Mona wants to go Trick-or-Treating. Abandoned by her parent for the evening, she is expected to stay put and watch television. However, as each television channel begins to shut off as real horrors happen on TV, Mona soon finds herself in the middle of a real Monster movie. She runs from her home and encounters a cast of strange characters who she assumes are just kids dressed up for Halloween: a haunted doll (based off of Robert the Doll in Key West), a ghoul, and a were opossum. Mona ends up with these monster misfits and their caretaker, Dr. Fugue. She’ll have to either stick with them, or face the blood-thirsty monsters out on her own.
If you’re sensitive to pen and ink drawings of human organs, put down the book and walk away. While everything is in black and white, it can still be pretty graphic for sensitive comic book fans. Readers of comics like Lenore or Johnny the Homicidal Maniac will feel right at home with the work of Abby Howard. It has that hint of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, with Abby Howard’s own style. The tongue-in-cheek style, full of jokes about horror movie tropes and pop culture references is an absolute delight. I absolutely love that she used Robert the Doll in this comic (although I hope she asked his permission first and doesn’t get cursed- seriously, look it up). There’s also a ghoul who is quite busy on Twitter.
The Last Halloween is pretty hefty at 400 pages, but the reading goes quickly.
For those with a sick sense of humor, The Last Halloween is a treat that won’t rot your teeth.
The Last Halloween is available from Iron Circus comics October 20, 2020.
