Back Issues: "I Luv Halloween" vol.1 (2005)

- by Ninja Ross, 23 October 2013

Halloween, for most little brats, is all about the sweets. They dress up as ghosts, witches, superheroes and whatever else they think will get them free stuff. They’ll head out at sunset, knock on doors and hold up their bags expectantly. And that’s what "I Luv Halloween" is all about; it’s a book about a group of friends Trick or Treating. Unfortunately, the night doesn’t start off so well. The very first house they visit gives them nothing but an apple! Awwww, can you believe it? Only one way to fix that! That’s right! You stick razor blades in it and make someone eat it.

The cover of vol. 1

This isn’t Peanuts, people. These friends out trick or treating are some of the nastiest kids around! The plot is pretty absurd, in all the right ways; as you’d expect from someone like Keith Giffen, who was responsible for Lobo and Defenders: Indefensible. Giffen has a bit of a knack for funny, absurd stories and this is one of the best examples.

The group of kids includes Finch, the leader of the gang, Cat, the pervert, Pig Pig, the idiot and Devil Lad, the mysterious out-of-towner. You’ve also got characters like Finch’s little sister, Moochie showing up and taking people’s teeth (preferably molars) and Spike, who’s... a little bit off.

As I mentioned, the plot follows Finch and the gang, as they try and break this apple curse and get back to Trick or Treating. Things are never that simple, of course! 

As they’re breaking the curse, Moochie finds herself a catapult in the form of a bra, belonging to a local young lady by the name of Nips (for obvious reasons, trust me). Let’s be fair, if you’re gonna have sex in the woods you should expect little psychos to grab abandoned clothing.

Just as they break the curse, Nips ropes in the boys to go looking for Moochie, meaning even less sweets for Halloween. I’m sure you can imagine their frustration! Things naturally go from bad to worse for them throughout the book, but it’s a joy to see how they deal with things.

On the left, in the background: Devil Lad, Finch and Pig Pig. (All art in this article by Benjamin Roman)

The plot is pretty absurd, but Giffen tells it very well, using comedy and witty dialogue and keeping the darker moments few and far between, to give them more impact.

Since it’s a manga (from the now bust Tokyopop) it’s pretty darn short. I don’t mean in the “short and sweet” kind of way, no no! It’s well told in the short space, but more would be better! Thankfully there’s two more volumes after this, both more absurd than volume one (zombies and Mexican aliens is absurd, right?) and both offering the same fantastic writing.

The writing is perfectly complimented by Benjamin Roman’s art. He uses a cartoon style similar to that of Johnen Vasquez. While sometimes the eyes can seems a little too out there, it’s still a pleasure to look at.

Benjamin Roman hasn’t done nearly enough work in comics, as far as I’m concerned. You can find more of his stuff in a book called Cryptics, written by Steve Niles but besides that his appearances are pretty rare. He mostly works as a concept artist, designing busts and such. They look good, sure... But it’d be nice to see some more interiors!

There’s an unfinished fourth volume, which went unfinished thanks to Tokyopop going under (unfortunate in itself). Not only would it have been nice to find out more about Devil Lad, but the interior pages on Benjamin Roman’s Deviantart page show it was going to involve Christmas! It would have been fantastic to see how they’d pervert that...

What would have been next...

But perhaps it’s better to cut a great title short, rather than let it become stale and repetitive (I’m looking at you, Marvel and DC...).


At least we'll always have the first three volumes! Have you read "I Luv Halloween"? Enjoyed it? Planning to check it out? Sound off in the comments!

Tagged: Back Issues, comics.

blog comments powered by Disqus

---

Follow @TrashMutant