The internet is like the ocean – vast, unending, and filled with life. And just like the ocean, despite how much is out there, there is even more hiding in the depths than we could ever comprehend or discover. Yet we try. We try to seek out the places where the best is found, where gems lay hidden beneath the sand, where previously little known spaces are found and brought to wider attention. There are those who brave the maelstrom of content to find that which not only catches our attention but what ferries us into calm, beautiful waters.
Webcomics Worth Watching returns! Every month or so a Multiversity writer takes a look at one webcomic we think you all should be reading. This month Michael Mazzacane looks at a thematically fitting comic “The Last Halloween.” Mostly spoiler-free.
Name: “The Last Halloween”
By: Abby Howard
Updates: Infrequent, but listed as Thursdays
Genres: Supernatural, Horror, Coming of Age
Years active: 2013-Present
Age Rating: Young Adult and up, it looks cute but also rather violent
For Fans of: “Hellboy,” The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Costume Quest
The Basics
“The Last Halloween” centers on 10 year old Mona’s journey of self-discovering on all hallows eve, after being left home alone instead of trick or treating. Alone in her house, things go from bad to worse, as all the television stations stop broadcasting and suddenly all of these scary monsters start showing up. Chased into the, always, scary woods she comes across makes some new undead friends and together they setout on a quest to save humanity and stop these monsters otherwise it will be the Last Halloween.
The second book in this series follows brother sister duo Libby and Malcom on a quest for the Monstlaughterer and deals more in the relationships between monsters and humanity.
There is also a selection of guest strips.
The Comic
“The Last Halloween” walks a tightrope early on, jumping between a legitimate horror beats and irreverent humor. This early rhythm isn’t that far off from the likes of SpongeBob SquarePants or Invader Zim as it balances an irreverent posture with horror beats that occur only when you look closer at the situation. It is a balancing act that isn’t perfect at the start, but it eventually finds a good balance as Mona and her friends begin to uncover the larger conspiracy.
That larger conspiracy is actually a surprising selling point, it nicely subverts certain genre topes within this storytelling and gives this story a depth and narrative spine you wouldn’t quite expect at the start. It lets the book operate as an adventure narrative with a horror comedy surface. “Last Halloween” adventure spine lets this cast of characters come into themselves and surprise readers.
Art Progression
Artists Abby Howard’s style is consistent throughout the first book as it juxtaposes emotive cartooned figure work with line heavy environments. The dichotomy between the two styles is the source of the comics humor and heart. it is her ability to balance/mash up and find comedy in the grotesque horror of the series that keeps things feeling fresh. You’d think after 100+ pages the twee emotive cartoon style juxtaposed against the heavy lining and gorey imagery, reminiscent of EC Comics, would run out of charm. It does not with consistent progression and new elements. While some moments are undoubtedly more outwardly funny than others, Howard’s comedy seems to be the best when they let the juxtaposition do all the talking and moments are played a bit dry.
Take this moment after Mona eviscerates (it’s actually the proper term!) her way through some ghoulish creature.
The second book features a bit of a shift, the line count in general seems to go up, and there is a bit of a switch in the figure work. In the previous book it’s the monstrous creatures that featured the horrifying detail, Book 2 shifts that more towards the humans to a degree. There is less of a harsh juxtaposition of styles here and everything is more uniformly similar. This book features the same general earnest spirit and humor as the first.
Continued belowQuirks and Notes
Overall the Last Halloween site isn’t all the quirky. It has a bit of a gothic sense of minimalism as pages are overwhelmed in black, but that serves to highlight the stark white user interface. It does make the colorful plugs for Howard’s other work a bit rough. The archive page is nicely organized in a series of descending columns for each chapter with strip titles.
Closing Thoughts
At 135 entries, “The Last Halloween” has plenty of archive to work through while you wait for new strips to come out. It’s also the kind of story and structure that fits for a webcomic, the episodic and irreverent pacing at time runs counter to the strict page budgets associated with traditional comics publishing. Realizing the physical collection of Book 1 runs 400+ pages isn’t that surprising considering the material. Traditionally published horror comics tend to be dominated by either genre or an emphasize certain type of horror, “The Last Halloween” stands apart in this regard making it an enjoyable read and fitting one for this spooky month of October.
