Babysitter’s checkup…
Whenever I feature the “Halloween kids”, those strips are always a favorite of my wife’s. And, for you history buffs, here’s how the “Halloween Kids” came to be:
The “Halloween kids” really made their first appearance in the Fairfax Journal Newspapers YEARS AGO when I was working there as a production artist. Occasionally, they would take advantage of my cartooning ability by giving me the chance to do some editorial illustrations – this was when I was really young and naive and actually thought they didn;t have to pay me because I was “on staff” and it was just a thrill to be a “published illustrator”.
Like I said… naive.
But anyway, one such project was a Halloween scary story writing contest for K-12 graders. The winners would get published in the paper on Halloween and they needed an illustration to accompany the article / stories. So, I came up with the concept of a tiny little girl in pig tails reading a sweet bedtime story to scared and frightened baby versions of all the classic movie monsters… Frankenstein’s Monster, Bride and Frankenstein, Wolfman, Dracula, Phantom of the Opera, The Headless Horseman, the Invisible man, The Mummy… you get the picture. The only monster I didn’t include at the time was The Creature from the Black Lagoon. He was always my favorite but I could never draw a satisfying “baby version” of the Creature that I liked so he got scraped.
Instead, I drew a “Baby Death” but there was still something missing. That’s when my wife suggested I draw “Baby Death” with a Binky in his mouth. That was it. That was what the final piece of the illustration needed.
So, as soon as I started Capes & Babes, I knew I would somehow introduce the “Halloween Monster Babies” in the strip SOMEHOW. Well, I did but I had to age them a bit since I decided they were going to members of a VERY demented little league team.
If you want to read about where they got their start, you can do so by starting here:
http://www.capesnbabes.com/2008/04/13/capes-sponsors-a-little-league-team/
They also showed up last year starting here as well:
http://www.capesnbabes.com/2008/10/27/strategy-session/
So there you have it… The Halloween Monster Kids!
-Chris
