Beginning in February, Devil's Due Publishing and Compass International Pictures are proud to present the latest Halloween Comics series.
'Halloween: The Mark of Thorn' is an all-new tale that takes a fresh look at the Halloween franchise through the eyes of one of the original film's survivors, Tommy Doyle.
We caught up with series co-writer, Stefan Hutchinson to learn more about the series.
The Big Bad Wolf: Can you give us a synopsis of Halloween: The Mark of Thorn?
Stefan Hutchinson: As you know, when Halloween: H20 came out, it dropped Halloween 4-6 out of continuity, saying they didn't happen. It's one of the many controversies amongst fans of the series. To this day, people insist that they can tie everything together well etc. but it's not possible - certainly not thematically. Maybe you can tie them in if you accept the prominently supernatural tones of 4-6, but if you're aligned to the more realistic feel and subtle supernatural overtones of Halloween and Halloween II, then it's clear that they don't match. Say whatever you want, Thornies... ;)
That aside, it's a decision that was made by the powers that be. And that's that, end of story. We still get constant letters asking for a follow-on to Halloween 6, and asking about what happened to those characters, including Jamie Lloyd, which surprises me because she was killed off in that film.
To get straight to the point, it's not going to happen. There's legal complications there for us which prevent it, the powers that be don't want it so that's pretty much that. I wanted to get that out there right off the bat. This is not a sequel to the middle trilogy. It's something different, and besides, we've established a very coherent continuity in our comic books up, which is something that isn't in the films, so we won't be sacrificing that to make a new sequel to the sixth film in a series that was dropped from continuity ten years ago.
That said, our new story IS respectful to those films. We're not out to bash them here, we're here to acknowledge them and their fanbases by paying tribute to them with a piece of metafiction. I had to argue hard just to convince those in charge that we could make a good and accessible Thorn story. Jeff Katz, who I'm co-writing this with, is a big fan of those films, so you can expect lots of acknowledgments in there.
The Big Bad Wolf: We last saw Tommy Doyle in the Halloween 30th Anniversary Special. He was a comic creator with a wife and a child. Are we going to learn more about Tommy�s family in this series?
Stefan Hutchinson: Most definitely. There are clues inside that short story as to where we'll be going with this. In our universe, Tommy Doyle now lives in Salt Lake City, and is a comic writer / illustrator. He's been successful too, but now finds himself in a creative bind due to problems in his home life - his marriage is failing and he doesn't know how to prevent that. His editor suggests that he revisits his past to create a fictional version of what happened after the events of 1978, and this opens up a lot of avenues for him.
This story will be told as a comic-within-a-comic. The idea of this inner-story is that it's a different version of the Thorn storyline (very much like the Ultimate Marvel books), and we allude to it being the source story that the movies came from (Halloween 4-6 actually exist as movies within our universe). It becomes Tommy's attempt to understand the Bogeyman, which is why the Thorn mythology begins to arise.
He goes back to Haddonfield, and we see more events from his past. However, in going back there, he tempts fate a little too much, and you know what that means...!
The Big Bad Wolf: What can we expect from Michael Myers in this series?
Stefan Hutchinson: Violence! The Michael Myers who appears in the comic-within-a-comic is very much in character with how he was presented in Halloween 4-6, although he certainly won't be crying. He'll be a complete bastard. He'll also be much more physical brutal in his killing methods.
The Shape as he appears in Tommy's real world will be a continuing build on how he has been presented in our comic books so far - he's still the evil, sadistic and ethereal killer we've had haunting our characters so far.
The Big Bad Wolf: Will we see any appearances of other characters from the Halloween movie in this book?
Stefan Hutchinson: Yup. You'll be seeing new versions of familiar characters from Halloween 4-6, some of whom will have real-life counterparts. You'll also be seeing the Man In Black again, but he won't be Doctor Wynn this time. He'll be darker, more powerful than that.
The Big Bad Wolf: When is the first issue due out?
Stefan Hutchinson: That's a good question. We're still waiting for confirmation there. There have been a lot of changes over at Devil's Due Publishing, so we're waiting that out at the moment. That's also the reason for the delay in publication for issue 3 of Halloween: The First Death of Laurie Strode.
The Big Bad Wolf: What is the frequency of this book and is it a mini-series or ongoing?
Stefan Hutchinson: It will be a monthly mini-series. It was planned to be five issues, but now it's looking more like four issues, but with a double-sized finale (which is a lot easier to work with as we have two storylines to resolve in it).
The Big Bad Wolf: What is the cover price?
Stefan Hutchinson: I'm not sure - I'm not involved in any of the cost mechanics. I'd guess at $3.50 though!
The Big Bad Wolf: Who is the rest of the creative team on the book?
Stefan Hutchinson: This is the first time I've done a co-write on a story, and I'm doing it with Jeff Katz. He really wanted to go with a Tommy Doyle story, and I didn't have any plans for that character within the whole storyline, so we've made it work really well. It connects into our larger picture while also being a good standalone, which is the aim with the majority of our stories. The actual art team haven't yet been confirmed.
The Big Bad Wolf: Where can we find out more about Halloween: The Mark of Thorn?
Stefan Hutchinson: At the moment, the information is quite limited - at least until nearer the release. The best place to check would be www.halloweencomics.com as always.
The Big Bad Wolf: In closing, what would you like to say about Halloween: The Mark of Thorn?
Stefan Hutchinson: It's something different. If you're a Thorn fan or not, you should enjoy this. Although it's a new take on that strand of the mythology, even the Dan Farrands disciples should be happy!
The Big Bad Wolf: Thank you for your time, Stef! Best of luck with the Halloween mark of thorn comic!
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