Halloween (comics)
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The Halloween series has had several tie-in comic books published.
The first series, entitled simply Halloween, was published by Brian Pulido's Chaos Comics from November of 2000 through November of 2001. Each of the three issues are numbered as number one. The comic books attempt to merge the continuity set forth in the films, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. In the film series, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later picks up twenty years after the second film and treats Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers as if they never happened. All three issues were written by Phil Nutman. The first issue was co-written with Daniel Farrands, the screenwriter of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, as was the final issue, although this was uncredited.
Later comics include ‘Halloween: One Good Scare’ and ‘Halloween: Autopsis’, written by Stefan Hutchinson, and the strip that was included in the ‘Halloween Returns To Haddonfield’ magazine, written by Derek Rook (who also illustrated) and Stephen Romano.
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[edit] Plots: Chaos Series
Halloween featured the return of Tommy Doyle who obtains the private journal of Dr. Sam Loomis. The journal contains the complete story of Michael Myers' stay at Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium. After Michael witnesses Tommy Doyle receiving the journal, he proceeds to stalk him. Michael finally attacks Tommy who believed he had killed Michael in the Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers film. After having his head lit on fire by Tommy, Michael jumps out of a second story window. In a scene reminiscent of the original Halloween film, Tommy looks out of the window to see that Michael is no longer there. Tommy vows that he will find and finally kill Michael once and for all.
Halloween II: The Blackest Eyes picks up immediately after the first issue. Tommy sets out to hunt down and kill Michael Myers. In the meantime, Richie Castle, a failed real estate agent, visits the Myers house intending to burn it down. Castle first encountered Michael 24 years before, while bullying Tommy Doyle in a scene from the first Halloween film. He has been haunted by the meeting ever since. His attempt to destroy the house results in his murder by retired Haddonfield sheriff, Leigh Brackett (also from the first film) who mistakes Castle for Michael Myers. Sheriff Brackett proceeds to take the body to a field. Tommy Doyle follows and confronts Brackett who proceeds to explain that Michael Myers is part of a cursed Druid bloodline. The women of the Myers bloodline were cursed with visions and occasionally with the ability to read minds. The first-born male of each generation carried the seed of Samhain's evil. In order to appease the gods, the druids would hold fire rituals where prisoners of war, criminals and the insane would be burned alive. For three generations after, the Myers family lived in peace with no murders taking place. The evil returned though in 1957 when Michael was born. Sheriff Brackett also explains that his knowledge of these events comes from Loomis' private diaries which were presented to him after Loomis' death. These diaries are different from the journal Tommy acquired in the first issue. Once the story is told, both Tommy Doyle and Sheriff Brackett are attacked and kidnapped by a group of druids led by Michael's former neighbor and babysitter, Mrs. Blankenship. The two are held in the basement of a church. Mrs. Blankenship wants to kill Tommy Doyle and Sheriff Brackett, feeling they know too much, but a priest feels they should be let go. As the priest secretly attempts to free them, he is murdered by Michael Myers. Once again, Tommy and Michael engage in battle ultimately leading to Michael's electrocution and the church exploding. Before the explosion, Tommy picks up Sheriff Brackett and escapes outside where the druids are waiting for him. Three months later, Tommy is being held in Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium for the murders that Michael has committed as well as the apparent death of Sheriff Brackett. Tommy realizes that he must escape because Michael Myers will return.
Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes picks up the story one year after Halloween II: The Blackest Eyes. Tommy Doyle, still an inmate at Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium, has heard news that Laurie Strode has killed Michael (in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) but does not believe it. When employees of the sanitarium attempt to murder Tommy, he escapes and drives towards Haddonfield. The next day, Lindsey Wallace (once again, a character from the first film), now a Chicago newspaper writer, is reunited with Tommy who had previously asked her to pick up Loomis' private diaries from Sheriff Brackett's home. The diaries reveal that there was a third sibling of Michael Myers' and Laurie Strode who was stillborn. Although the body of the baby had died, the cursed soul did not and instead possessed Michael's body. Michael attacks both Lindsey and Tommy, stabbing Tommy in the process. Lindsey runs away until she arrives at the Myers house. Deciding that she should no longer run, Lindsey begins to comb her hair in front of a mirror, re-creating the scene of Michael's sister Judith from the opening scene in the first film. Michael attacks but Lindsey uses a shard of the broken mirror to stab Michael in the eye. As Michael removes the shard, he is shot in the back by Tommy who then removes Michael's mask to discover Laurie Strode's face. Laurie suddenly stabs Tommy in the throat with the shard of glass and both Tommy and Laurie tumble out of a window. Tommy dies and Laurie Strode is committed to Smith's Grove-Warren County Sanitarium where a doctor tells Lindsey that the only curse in the Myers family, is mental illness. Lindsey still questions the fact that something else may have caused the madness.
