears the red devil costume and has special powers her friends do not understand.  The Witch is an ancient enchantress, a force for good who looks like a friendlier version of the Wicked Witch of the West.  The Ghost is the ghost of a boy named Freddy–pretty much identical to Casper the Friendly Ghost from the classic TV series.  Finally there’s Autumn, a mysterious black cat.

Here is a video preview of the book:

Visually the style is similar to Mike Mignola’s artwork, with the Skeleton looking as if he could operate in the world of Hellboy pretty easily.  Featuring lots of fall color and places, its a nice holiday book that has its own style much like Lee Bermejo’s Batman: Noel.  For kids reading the book, the dark never gets too dark and the action stays pretty lighthearted throughout.  The angst-ridden teen named Molly is a central character that will appeal to most readers.  The hardcover also includes a short story “Once Upon a Halloween.”

Grab The Halloween Legion if you’re looking for something to get you into the Halloween mood this month.  It is scheduled for release September 11, 2013.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com