Halloween Team Is (Finally!) Here
It's been a long journey to get to the release of Halloween Team #1.
Several years ago, I wrote a TV pilot script called Alt Alex that got some exciting buzz and attention. For my next script, I wanted to write a follow-up that had a similar tone and would make for a good companion piece. I love writing stories that are horror or horror-adjacent, and I started brainstorming what would become Halloween Team.
As a kid, I was obsessed with the Nickelodeon TV series Are You Afraid of the Dark. I wondered about those kids - the members of "The Midnight Society" - who would gather in the woods every week to tell scary stories. What if instead of just telling scary stories ... they also solved mysteries - and in doing so encountered real-life ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night? And what if ... what if we flashed forward twenty years, and this team of misfit kids was now grown? What if they led separate lives, and had mostly lost touch over the years? And what would then happen if a new mystery - one that reveals a deep, dark secret about the early days of the team - reunites them for one more adventure?
I wrote the Halloween Team pilot and had a ton of fun doing so. I grew to really love the characters and the world - and more so than anything else I'd previously written, I felt sad to not be continuing on their journey. But, such is the nature of TV pilot writing. For the most part, it's one-and-done.
For whatever reason, the Halloween Team pilot didn't get as many accolades as Alt Alex. But as time passed, I kept coming back to it as I thought about one of my other big writing ambitions: creating an original comic book series.
Now, trust me - as a lifelong comic book fan, I know that there can be heavy skepticism over the idea of work being adapted from TV or movie scripts. I totally get that. But the thing is: I've read so many comic books over the years that my favorite comic book writers and series are already a huge influence on my writing in general - even my film and TV scripts. Halloween Team, in particular, had a very comic book-y feel to it from the start. So the story seemed perfect to translate to the comic book medium. Additionally, there were so many elements that just felt like a great fit - from the name itself (I started getting excited just picturing a big "Halloween Team" logo emblazoned on the front of a comic book) to the distinct characters, big action, cliffhanger endings, and the blending of various genres.
I began the process of adapting the script to better suit a comic book, and then went out in search of an artistic partner. Luckily, I found the talented Matt Shults. Matt had a great sense for story and character, and it's been a lot of fun collaborating with him on things like character design, world-building, and cover art. He even helped design a killer title logo! As a writer, it's been thrilling to see Matt bring the scripts to life so vividly.
I also went about trying to shop the book to publishers. There were a few close calls, but ultimately, no dice. What can I say - much like Film and TV, the world of comic books is not exactly easy to break into. That said, I was still eager to get the book out there any way I could. I felt confident that we could self-publish the book and stand out from the pack - if we could just get people to check out the comic.
And that's where YOU, the reader, come in. We ended up self-publishing the book digitally via Comixology/Amazon (it's also now available on GlobalComix). Issue #1 released on October 4th, and Issue #2 is out October 25th. It's all very exciting, but we need YOUR support to make sure we maintain solid position on the Amazon charts, keep visibility for the comic high, and somehow, some way, get enough organic buzz that we, eventually, have the means to keep the book going beyond this initial 4-issue miniseries. Because this miniseries is, really, only the beginning - we've got *so* much more story to tell.
Halloween Team is an "indie" comic - but it's also a big, fun, spooky adventure with, I think, pretty wide appeal. It's got horror, action, and humor - and it's also a bit of a commentary on what it's like to be a Millennial here in this crazy era we're all living in. If you like stuff like Stranger Things or Buffy or Paper Girls ... I think you'll dig it.
I appreciate your support, and I hope you enjoy Halloween Team! If you read and like it, tell your friends, leave us a good review on Amazon and Goodreads, #JoinTheTeam, and stay tuned for the rest of the series. Follow the book on Twitter: @HalloweenTeam22 - for more news and updates. We even have Halloween Team logo T-shirts available on Redbubble and Design By Humans (and they look great, if I do say so myself!).
And oh yeah, one more thing: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Several years ago, I wrote a TV pilot script called Alt Alex that got some exciting buzz and attention. For my next script, I wanted to write a follow-up that had a similar tone and would make for a good companion piece. I love writing stories that are horror or horror-adjacent, and I started brainstorming what would become Halloween Team.
As a kid, I was obsessed with the Nickelodeon TV series Are You Afraid of the Dark. I wondered about those kids - the members of "The Midnight Society" - who would gather in the woods every week to tell scary stories. What if instead of just telling scary stories ... they also solved mysteries - and in doing so encountered real-life ghosts, goblins, vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night? And what if ... what if we flashed forward twenty years, and this team of misfit kids was now grown? What if they led separate lives, and had mostly lost touch over the years? And what would then happen if a new mystery - one that reveals a deep, dark secret about the early days of the team - reunites them for one more adventure?
I wrote the Halloween Team pilot and had a ton of fun doing so. I grew to really love the characters and the world - and more so than anything else I'd previously written, I felt sad to not be continuing on their journey. But, such is the nature of TV pilot writing. For the most part, it's one-and-done.
For whatever reason, the Halloween Team pilot didn't get as many accolades as Alt Alex. But as time passed, I kept coming back to it as I thought about one of my other big writing ambitions: creating an original comic book series.
Now, trust me - as a lifelong comic book fan, I know that there can be heavy skepticism over the idea of work being adapted from TV or movie scripts. I totally get that. But the thing is: I've read so many comic books over the years that my favorite comic book writers and series are already a huge influence on my writing in general - even my film and TV scripts. Halloween Team, in particular, had a very comic book-y feel to it from the start. So the story seemed perfect to translate to the comic book medium. Additionally, there were so many elements that just felt like a great fit - from the name itself (I started getting excited just picturing a big "Halloween Team" logo emblazoned on the front of a comic book) to the distinct characters, big action, cliffhanger endings, and the blending of various genres.
I began the process of adapting the script to better suit a comic book, and then went out in search of an artistic partner. Luckily, I found the talented Matt Shults. Matt had a great sense for story and character, and it's been a lot of fun collaborating with him on things like character design, world-building, and cover art. He even helped design a killer title logo! As a writer, it's been thrilling to see Matt bring the scripts to life so vividly.
I also went about trying to shop the book to publishers. There were a few close calls, but ultimately, no dice. What can I say - much like Film and TV, the world of comic books is not exactly easy to break into. That said, I was still eager to get the book out there any way I could. I felt confident that we could self-publish the book and stand out from the pack - if we could just get people to check out the comic.
And that's where YOU, the reader, come in. We ended up self-publishing the book digitally via Comixology/Amazon (it's also now available on GlobalComix). Issue #1 released on October 4th, and Issue #2 is out October 25th. It's all very exciting, but we need YOUR support to make sure we maintain solid position on the Amazon charts, keep visibility for the comic high, and somehow, some way, get enough organic buzz that we, eventually, have the means to keep the book going beyond this initial 4-issue miniseries. Because this miniseries is, really, only the beginning - we've got *so* much more story to tell.
Halloween Team is an "indie" comic - but it's also a big, fun, spooky adventure with, I think, pretty wide appeal. It's got horror, action, and humor - and it's also a bit of a commentary on what it's like to be a Millennial here in this crazy era we're all living in. If you like stuff like Stranger Things or Buffy or Paper Girls ... I think you'll dig it.
I appreciate your support, and I hope you enjoy Halloween Team! If you read and like it, tell your friends, leave us a good review on Amazon and Goodreads, #JoinTheTeam, and stay tuned for the rest of the series. Follow the book on Twitter: @HalloweenTeam22 - for more news and updates. We even have Halloween Team logo T-shirts available on Redbubble and Design By Humans (and they look great, if I do say so myself!).
And oh yeah, one more thing: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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