[edit] Convention exclusives
In 2003, Michael Myers returned to comic books with Halloween: One Good Scare. No longer part of the Chaos Comics lineup, the comic book was a self-published exclusive by rehab54, available only to attendees of the Halloween Returns To Haddonfield 25th Anniversary Convention in Pasadena, CA. It also had a very different look and style to the previous stories, due to the art of Peter Fielding. As the film series had split into two continuities so had the comic books. Whereas the Chaos series had attempted to bridge the gap, ‘One Good Scare’ was set firmly in the new continuity established by Halloween H20: 20 Years Later. The story follows David Loomis, the son of Sam Loomis (the doctor who pursued the killer, Michael Myers, throughout the Halloween series), and what happens when he takes on a patient by the name of Lindsey Wallace, a survivor from the original film who is convinced that Michael Myers is after her. A poster of the cover was also made available at the convention.
Also available at the Halloween Returns To Haddonfield 25th Anniversary Convention, was a souvenir magazine published by Xmachina, a multimedia company who had previously created comic book sequels to films such as Don Coscarelli's Phantasm and Lucio Fulci's Gates Of Hell. Included in the magazine was an original thirteen page story based on the Halloween franchise. The story takes place on Halloween 2003, as a young district attorney investigating the mystery of the Michael Myers phenomenon visits Dr. Sam Loomis in a rest home in order to disprove his prediction that the evil will rise again to wreak vengeance upon the town of Haddonfield. On the verge of death and hiding from the world, Loomis' mind remains sharp and weary of the imminent escape of Michael Myers from Ridgemont Maximum Security Mental Hospital, where, according to this story, the killer has been incarcerated for the last sixteen years. The comic book, which was a small part of the souvenir magazine, also had its own soundtrack compact disc, which was designed to be listened to while comic book story! The seven-minute score was composed and performed by story co-writer, Stephen Romano.
[edit] DVD Exclusive
The DVD release of the documentary, ‘Halloween: 25 Years Of Terror’ included a new comic book by the documentary’s writer / director producer Stefan Hutchinson entitled Halloween: Autopsis. Like his previous story, Halloween: One Good Scare, this was set in the new continuity. The story takes place in 1993, and centers on a photojournalist named Carter who receives an assignment to follow Sam Loomis in an effort to determine the location of Michael Myers. This leads into a forthcoming novella about Loomis himself, entitled ‘Sam’, which will soon be available as a free download from the official site, halloweencomics.com [1]
[edit] Continuity
While the Chaos comics are not accepted as canon, the attempt to create continuity between Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later causes the plot of the Halloween: Resurrection film to be impossible, due to the use of Laurie Strode in both stories. If we're to believe Halloween: Resurrection, Laurie Strode is already in a sanitarium when Michael arrives to finally murder her. In the comic books, Laurie becomes the murderer after killing Michael in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later before being institutionalized. Also, Laurie is stabbed in the eye with the shard of glass from the broken mirror toward the end of Halloween III: The Devil's Eyes, yet she shows no sign of possessing any eye trauma in Halloween: Resurrection.
Halloween: One Good Scare and Halloween: Autopsis are set within the films new continuity. Autopsis is also official canon within this, undergoing approval from the series producer, Malek Akkad.
The story contained within the ‘Halloween Returns To Haddonfield’ magazine is not set in any continuity – it is set in our world and examines the possibility that the stories are based on fact.
| The Halloween movies |
|---|
| John Carpenter/Debra Hill-conceived: Halloween | Halloween II |
| Sequel not featuring Michael Myers: Halloween III: Season of the Witch |
| First continuity: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers | Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers |
| Second continuity: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later | Halloween: Resurrection |
| Remake: Halloween |
| Comic book continuity: Halloween (comics) |
