HALLOWEEN MAN #23/ Script by DREW EDWARDS/ Cover by JTA/ Art by ANDREA MONTANO/ Colors by KITTY PIERCE/ Letters by APRIL GUADIANA/ Edited by RUSSELL HILLMAN & JAMIE BAHR/ Published by JB EDWARDS & SUGAR SKULL MEDIA

Faeries are bad news in general, but redcaps give even the usual baby-snatching Sidhe a bad name. As mean as they are quick, redcaps have been defining slasher horror for centuries, cutting those unfortunate enough to meet them to ribbons and dying their hats with the spilled blood of their victims. The good news is redcaps are nearly extinct. The bad news is that the last of them is the meanest and fastest of them all – a Texan fae known as The Ten-Gallon Redcap… and he’s fixin’ to call out Halloween Man.

After a run of stories that took Solomon Hitch outside his usual wheelhouses, Halloween Man #23 gets back to basics in a big way, with a simple, but enjoyable mano-a-mano monster fight. This sort of story is Drew Edwards’ bread and butter, but the groundwork is also lain for something bigger, hinting at some rising darkness due to come in time for the monthly series’ 25th issue and the 20th anniversary of Halloween Man’s creation. I won’t say more for fear of giving away the game, but as a straight-up action-packed horror-fest, this issue’s writing is quite satisfying, even ignoring the set-up for what nightmares Solomon Hitch and his friends must face next.

The artwork measures up to the series’ high level of quality. I judge most of the Halloween Man artists based on their designs for Solomon Hitch himself and Andrea Montano (who previously illustrated LUCY CHAPLIN: SCIENCE STARLET – HELL HOLE #1) offers up a fantastic one. The rest of the character designs are likewise memorable, with Montano’s animated aesthetic proving a good match for capturing the essence of the Redcap, who runs around like a dark Road Runner. The colors by Kitty Pierce are suitably horrific yet eye-catching, with the brightness of our heroes contrasting with the darker shades used for the Redcap. April Guadiana does her usual stellar job on the lettering, with the fonts subtly adding to the spooky aura of the story.

Bottom Line: Halloween has come early and this book is all treat with no tricks, save the magic of a stellar creative team breathing life into another great Halloween Man comic.

Halloween Man #23 is now available on Comixology.