Looking for funny Halloween comics to share this October? This collection brings together twenty-two Halloween strips and single panels from well-known webcomic artists, including Liz Climo, Sarah Andersen, Jim Benton, Loading Artist, War and Peas and Fowl Language, with a short note on each one and a link to the creator.
Most of them share a single trick: take a spooky setup, a ghost, a witch, a grim reaper, a costume party, and drop it into a completely ordinary situation. Before the comics, a quick look at where the holiday's familiar images actually come from.
Where Halloween's imagery comes from
Halloween takes its name from All Hallows' Eve, the evening before All Saints' Day on 1 November; "Halloween" is a Scots contraction of that phrase. Its deeper roots are debated. Many historians link it to Samhain, the Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest, while others argue it grew independently as a Christian vigil. Both influences probably played a part.
Several of the props in these comics have clear histories. Jack-o'-lanterns began as carved turnips in Ireland, Scotland and northern England; immigrants to North America switched to pumpkins, which are larger and easier to carve. Trick-or-treating may descend from medieval "souling", when poor people received soul cakes in return for praying for the dead, and from Scottish "guising", where costumed children went door to door for food or coins. The phrase "trick or treat" first appeared in print in 1917 in a newspaper in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
Today the holiday is a huge commercial event. The US National Retail Federation projected that Americans would spend $12.2 billion on Halloween in 2023, and in 2018 it estimated that around $480 million went on costumes for pets.
Why Halloween is perfect for comics
A comic has only a few panels to set up a joke and deliver it, so it needs a premise readers recognise instantly. Halloween supplies a ready-made cast: the ghost in a sheet, the witch's hat, the grim reaper, the kid in a superhero costume. Because the reader already knows what is supposed to happen, the artist can skip the setup and go straight to the twist, usually a monster with a mundane problem or a costume that goes wrong.
The comics
A bear wearing a suit and a blond wig proudly announces that he has won best group costume, and the second panel reveals his partner: a small orange creature sitting on his head as the hair. Liz Climo, an animator on The Simpsons since 2003, is known for gentle animal comics like this one. By lizclimo.
The Grim Reaper arrives at a grandmother's door to collect her soul, then gets distracted by full-size chocolate bars. Jim Benton, born in 1960, is the American creator of It's Happy Bunny and the Dear Dumb Diary books. By jim k benton.
A witch's hat lies on a black cloak, and a white cat has curled up on the dark fabric, leaving a trail of white fur. The joke is that black cats are simply the practical choice for anyone who wears black. By Lingvistov.
A small dinosaur announces it will be a snake for Halloween, then lies flat on the floor, tiny arms and all. It is a classic Liz Climo beat: a big plan, a minimal costume and total commitment. By lizclimo.
A girl dressed as a witch walks through a party where nearly every other guest is wearing the same Harley Quinn costume. The detailed ink work is by the comic artist credited as Cassandra (her signature reads C. Cassandra). By cassandra.
A little duck in a Batman costume points out a boy dressed as a princess, and his dad grumbles that someone should talk to that kid's parents. Then he walks over and does exactly that: "Nice parenting! Your kid rocks!" Fowl Language, by Brian Gordon, draws parents as ducks and is known for honest jokes about raising kids. By fowllanguagecomics.
Trick-or-treaters arrive at a house where the owner has run out of candy, and the strip takes a sudden turn into slasher-film gore before a final twist. It is a reminder that some Halloween comics lean into horror rather than cuteness. By Rabbit Rabbit Art.
A man wonders why no children have come for candy, while his partner says nothing; the second panel shows their door covered in fake blood and a threatening message. The comic is signed Jago, whose site is jagodibuja.com. By jagodibuja.
Kids in costume ring the doorbell, a sweet grandmother admires their outfits, and then she answers "Trick!" by releasing a swarm of flaming spiders. The escalation from cosy to chaotic is the whole joke. By anythingcomic.
Police surround a house because there is a skeleton in the front garden; the owner insists it is a Halloween decoration and they check the calendar to confirm it is October. The final panel shows him nervously burying something at night. Loading Artist has been drawn by Gregor Czaykowski since 2011. By Loading Artist.
An anteater dressed as a bee offers to hold a hamster's trick-or-treat haul, and the hamster politely declines while stuffing its cheeks. Hamsters, of course, come with their own built-in storage. By lizclimo.
"Costumes to scare millennials" imagines gluten, corporate jobs, cell phone bills and student loans as Halloween monsters. Sarah Andersen started her strip Sarah's Scribbles on Tumblr in 2013 while studying at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and her collection Adulthood Is a Myth followed in 2016. By sarahandersencomics.
A rabbit asks its friends what they are dressed as: a bluebird is Twitter, a snake with leaves is Vine, and a bear with a red book on its face is Facebook. The joke also works as a small time capsule of the social networks people talked about in the mid-2010s. By lizclimo.
A pig has no costume for the party, so a snake calls a few friends, and the pig ends up as Medusa with a head full of snakes. A small rat in a red cape admires the result. By lizclimo.
Two people panic about bad luck when a black cat crosses their path, the cat says its feelings are hurt, and the final panel shows the pair sent flying by a car. The superstition gets turned back on the people who believe it. War and Peas is made by Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz, who have posted a new strip every Sunday since 2011. By war.and.peas.
One animal has wrapped itself in all the toilet paper to be a mummy, so its friend uses the leftover cardboard tubes as antlers and goes as a reindeer. Resourceful costume-making at its best. By lizclimo.
"Ghosts most of the year" are plain sheets; "ghosts on Halloween" are sheets pulled into curvy outfits. It is a sly jab at how Halloween costumes for adults tend to get shorter and tighter. By azilliondollars.
A father tells his son that a sheet is not a scary costume, then watches the empty sheet stand there in silence. The final "Son?" makes it one of the creepiest strips in the collection. By victimsofcomics.
A red, round little figure says he is the Hulk; when told the Hulk is green, he explains that he is not ripe yet. It is a tomato pun told with perfect timing. By unliteral.
The Death Star appears to have dressed up the whole solar system: every planet is a copy, while Earth, wearing a pumpkin, complains they all agreed on "no Death Star this year". The panel is signed Hadria Beth Hermele, 2015, from Quark Comics. By thequarkside.
A man hands out candy to costumed visitors, then is faced with a truly horrifying monster, and finally with the scariest sight of all: a printout of his own browser history. The strip is signed Kristian Nygård, 2017. By optipesscomic.
Friends at a séance summon a dark spirit, which turns out to be a ghost in a banana costume who insists, "I died at a costume party, okay?" Another strip from Loading Artist. By Loading Artist.
Enjoying and sharing Halloween comics
Webcomic artists earn a living from readers who follow them, buy their books and support them directly, so the best way to share a strip you love is with the artist's name and a link back to their page. Every comic above includes a credit link for that reason.
If you are planning a costume, the comics offer a few honest lessons too: a simple idea done with total commitment beats an expensive outfit, toilet paper runs out fast, and it is worth checking what everyone else is wearing.
Sources: Comics by the artists credited under each image; Wikipedia: Halloween; Wikipedia: Liz Climo; Wikipedia: Sarah Andersen; Wikipedia: Jim Benton; War and Peas: About; Loading Artist: About.
good work.keep posting
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