Spooky, Spooky Sunday
Happy Halloween y'all!
BOO!!!
Woah… that was spooky. Welcome to the really, truly frightening edition of ToonStack. It is I, Hilary, writing to you today from the spooky, cobwebbed editor’s throne. Earlier this week I had the thought, “I need a support group for how much I’ve been saying the word spooky, which resulted in drawing this cartoon...
Furthermore, I can’t stop saying “Well, I love Halloween!!!” anytime someone tries to throw some anti-Halloween energy at me (Could you be more boring?). Because I do love Halloween. I love going wild with costumes, whether they are articulate or last minute, it doesn’t matter! I love overdosing on candy and I love the idea that candy somehow becomes more interesting when it’s shaped as a pumpkin. I love watching 31 days of scary movies and seriously think it should be illegal for Netflix to suddenly not have Practical Magic streaming in the month of October when it’s available the rest of the year. On top of all of that, I love throwing parties. In my ideal future I’m just a woman who can’t stop throwing a party. I mean, I want everyone to leave the moment I’m ready to go to bed (9:46 PM), but I still love to host, which resulted in this cartoon:
In honor of All Hallow’s Eve please enjoy these Halloween cartoons from the best cartoonists out there! They’re creepy! They’re kooky! Mysterious! Even SPOOKY! The… ToonStack Family!
Halloween is one of those bizarre Celtic-American traditions that within a year of moving here I gradually grasped it… while wearing a slutty unicorn costume.
Back in Australia, we would trick-or-treat around the neighbourhood (of course, free candy is a universal principle) but the other parts of it -- the parties, the spooky decorations, frankly all of it was such an alien idea for what was, essentially, something to do with a harvesting season celebration or something? (anyone?)
I wrote about Halloween the year I moved to the US and still don’t know if any of it makes sense, but if you’ve a coffee in your hand and 41 seconds of attention, you can gobble it up here.
One of my earliest cartoons and I stand by it whole heartedly. Give me a weird, homemade costume with plenty of duct tape and felt and face paint and cardboard and cut out the premade slutty nurse crap.
My most memorable Halloween was when I was nine. My best friend Sammy and I went trick or treating, dressed as milk and cookies (I was the cookies). We just visited the last house on the block, when Sammy said he knew a house that gave out big bags of Skittles, “just beyond that patch of woods over there.” Too scared to say I was scared, my flashlight shook as we entered the woods, snapping dead branches with every step. We walked for what felt like an hour, Sammy’s carton costume fading in and out of sight. Then I heard a noise- meowwww- but there were no cats in sight. Then I heard another. The meows turned to growls and came from every direction. “Sammy?” I cried, but there was no reply. My shoelace got caught on a tree root, and I dropped my flashlight. Everything went dark. I found it and fumbled for the switch. When I turned it on, I saw Sammy’s Halloween candy scattered on the ground- floating in a pool of milk.
Another memorable Halloween was the year I got a lot of Tootsie Pops. So yummy!
I love Halloween but I’m very particular. I don’t care for the costumes, and while I do love candy, that’s not what makes or breaks it. What I want is that creepy crawly feeling. You know, like bugs crawling on you, but on the inside. Just a little “Boo!” giving me the shivers. Maybe an “Eek!” or a “Gulp!” You know, when the lights are low, and you look outside your window into the dark and you get a goosebump parade marching up your arms. Maybe you look in the mirror and woah! Nothing’s there, but still. Maybe I’ll do a little freaky-deaky dance or even a mash. Not a mash intended for humans, mind you, but one for monsters. That’s what I'm after. None of this dressing up nonsense. That’s just silly.
This was one of the first cartoons I ever drew and immediately after drawing it I felt an immense sadness wondering if this was the creative peak of my just started brief cartooning hobby/career. All over and done with in the same week! Perhaps that was what has always made this cartoon spooky for me.
I will now present some stories about Halloween costumes of my Middle School years. In fourth grade, I was the Third Blind Mouse, of the Three Blind Mice. This costume involved wearing dark sunglasses, which I could not wear at night without becoming actually blind, so I was mostly just Third Mouse. Fifth Grade: My friends and I went as “Fashionable.” Did you, grown adults, know that you could just be an adjective for Halloween? We decided we’d each get a color to be fashionable with. I picked lime green. In sixth grade, I was invited to the popular girls’ Halloween party and I went all out on a Cruella Devil costume, with spray painted wig and everything. I showed up at one popular girl’s house to discover that all the popular girls had coordinated their costumes. They were “babies,” which was just an excuse to wear their pajamas. These popular girls were so mature, they’d already aged into Halloween Costume Apathy. Now full grown with a full blown case of Halloween Costume Apathy, I will forgo the last minute nurse/witch/cat costume this year and just go as “slutty.” Adjectives are the new nouns.
I was surprised to learn that people become vampires, mummies, and zombies on just one day of the year. I make that transformation every day I don't get at least 16 hours of sleep. Thankfully, being a cartoonist, I only have to work 43 or so minutes a day (when things are really busy, that is), which means I get to spend my other 8 waking hours doing things like trading business stocks, being tall, and posting on my tell all blog about Ellis Rosen (talk about spooky).
For Your Pleasure: Cartoon Extras
Have you checked out cartoonstock.com? Thanks to New Yorker cartoon editor emeritus, Bob Mankoff, this is the place to license and buy prints and merch of the best cartoons in the world, from The New Yorker, Wired, Airmail and... coming very soon... ToonStack!
Pre-order Send Help! a desert island cartoon collection by Ellis Rosen and Jon Adams
Come to Hilary’s Book Release Party: Hilary will be doing a SHOW to celebrate the release of Murder Book! Tuesday November 9th at LittleField and you can get tickets RIGHT HERE.
Amy Kurzweil teaches cartoon classes on Patreon!
Jason Chatfield has a Substack called New York Cartoons!
Be sure to check out Shelby Lorman’s newsletter, Please Clap!
The same goes for Sofia Warren’s advice newsletter, You’re Doing Great!
See more cartoons from Ellis Rosen’s weekly Junk Drawer!
And hey, we always would love it if ya…