Written by Phil Nutman with Mickey Yablanc
Drawn by Jerry Beck
Published by Chaos Comics

In April 2001, six months after the publication of their first Halloween comic-book, Chaos Comics published this sequel. Writer Phil Nutman returns but this time, instead of Halloween 6 screenwriter Daniel Farrands, his co-writer is Mickey Yablanc, an actor who played a boy named Richie who survived an encounter with Michael Myers in the original film and appears in this issue.

Picking up right after the events of the first comic, we see Tommy go out in search of Michael Myers, knowing he survived his attack and is on the loose in Haddonfield. And yes it happens to be Halloween night. Tommy deduces that Michael is probably heading back to his old home, so that’s where he goes. But Tommy isn’t the only one interested in the Myers house that now. That’s where we see the character of Richie Castle, now an adult who we learn has not had the greatest life in the 24 years since the events of the first film, which still haunts him, and is a bit of a loser. For some reason he chooses this particular night to go burn down the Myers house. But also arriving at the house is the former Haddonfield Sherriff Lee Brackett, himself still haunted by the events of the first film in which his daughter Annie was murdered, and who accidentally shoots and kills Richie when they unexpectedly encounter each other in the house. Brackett rightfully panics and takes Richie’s body away to bury it, and that’s when Tommy arrives and sees Brackett carrying a body and secretly follows him.

Brackett takes Richie’s body to a pumpkin field just outside of the city where Tommy confronts him. There Brackett reveals everything he knows about the Cult of Thorn, the history of Haddonfield and the curse that afflicts Michael Myers. As I noted before, I didn’t care for all the ancient Druid curse stuff that was added to Michael’s backstory, but it fits well enough with the story being told in this issue. I won’t spoil too much more, if you want read exactly what happens then try tracking down a copy of the issue. I’ll just add that Michael gets in several decent kills and the story ends with Brackett dead and Tommy locked up in jail after being arrested and falsely convicted of all of Michael’s murders.

Again, despite my general distaste of the Cult of Thorn storyline, I found this issue to be satisfying for what it was. Once again, it’s a single-issue story that stands on its own while leaving it open for future stories, just like the good films in the franchise did. Artist Jerry Beck more than ably steps in on the illustrative duties. I also recommend this issue to Halloween film fans.

Sadly, it is also out of print and copies can be pricey.