Those of you on the outside of the Countdown to Halloween may not know that we
have new organizers this year. Since the Halloween Web interviews started
seven years ago with the folks that were running it, I thought it was only
fitting that we start this year with the new crypt masters.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’ve been blogging for years and used to write about comics for Comic Book
Resources and School Library Journal. But more recently I’m a comics writer
and pod-caster. I wrote a graphic novel called Kill All Monsters (with artist
and co-creator Jason Copland) that was published by Dark Horse.
I
host or co-host a bunch of different podcasts, but the one that’ll be most
interesting to Halloween fans is a show called Filthy Horrors with a couple of
friends of mine, Jessica Hickman and Darla Ecklund. We focus mostly on what we
call “old-fashioned” horror: ghosts and witches and monsters and spooky Gothic
stuff.
What was Halloween like for you as a kid?
It was always a fun time. I grew up with a couple of younger brothers and our
mom would usually make our costumes. She was a good seamstress and could
pretty much make anything we came up with. So we’d grab our plastic Jack
O’Lantern buckets and head out into the neighborhood, sometimes with other
kids, but always accompanied by an adult. The ‘70s and ‘80s are often looked
at as the Wild West of parenting, but I didn’t know anyone (at least not our
age) whose parents turned them loose unchaperoned in the neighborhood.
When
we got home, we’d dump out our buckets and see what we’d got. We weren’t
allowed to eat it all that night, so I remember organizing and prioritizing
what I was going to eat right away and what (usually the crappier stuff) I was
going to save for the coming days.
Do you have any stand-out Halloween memories?
One year I won first place in a costume contest at our church’s Halloween
party. It was a rare time when my mom didn’t make the costume, but a friend of
ours did. I went as a scarecrow with a burlap mask and real hay sticking out
of my sleeves and pants legs. It was a cool costume. My medal was a styrofoam
ball painted like a Jack O’Lantern and hung on orange-and-black ribbon.
What about a favorite costume?
Even more than the scarecrow costume, I loved the Luke Skywalker costume my
mom made me the Halloween of 1977. My brothers both went as Jawas that year.
How do you celebrate these days?
When Halloween is on a weekday, I take the day off. I love passing out candy
to neighbor kids, so I don’t want to miss the early arrivals because I’m still
at work. So I’ll just stay home and watch scary movies all day. We’re pretty
lazy, so we don’t go all out on decorations, but there are a few that we put
out every year to let kids know we’re a candy house. And there’s a life-size
skeleton that my wife and son and I take turns posing around the house to try
to surprise each other.
Do you have any yearly rituals to help celebrate?
When my son was younger, my wife would take him Trick or Treating while I
stayed home with the candy basket. When he got older, we all stayed home to
take turns giving candy away. Dinner is always a pepperoni pizza with the
pepperoni cut to look like a Jack O’Lantern face. During dinner we watch It's
the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and the Sleepy Hollow half of Disney’s The
Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. We’ll also often make hot apple cider and
always watch old horror movies in between visitors.
Are there any particular movies or music you enjoy?
I have a long playlist with three-and-a-half hours of Halloween music on it.
Lots of different genres from Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby to Creedence
Clearwater Revival and Johnny Cash to The Cure and Concrete Blonde. I
usually put it into serious rotation the week of Halloween.
I used to have a list of movies to watch every year (mostly Universal
Monster and various Frankenstein films), but it got so long that I had to
start watching the films in August. So I gave up the list and now I just
watch whatever the Halloween Spirit moves me toward.
What is it for you that still makes Halloween special?
There’s a deep connection with childhood, of course. A lot of it is
nostalgia and wanting to pass traditions on to a new generation of kids,
whether they’re our own kids or our neighbors. It’s a fun connection to the
past, which is appropriate since it’s a holiday built on rituals about
remembering and connecting with those who came before us and have moved on.
For me, it’s also about connection with our living neighbors as well as our
deceased ancestors. It’s one of the few occasions where we get out of our
houses and visit the people who live near us. Or stay home and welcome
visitors, as the case may be.
Inside the Spookster's Studio
The worst thing to get while trick or treating was...I feel like the right answer is “toothbrush,” but I never got enough of
those for that to be a real problem. I wasn’t crazy about caramel apples
(we still used to get those when I was a kid). I’d just chew the caramel
off and toss the apple. I also don’t love those peanut butter toffees in
the black and orange paper wrappers, but you better believe I still ate
them.
My favorite thing to get was full
size candy bars. Very rare. That's what we pass out now at our
house.
My favorite monster cereal is Frankenberry. Part of it’s an affinity for the Frankenstein Creature, but I do
love me some artificial strawberry.
Where can folks find you online?
My website is
michaelmay.online, which is where I celebrate my own Halloween countdown and collect the
various podcasts I’m on. I’m also on Twitter
@michaelmaycomix
for anyone who likes to interact that way.
A huge thanks to Michael for not only kicking off the interviews this year
but also for taking on the co-hosting duties for the Countdown. Stay tuned
to meet the other half!
Be sure to visit all the other houses with their lights on for you by clicking
below.
