As Halloween approaches, I found myself getting all excited to draw some festively-themed comics. Then, a few days ago, a talented cartoonist by the name of Marc Lapierre drew a wonderful group sketch featuring several zombified webcomic characters – click here to view (see if you can spot yours truly). It dawned on me, after seeing this wonderful pic, that cartoonists, more often than not, love Halloween.

From It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, cartoonists all over love to get their creepy on. It’s artistically liberating to know that, for a short bit in October, we are allowed to cut loose and draw whatever bizarre, macabre things come to mind. No one gets excited to draw Easter comics (those that do should be monitored by the FBI as a “person of interest”) but once Halloween rolls around, cartoonists everywhere begin giddily scribbling all sorts of ghoulish things.

Do cartoonists love the creative freedom that Halloween offers, or are they just creepy weirdos? The answer is usually a little from column A and a little from column B.

…though most would probably say it’s more like a lot from column B.