TRICK OR THREAT: GIFFEN & ROMAN ON I LUV HALLOWEEN

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

Halloween has always been and always will be about one thing ... getting the best candy. And, some fiendish friends excel at tricks if they don't get the right treats. When these gremlins receive a frickin' apple at their first house of the night, they plan deadly revenge on the offending fruit-favoring old-timer. Join the misadventures of a group of particularly disturbing trick-or-treaters as they go about their macabre business on Halloween night.

So says TOKYOPOP, who want you to celebrate Halloween with Keith Giffen and Benjamin Roman this October with the first volume of their TOKYOPOP project, I Luv Halloween.

Just don’t go trick-or-treating with the wrong company, kids.

I Luv Halloween isn’t a Ray Bradbury-style reminiscence of an idyllic childhood. It’s been described as “Charlie Brown on absinthe” and stars kids who would find Tim Burton or Jhonen Vasquez’s head a perfectly happy place to live their lives.

Created and illustrated by Ben Roman, the concept itself was good enough to attract veteran comic book artist/writer Keith Giffen to the project. “I was brought on board after the fact by [former TOKYOPOP editor] Mark Paniccia. "Whaddaya think of this kid's idea?" Guess I thought enough of it to sign on for the long haul.”

Giffen currently writes Defenders and Drax the Destroyer as well as the upcoming revival of Howling Commandos for Marvel Comics. He is best known for his critically acclaimed work on Justice League International and Legion of Super-Heroes and is the creator of DC’s intentionally silly character, Ambush Bug and is also co-creator of the alien mercenary comic book anti-hero Lobo. He has been keeping busy with projects like DC’s Formerly Known as the Justice League (and its sequel, “I Can’t Believe It’s Not the Justice League” that’s been serialized in JLA: Classified #4-#9), The Authority/Lobo: Spring Break Massacre (DC/Wildstorm), Hero Squared (Atomeka Press, and later Boom! Studios), Dominion (Image Comics) and the upcoming Gutwrencher with Steve Niles.

He’s also involved in adapting Battle Royale and Battle Vizens for TOKYOPOP.

One of his favorite manga is Domu by the legendary Katsuhiro Otomo. “Definitely Domu,” he said. “Akira was good. Gen of Hiroshima, Baron Gong Battles... Oddly enough, I don't much care for [Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima’s] Lone Wolf and Cub.”

However, Giffen said that I Luv Halloween owes more to Edward Gorey and Gahan Wilson than to any manga. According to him, his take on I Luv Halloween is “Peanuts by way of Texas Chainsaw Massacre as spelled out by Monty Python.”

Creator Ben Roman has worked with Steve Niles on The Lonely Tombstone, Mike Garcia on I’m not your Teddy and some work on Penny Farthing Press’ Decoy.

“Take a group of ****ed up kids who just want the simple pleasure of trick or treating, but instead get caught up in a whirl wind of murders, lies, big breasted hot chicks, razorblade apples and murders [and you have I Love Halloween],” Roman said. “Did I forget to say murders? Oh! Oh! There’s also a dog with one eye if you like that kind of thing. Hmmm…I guess that didn’t explain much.

“I had originally pitched a simpler version of idea around to different publishers for a year or two with no success; I had pretty much shelved the project and moved to L.A.,” he recalled. “I met someone who worked at TOKYOPOP while I was working my regular 9-5, he passed it to Mark and I got the call. I tried for years to break into comics attending cons and such but it took getting a gig at a copy shop to get my foot in the door. Go figure.

“Anyhow, when Keith was mentioned to possibly come on board I jumped at the chance. Keith just made the characters come to life with his dialogue and story. The insanity that plays out in the book is all Keith’s warped idea of what's fun on Halloween. Hell, I wish my youth was as entertaining.”

According to Giffen, the kids in I Luv Halloween, namely Finch, Devil Lad, Pig Pig, Spike, Mr. Kitty and Moochie are “Just kids. Macabre kids but still just kids. Okay... twisted, demented kids. There. I said it. Satisfied?”

There is also Mush, “the dog with half his head missing.”

Why should the comic book community check out I Luv Halloween? “I don't know how to answer that,” Giffen admitted, but quickly added that “There's so little crossover between the audiences. Manga readers tend to stick to manga and comic book fans tend to stick to comic books. Is there anything I could say that would persuade a JLA reader to check out I Luv Halloween? I mean, short of "Look! Wonder Woman shows her hooters!"

Each volume of I Luv Halloween will focus on a full night of Halloween, from devilish beginning to untimely end. The first volume is scheduled to be in stores in October.

Read the first chapter of Volume One of I Luv Halloween for free at www.tokyopop.com/takuhaionline

Check out an earlier article on I Luv Halloweeen by clicking here.



Related articles on TOKYOPOP’s Original English Language (OEL) manga:

Becky Cloonan on East Coast Rising

Rivkah On Steady Beat

Jen Quick On Tokyopop's Off*Beat

Justin Boring & Greg Hildebrandt Jr. On War On Flesh

TOKYOPOP's Oel Manga Pioneers: Rikki & Tavisha Simons

On Five Sets Of Rising Stars: Jeremy Ross On TOKYOPOP's Rising Stars Of Manga

[Márcio Takara]

Congratulations to Benjamin. His drawings are sooooooooo amzing. Nice colors on the cover too.

[Márcio Takara]

Hey, I just notice now! You can read some previews inside their website!

so cool...

[hoarseandbuggy]

Ben is a tremendously talented guy. Do yourselves a favor and check out the book!

[uberfan]

Did anyone read the previews.... a little disturbin' what they're pitchin...
ok.

[EmeraldGuy32]

I'm a little reluctant to get anything from tokyopop but if my lcs carries this, I'll get it.

[webhead]

wow sounds great cant wait to get it.

[Solario]

Well I'm morbidly fascinated now. I'm not sure my shop carries it, but since it's Griffin he probably won't need much pursuading.

[Doc Holiday]

I wonder what they mean by "the first volume" of their project? Do they have plans for a follow-up?

[SmileOnADog]

Originally posted by Solario
Well I'm morbidly fascinated now. I'm not sure my shop carries it, but since it's Griffin he probably won't need much pursuading.

You can get manga in bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders.

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by Doc Holiday
I wonder what they mean by "the first volume" of their project? Do they have plans for a follow-up?

Current plans call for three volumes in total.

[Doc Holiday]

Are the three volumes all Halloween-oriented?

[ninjai]

ARG! I can't stand B&W! The artwork rules, i'd read this if it was color...even cell shaded anime color is better than B&W.

[Punchy]

GIFFEN!

Getting this for sure, looooooooooooooooove the Giff, looooooooooooove the art, looooooooooooooooooove this!