In recent years, I keep having the same thought throughout October. I think about how crazy things are. How busy I am. How everything seems to be spiraling out of control. How all I *really* want to be doing is curling up on the couch with a good horror movie. How all I *really* want to be doing is getting in the Halloween spirit. How all I *really* want to be doing is tuning out the noise and the craziness and the chaos - and simply enjoying Spooky Season.

Maybe I am a little more like Tommy Taylor than I like to admit.

Tommy, of course, is one of the core characters in HALLOWEEN TEAM - the comic book saga, written/created by me, that kicked off a few years ago. And Tommy is nostalgic for the way things used to be. He fondly remembers simpler times of adventures and mysteries and a sense of boundless purpose and possibility. And then he finds himself a full-fledged adult, stuck in an office, wondering what happened to the dream.

Unlike Tommy, I don't have a team of long-lost childhood friends to reunite with in order to hunt monsters, solve mysteries, and fight demonic invasions. But I do have something. And that something is the power of creativity - and in turn, the power of creation.

Because the antidote to the noise and the chaos and the craziness of it all is, I think, to create. To make art. To put that art out there into the world. That isn't always easy. It isn't always feasible. But when you have the opportunity to do it, if that's what feeds your soul (as it does mine), then you sort of have to find a way or make a way to make it so.

Because opportunities to get your art supported, funded, and distributed are not always easy to come by. So when I had the opportunity, via the fine folks at Comicker Press, to actually continue the story of HALLOWEEN TEAM, I of course jumped on it. When you're an aspiring writer, so much of what you write goes into a void, and all the ideas that you had to build out a whole world, to flesh out all those characters, to map out epic narrative arcs - all of that gets left unfulfilled. So while sequels can get a bad rap, for me, getting to write more HALLOWEEN TEAM - it was one of the most exciting things I've ever gotten to do creatively.

Now, I could answer the lingering questions. Now, I could expand the scope and scale of the world. Now, I could more fully explore these characters and get inside their heads. Now, I could fill in backstory, and tease out future stories to come.

All of that and more is what you'll get in HALLOWEEN TEAM: SHADOWS.

We've got an incredible new artist in Bugrah Berah. His work is clean, crisp, and expressive. I loved seeing his spin on these characters, and man - wait until you see some of the big, epic action he gets to draw as the story unfolds. Also! Original artist Matt Shults is back too - drawing flashback sequences in each of our four new issues. Matt has continued to up his game, and has delivered some jaw-dropping panels and pages.

It was exciting writing these new scripts. And it's been amazing to see the art come in. Now, finally, Issue #1 is out there. I can't wait for everyone to read it.

I'm trying to take a moment to celebrate. To exhale. It can be tough, sometimes, to do that. But it's October. It's Halloween season. It's a time for fun, for adventure, for imagination. And of course, for scary stories and spooky vibes. I hope that HALLOWEEN TEAM can help you with that, as it's helped me. To escape. To get lost in a fun, fictional world.

So settle in and get comfy. Get in the Spooky Season spirit. Take a moment to enjoy, to escape, to immerse yourself in Halloween.

HALLOWEEN TEAM: SHADOWS #1 is out now to purchase digitally, as is the original volume of HALLOWEEN TEAM. Give it a look, thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween!