Well, my blog entry falls near Halloween again. I usually write about spooky horror books to read but my compatriots beat me to the punch this year. Yet, I have to do something Halloween-y for thus entry. My idea is Halloween themed characters in comics. This was a little harder than I thought. There are not as many straight themed characters. Most are Halloween adjacent. I will start off with mainly themed characters and then lead into the archetypes that are related to Halloween.
I will start off with one of my favorite from the Spider-Man universe. It is Hallows’ Eve. She is a quintessential Halloween character. To start with the color design for her costume is black and orange (Halloween colors to me). There are little pumpkins holding her cape up. Her power is what really screams Halloween. She has a Magic Mask Satchel with magical masks inside. Each mask has a different a different power. For instance the ghost mask gives the power of intangibility and invisibility, the witch mask for casting spells, or a werewolf or Hulk mask for enhanced strength. Sadly, as of late Marvel only rolls her out near Halloween.
Another character that is Halloween related is Jack O’ Lantern. Believe it or not both Marvel and DC created a character with that name. First off, the Marvel Jack O’ Lantern character was a villain. There have been many incarnations of this character throughout comic history. Some were just normal humans and some were given demonic powers due to pacts with Satan. The normal Jack wears body armor and a glowing pumpkin helmet. They would use weapons that were Halloween related like pumpkin bombs (like the Green Goblin), razor bats and trick ghosts. The DC variation of Jack O’ Lantern was actually a hero. He was part of the Global Guardians. The original was an Irish hero who was given a magical faery lantern that grants him powers tied to the time of day. His power peaks at midnight and wanes at noon. To me the lantern looks like a black version of the pumpkins that kids collect candy in during Halloween.
Lastly, the only other straight Halloween character I could find is Halloween Girl for the Nocturnals. She is the daughter of Doctor Horror who leads the Nocturnals. The Nocturnals is a group that fights eldritch threats and the criminal underworld. Evening Horror (her real name) can communicate with ghosts both verbally and telepathically. She can also house and command spirits in morbid toys and dolls that when needed can grow and morph into monstrous protectors. So basically, she is a goth teenager with her creepy dolls.
These are the only characters that I find imbue the idea of Halloween. Yet that does not mean that there are not characters that are Halloween adjacent. There are a bunch of archetypes for horror characters. Here are a few.
VAMPIRES- You get from Marvel: Dracula, Morbius, Blade to an extent, Selene, and Varnae. DC has Nocturna, Looker, and Andrew Bennett of I, Vampire fame. And let us not forget Vampirella.
WEREWOLVES- Marvel has Werewolf by Night and Man-Wolf (technically). DC has Bigby Wolf from Fables and Timber Wolf from Legion of Super-Heroes.
GHOSTS- DC has Deadman, Gentleman Ghost, Spectre, and Haunted Tank to name a few. Yet, Marvel does not have as many ghosts in the biblical sense. Yet there Bats who is Dr. Strange’s ghost dog. Yet there is the penultimate comic ghost, Casper.
Lastly, SUPERNATURAL- Marvel has Master Pandemonium, Ghost Rider (not a real ghost like Casper), Brother Voodoo, Damien Hellstorm or Son of Satan, Devil Slayer, Mephisto, and Hellverine. DC has Zatanna, Dr. Fate, Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult, Klarion, Etrigan the Demon.
There are plenty of others but I cannot type as fast as my employees yelling names at me. To put it simply there are plenty of spooky characters in comics to read during the Halloween season or even all year long. Thanks again for reading my ramblings.
Toodles,
Mike