Month: October 2011

Every year I get the standard Halloween costumes at my door. You’ve got your ninjas, your superheroes, your princesses, but my favorite is always the witch. Put a sweet little girl in a black robe and pointy hat and I’m shoveling out candy like there’s no tomorrow.

So, with trick or treating right around the corner, I thought I’d share a cauldron full of my favorite Halloween cartoons involving witches. Enjoy:

I tend to do a lot of tech humor, so when I made a list of Halloween topics to write about, a witch’s “spell” immediately suggested “spellcheck” to me. That being said, I have not idea how that would work. Does it involve the cauldron somehow? The stirrer? Some other device?

See, this is why its better not to think too long about cartoons.

Another cauldron comic. But this time our witch apparently has her own cooking show. Which kind of makes sense. Spells are always full of ingredients, instructions about cooking times and methods (bubbles and toil), they sound very much like recipes.

But for me the last sentence, “Tune in next week when I’ll be fattening and baking children I find in the forest,” makes this cartoon for me. I labored over those 16 words for a good long time. And I’m glad I did because they still make me laugh.

Again with the Halloween tech! Apparently my witches are quite modern.

The tricky part on this one is drawing something small and generic enough to not bring any particular device to mind, but recognizable enough to read visually quickly.

Its also a little punny, but just barely.

This cartoon is a good example of one of my favorite writing tricks. Take an oddball character and insert them into a very normal setting and see what happens.

The name “Helga” was the sticking point on this one. What’s a good witch name that’s not too jokey? Hazel? Too Warner Brothers. Esmerelda? Too long. Elphaba? Too showy.

I’m still not convinced that Helga is the absolute best choice, but, as the saying goes, sometimes you just have to name your witch and move on. Wait, that’s not a saying at all.

Well, that’s it. Be sure to check out all of my funny Halloween cartoons!