#spoilers
It’s the spookiest time of the year! I decided to kick it off with visiting last year’s one-shot Halloween Special from Marvel, and it was actually better than I expected! Featuring five short stories, each tale conveys a macabre version of some of our favorite Marvel characters.
First there’s a story that features Matt Murdock undergoing an eye transplant to restore his vision, but not long after recovery he starts having hallucinations and kills Foggy and very much goes insane. It’s then revealed that the Kingpin had Matt’s tear ducts permanently tampered with during surgery, and so arrives to finish him off after his whole existence is in shambles.
Then there’s an alternate take on the Fantastic Four in which they’re actually weird alien doppelgangers that had assumed the roles of our heroes when they were initially bombarded by cosmic rays. Doctor Doom is nearly successful in destroying them, all save Sue, who then has him imprisoned as she ventures off for world domination.
Next there’s a sort of ode to Carpenter’s The Thing where Iron Man, Deadpool, and Colossus do battle with Captain America as he rises from a frozen base. Turns out Cap is very much The Thing, killing both Colossus and Deadpool, and finally standing off with Iron Man very much verbatim to how Kurt Russel and Keith David did in the movie, right down to the last line. It’s actually kinda neat.
We get the Punisher of the Opera, which one can easily assume what that entails. It’s basically a brief retelling of the Phantom of the Opera, but with Frank Castle laced into it.
Last there’s a story of two young trick or treaters that sneak into the abandoned Xavier School where they face the ghosts of the mutant brotherhood, but are in the end rescued by the spirit of Wolverine. In the end they find “hope” in the form of the Cerebro helmet.
So yeah, a few spooks and twists and disturbing images that ends on a surprisingly heartwarming note. It’s a fun read and one that I might try to make annually now. I haven’t looked into it, but it’d be neat if they made another installment this year.
TL;DR Score: It’s as bizarre as an episode of The Twilight Zone, but with an 80s edge. All the things a Monster Kid could ask for.
TL;DR Comics 