Our interview series continues with Drew Edwards and John Gholson of Halloween Man! Drew and his team have a tremendous series with tons of content to read and is a perfect fit for this day of Hallowen!
Before we get to that, here's a list of the creative team:
Writers: Drew Edwards
Pencils and Inks: Jason Wilson
Colors: John Gholson
Letters: April Guadia
You can start reading Halloween Man #1 here. Also, don't forget to check out this year's Halloween special Entropy, here. Get your downloadable PDFs to support the creative team here!
GlobalComix: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work.
Drew Edwards: I’m a twice-over Ringo-nominated writer and Best of Austin winning comic creator. I am a podcaster, part of the 400-plus episode Castle of Horror podcast. I also fancy myself an amateur folklorist with a deep love of the subject of monsters.
John Gholson: I'm a lifelong comic fan, who dropped out of SCAD during my thirties and found a sideways door into comics through movie reviews. I was working as a film critic and formal reviews were drying up, so I started doing 9-panel grid illustrated reviews, and got some minor attention from the comics' mainstream. Since then, I've done a few projects for comedy crooner Richard Cheese, a few issues of Halloween Man, and a whole slew of posters for Austin's comedy community (of which I'm a part as well).
GlobalComix: Do you have a favorite issue that you’ve created so far?
Drew Edwards: They were all my favorites at some point. If you were to hold a gun to my head and ask which ones I think are the best written, I’d say “Halloween Man vs. the Invisible Man” or “Hallowtide.”
John Gholson: Halloween Man: Beyond October is really special to me, because it was a bit of an artistic breakthrough I'd been pushing up against for a long time. You can look at my work in Bat City Special before that, and it looks almost like a different artist. For nearly my whole life, I struggled with bringing the energy of the one-off doodles I did for myself into my professional work. Beyond October was 100% where that breakthrough happened. I'm still learning and growing, but I think of that issue as the first time I really got "me" on to the page, whatever that means.
GlobalComix: What would you say is the aspect of creating comics that you enjoy most?
Drew Edwards: Writing the rough draft of a script tends to be my most joyful because it is all so raw at that point. After that, though, I like seeing the final art because it’s the other end of that process. In between, I love the endless back and forth emails with my editor and friend Russell Hillman. We’ve worked together for two decades and understand each other’s creative voices. He’s also a talented comic creator in his own right. (Read FREAKTOWN COMICS!)
Making comics is a pure collaborative experience that is unlike anything else. Really, the only other thing I can compare it to is being in a band, because it’s multiple talents coming together to make one final piece of art.
John Gholson: As a collector, there's a specific joy in the final product. Holding a printed book in your hands with your art in it is a great psychological pay off. "I did this? I did this!" When I'm doing pages, I probably think about comics like a movie or a play. What's the actor doing? I like nailing "performances" in the characters, if I can.
GlobalComix: Do you have a dream IP that you’d like to do a project for?
Drew Edwards: In terms of mainstream comics, The Fantastic Four is my Great White Whale. I don’t think I’d be the first pick for that title because people think of me as a horror guy, but if you step back and look at Halloween Man for a second, I think you’d see that it’s a great audition piece for FF. If we’re spitballing, I think Hellboy vs. Halloween Man would be really fun. A lot of people think they’d be friends, but I think Solomon would hate Hellboy on sight and see him as a government stooge. Hellboy would see Halloween Man as a menace to the public, and that is where the fun would be. The best hero match-ups have melodrama at their heart.
John Gholson: I wanted to write Hulk for the longest time. I have a whole pitch in my head that Marvel still hasn't done yet! I don't know if I've given up on that dream of being a comic writer just yet, but I'm not getting any younger. I have my own stories I want to tell too. They're percolating. When it comes to IP, I wish I had some involvement in licensed work - doing official tees, that sort of thing. The Muppets is a good fit for me there.
GlobalComix: How did Halloween Man start, and what was the inspiration for it?
Drew Edwards: I've been a “monster kid” since way back. If I think back as far as I can remember, my first clear memory is watching the movie THEM with my father. I think in many ways, growing up in the 80s was a kind of perfect storm of horror culture: you had a stream of contemporary monster movies coming out thanks to the make-up effects revolution that was happening in Hollywood, but also at my local video store, you had all of the classic Universal Monster films hitting VHS for the first time.
It bummed me out when the Creature from the Black Lagoon always had to die at the end of the movie. He just wanted to be loved. I always wanted there to be a story where the monster was the good guy and got the girl. That’s the root of Halloween Man. To get a little deeper on the subject, the original webcomic evolved as a sort of coping device after my twin was killed in a car accident when I was in my early 20’s. I was driving, and I had terrible depression and survivor’s guilt, to the point of feeling suicidal at times. I still struggle with mental illness, though I hate that term, specifically post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative identity disorder. My journey with the character has been one of trying to work through my own feelings, monstrousness, and otherness.
GlobalComix: What drew you to Halloween Man as a project?
John Gholson: I like superheroes and monsters so it was a natural fit. Drew and I have a lot of unusual overlapping interests - classic horror, Savage Dragon, Godzilla, a love for Marvel's Thing. I named my cat after Peter Cushing and Drew owns a Peter Cushing plaster cast "death mask." It was probably meant to be.
GlobalComix: Your wife does a lot of cosplay for the promotion of Halloween Man, is there a favorite one that
you both enjoy the most?
Drew Edwards: Jamie looks stunning in just about every outfit she wears. It’s a little tough for me to pick a favorite. In terms of actually doing a Lucy Chaplin themed photo shoot, the experience of going out and filming at Cedar Creek Dinosaur Park was so much fun. It was for “The Valentine’s Day That Time Forgot”, and being allowed to work with life-sized dinosaur statues was just nuts. It was pouring down rain, so it really had those Jurassic Park vibes.
If we’re going with non-Lucy cosplays, Jamie makes an amazing Elvira, which is why I share that photo as much as possible. God forbid Cassandra Peterson ever retires, but if she does want a protege, it has to be said that Jamie looks just as good in a low-cut black dress. Jamie’s personal favorite Lucy cosplay is a deep-green Pin-Up Girl Clothing wiggle dress that she combined with a lab-coat. She rocked that look at HavenCon 2021, and she did drop jaws on the con floor.
GlobalComix: Has Halloween Man inspired or influenced any of your other works?
John Gholson: Probably not in any obvious way. I mean, the work on the book has made me a better artist, and that influences everything. You do your pages, and you get a better feel for what you want to do again and what you don't. That has an influence, of course. But I was already a grown-up "monster kid," so it was already in line with my interests.
GlobalComix: How long do you think Halloween Man will continue?
Drew Edwards: Until I drop, most likely. I see it as my life’s work. I literally have years worth of scripts in my vaults. My goal is to get them all made and then some.
GlobalComix: Your website says that you use an iPad Pro and Procreate while working on the comic, how long have you been using an iPad? Lots of creators are looking for digital ways to create comics. Was it difficult to get used to?
John Gholson: I think it was 2018, when I was doing comics for a big oil company. I took to it immediately, and my own work has improved quicker since I've had that tool than it did beforehand. I'm a cheapskate when it comes to trying out new art supplies. The iPad let me experiment with brushes and erase cleanly and try again, if my experiment "failed." I landed on Procreate because it gave me the most immediate results with the most intuitive interface. Basically, I could start playing without an instruction manual. There are probably better tools out there, but that's what I settled into.
GlobalComix: Are there any other exciting projects on the horizon?
Drew Edwards: In terms of how the Halloween Man series goes, the other two chapters of Entropy are going to rock your world. In terms of scope, this is the biggest story we’ve ever told. Our goal is for it to be the horror version of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Also, in 2024, we’re going to be featuring a lot of our amazing supporting cast. Lucy has another solo adventure coming up that really dives into her family history. But also, fan-favorites like Bella Donna and Man-Goat are going to be getting their own time to shine in the spotlight.
Outside of the weird world of Halloween Man, all I can say is that I have a lot of irons in the fire. So, keep your eyes and ears ready for news on that stuff.
GlobalComix: Your body of work is so varied, everything from posters to comics, to pin-ups. Do you have any advice for creators who also want to do a wide variety of work, especially for time management and avoiding burnout?
John Gholson: I think the reason I do a little of this and a little of that is to help avoid burnout. You have to do things that satisfy yourself. Sometimes that's just doing my own thing - chasing my muse - and sometimes it's trying something I've never done before, like coloring an entire issue.
We'd like to thank Drew Edwards and John Gholson for taking the time to chat with us about Halloween Man! They've recently released a brand new issue called Entropy which you can find here.
Here are some links to social media profiles where you can follow Halloween Man for updates!
dedwards 1 year ago
Hazzah! Happy Halloween!