AGE: Born November 22nd, 1965
PAST CREDITS: The Black Terror, Dread, Lady Justice, The Psycho, Legends of the World's Finest, The Nocturnals: Black Planet, Batgirl and Robin: Thrillkiller
COMIC THAT MOST INFLUENCED YOU (and why): As a kid, Marvel Comics because of three things: Jack Kirby, John Buscema, and Gene Colan. The first time I laid eyes on my friend Eric Messinio's collection of Marvel Comics in 1972, I was transfixed. I spent the whole day in his stuffy little room, leafing through the coolest things I'd ever seen in the world. The Red Skull, The Hulk, monsters, vampires, the Son of Satan, The Fantastic Four, The Man-Thing, Asgardians! All in fully saturated process color! I was hooked. I wouldn't leave Eric's house till he'd given me ten comics from his collection as a "starter set." Later on, I grooved on Bernie Wrightson, Dave Sim, Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin, and Bill Sienkiwicz. And after I read The Dark Knight Returns, Elektra: Assassin, Ronin, and The Watchmen (all in 1986), that's when I knew I was going to be a comic-book man for life.
BEST NON-COMICS INFLUENCES: Frank Frazetta, Raymond Chandler, H.P. Lovecraft, Ridley Scott, Akira Kurosawa, N.C. Wyeth.
INSPIRATION FOR THE NOCTURNALS: In 1990, when my daughter, Lindsay, told me at age four that she wanted to go trick-or-treating as "Halloween Girl," the name she'd come up with instantly grabbed me. At that time, I drew the first version of the character and not much later came up with the first version of the Gunwitch, a gunfighting scarecrow in a witch's hat. Later, on a plane to Glasgow in 1992, I mixed up the ingredients for what would be the first incarnation of the Nocs; it was called Doc Horror's Pawn Shop. It was a much darker and cynical version of what I would later temper with a feeling of "family unity," which is what I think fascinates me the most about The Nocturnals, besides the obvious spooky monster-crime stuff. After I got back from Scotland, it only took me six months before I came up with the name "Nocturnals." Three years later the series was in stores, and I'd never been happier in my whole entire career.
NOCTURNALS CHARACTER YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH: Doc Horror, I guess. He's the Dad, the most responsible. He's a little like my own father in many ways, and Doc has qualities as a friend and a father that I'd like to cultivate more in myself. But he has a dark side that he doesn't show people. Unlike him, though, I don't take medication to keep me from becoming a monster and killing everybody, but if I did, I suppose the medication would be making comic books. Each of the Nocs has a significance for me. Halloween Girl is the closest to my heart for obvious reasons. The Gunwitch is that thing that always lived in my closet or under my bed, except now I've tamed him. The Raccoon is the Mr. Cool that I always wished I was in school.
BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME YOU EVER WORE: When I was two years old, my mother dressed me in this really wicked Devil costume -- horns, tail, the widow's peak hood thing, a goatee, red tights, and a pitchfork. When I saw myself in the mirror, I started to cry. I bought a plastic pitchfork for the house years back, and it's still on the wall in the living room. I've been a scarecrow for Halloween exactly four times, but never went heeled.
WORST HALLOWEEN COSTUME: When I see kids dressed as hoboes and ballerinas on All Hallow's Eve, I want to go over and just hug them and tell them it's okay. It's clear that they come from dysfunctional families.
FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CANDY: For aesthetic reasons: candy corn. For fun: blow pops. I miss wax lips, though.
WORST HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY:
A toothbrush runs a close second to Bit O' Honey (except that it's worth it to hear my brother try to pronounce the middle part as if it's a separate word).
BEST/WORST HALLOWEEN EXPERIENCE: Every year is my best Halloween. I try to extend that holiday as long as possible, starting well before October, and ending well past Thanksgiving. I think if we celebrated Halloween once a month, we'd all be a happier nation. Our teeth would all rot out, but we'd be a happy, denture-wearing folk. Jack O' Lanterns should replace flowers. Imagine how much a nicely carved pumpkin with a candle in it would cheer up a sick friend or make a loved one go all mushy . . .
My worst Halloween experience was, I'd have to say, the year my friend and I were jumped by dead people in the cemetary. We barely escaped. The smell, though, was awful and my mom wouldn't let me in the house until I took off my costume. Also, the dead people turned out later to be just big kids who were there smoking cigarettes. The awful smell was not rotting flesh, but dog scat stuck to the bottom of my Batman cape.
ANY HALLOWEEN REGRETS: Never once in my life did I ever personally get an apple with a razor blade in it. I never met one kid who ever did, either. Which is why Halloween II is such an educational treat for me.
FAVORITE FILM in the HALLOWEEN SERIES: Season of the Witch. Lame movie, but, man, I love when the "Stonehenge Computer Chip" is activated by the TV set and fills the room with snakes and bugs and creepy crawly things. The coolest, grossest, most Halloween thing I've ever seen, next to Tom Burton's masterpiece, The Nightmare Before Christmans.
PLANS FOR THE FUTURE: I'd like to own a full line of Nocturnals action figures based on the hit movie. Then I'd buy a pumpkin farm and retire. Comics would be my hobby so I could do Nocturnals comics for pure fun, not to make a living.