So are you familiar with the term “Summerween,” which has somehow made it into my vernacular despite my best efforts? It actually comes from the TV show Gravity Falls, from an episode where they celebrated Halloween in the summer, which is ok, great even; I’m a big fan of Halloween.
But at my house “Summerween” is the term my wife uses when the Halloween decorations go out at CostCo, Home Depot and [insert the name of any retailer way too close to my house] here. It happens sometime at the end of June, and some years it can be scarier than Halloween. Now, we do not own the very popular giant skeletons that have infiltrated neighborhoods around the United States — we had a neighbor in California who kept theirs up all year and re-decorated it based on the next holiday — but we do have this monstrosity, among other decorations.
But that giant skeleton has become such a phenomenon that it’s getting its own comic, 12 Foot Skeleton, courtesy of Ignition Press, writers Tim Seeley and Aaron Campbell, and artist Ben Templesmith. I mean, who better to help channel my nightmares about Summerween?
Here’s the text from Ignition’s October solicitations:
This might be Lola and Jimmy’s last Halloween. Not because they’re aging out at 12-years-old…there’s a 12-foot-tall lawn skeleton on a rampage in their neighborhood!
Lola is a triple threat of social suicide: goth girl, new kid, and outspoken feminist. Meanwhile, Jimmy is a bookish, quiet, bullied kid trying to enjoy his favorite holiday between cancer treatments.
When Lola discovers she might have a much stronger connection with the malevolent force inhabiting the skeleton than she could ever imagine possible, it’s up to Jimmy to inspire them to face certain danger and embrace the future rather than run from their traumatic pasts.
Aaron Campbell (Hellblazer), Tim Seeley (Inglorious X-Force) and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) present a Halloween story with the heart and soul of a classic Spielberg film alongside all the spills, chills, and horrifying thrills of everyone’s favorite 1980s slasher movies!
With the writers also being artists, they can do variants featuring giant plastic skeletons carrying away children … here are Campbell and Seeley’s covers:
The first issue arrives in October.