Happy Halloween
…or IS it?
This is the most mondo, ginormous comic page I’ve ever done. I hope you like it!
(CLICK HERE to read this story arc from the beginning.)
(Pretty much guaranteed my next few comics are going to be one panel, tho! Hahahaha!)
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Comments
CFSoftie: WELCOME to the strip and thank you so much for your comment.
Warlock: Thank you! Your encouragement helped me finish it!
Hilarious! That eye in the last panel, the look is priceless! I suspect one of two things happened afterwards: 1) Witchy ran screaming from the kitchen, with kids asking, “What’s up with Mom?” or 2) She grabs the real offending watch and liberally applies a hammer to it. Afterwards, she buys Warlock a replacement watch….that doesn’t tick! Imagine if some designer decided to add a ticking to a digital watch. Hmm….
The artwork on this was AMAZING, and the story was simply fantastic! Excellent job!
… so, any plans for next Halloween’s story?
Hoomi: That’s definitely true in my house!
JoanH: *grin* Of those options, I think #1 is more likely. Glad you got a chuckle out of it.
CDowd: Thank you, Mr. D!
LBD: Happy Spooks Day to you too!
Mr.Posslq: Thank you very much. As for plans, I don’t even know what I’m doing for next Tuesday’s strip!
I’m completely open to suggestions on both counts!
Well, considering how scary next Tuesday can be, you can feature something really, REALLY, evil, like – POLITICIANS!
Run away! Run away!
So there was an evil ticking watch! I knew it! She could have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for the boy. lol
blarg, well, this will likely be my last comment for the next month. I liked the ending and just know that I would smash the watch after that and say “from now on only DIGITAL watches are aloud in this house!”. As for next tuesday(yes, I read everyone’s comments) you should do something with NaNoWriMo XP
What a great ending. All of the expressions you worked into this comic must have been very time consuming. I loved how large the ending was, the color coming back and of course how the story ended. You did a wonderful job, Happy Halloween to you and your family.
Ray: Was that a Scooby Doo reference?! Why YES, I believe it was. *makes note for Halloween comics for next year*
Moonpuppy: GOOD LUCK for NaNoWriMo!! I would love to attempt it, but just don’t think I can meet the challenge.
Jakub: I’m so pleased you liked that.
Calicomo: <3 Thank you! <3
In case you missed it above, the entire "Tell Tale Watch" story arc is collected on this page. Feel free to share!
PattiT: Thank you so much. Making the expressions was the hardest but the most rewarding part of this final strip. I’m so glad you mentioned that. Happy Halloween to you and yours!
Dale: Thank you and Happy Halloween!
One thing to consider on NaNoWriMo, Samantha, is that it costs nothing but your time, and anything you write (even if you don’t get close to the 50,000 word goal) is that much more of a novel than you might have written otherwise. I’m going for my fifth straight win this year, and I have a blast every time. Letting the “deadline” of NaNoWriMo help you send the internal editor on vacation for the month can be very liberating for a writer, and it helps push the concept of “write now, revise later.”
If a picture is worth a thousand words then would 50 panels in a month be NaNoWrMo to comickers? Hummmmm? May try it that way……
Largent and Onyx: Thank you, thank you!
George: Thank you! It was tough! I swear I don’t know how you do it.
Hoomi: You are exactly right. I have lots of books on writing and they all start of by saying your inner editor is your worst enemy. just WRITE and edit when you’re DONE! Maybe I will join you and Moonpuppy in the attempt, eh?
Calicomo: Go for it! I think it would be great! I think you should go for a hundred panels, though. The 24 hour comic challenge was last month. It’s a challenge to do a complete 24 page comic in 24 hours. For webcomics/strip comics, the generally accepted challenge is 100 panels in 24 hours.
I’m not staying up for 24 hours….. the 100 panels in a month might be doable but I need my booty rest you know. Cuz the booty is fading, fast you know. Am I allowed to go with some of what I have done or do I have to start at the beginning? No ideas or pre sketches?
Well, the comic challenge is to come to it cold, but I don’t see any reason why you can’t go with what you’ve got. What are we going to do, arrest you? Hahahah Maybe make the goal more bite sized: 3 panels a day for each day in November?
Okay, make me some rules…. who do I send it to? You? How complete? Done on Manga Studio? Complete with color? Just black and white? And what is my reward? NaNoWriMo gets a cool certificate when you are finished….. Will I get one?
Callicomo: National Graphic Novel Writing Month and 24-hour Comics Day. They’re over for this year, but I don’t see why you can’t make a personal challenge to yourself at any time.
Chris Watkins of Odori Park challenged himself to do a strip every day for 30 days. He posted the comics and blogged about his experiences doing it.
Hello, Diana! It sure is our version of Tell Tale Heart! click here for the whole story.
Hoomi and Moonpuppy: I’ve decided to torture myself and try Nanowrimo this year. I’ve got a general story idea in mind, but I’m taking the “just type stuff” approach.
Whoo hoo! Feel free to post your profile link, if you’d like to be added as a Buddy.
I waited until midnight last night, and then spent an hour typing the Prologue, starting the month off with an instant 887 wordcount. I hope to double, if not triple, that before bed tonight. My birthday is the 22nd, and I’d love to finish by then.
Well, I WOULD post my profile link if the page would load. I guess it’s always busy on the first day.
My username is “swikan” so if you (or any other reader) would like to buddy up, lets do this thing!
I have 849 words so far and was just trying to input them into the thingy. I hope to finish by your birthday, too! Though I just had to quit because I starting typing about how chilly my feet were. I need lunch, or a nap, or both!
Oh yeah.. and I need to do a comic for tomorrow.
A perfect end to a perfect Halloween special. I know we’ve seen our witchy heroine stressed and strained at times, but stark raving mad?! YES!
“Fall of the House of Usher” would be another Poe tale that would fit in nicely in this comic. A crazy family all packed in one accursed house?…see where I’m going?
How about “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” with a computer serving as the titular corpse? “I tell you, I am dead!” 
Okay, Samantha. I’ve managed to squeeze into the NaNoWriMo site and add you as a buddy. It’s always overloaded the first day or two of November, but it gets easier to log in the later in the month it gets.
The “Tell Tale Watch” story was a lot of fun. You have GOT to do another Halloween story next year!
Re: trying to write: the Internal Editor is the worst! I’ve been dealing with mine for, well, too long. I know once I get a rough draft down on paper, it’s easier to work on the story. But that darn I.E. doesn’t shut up! I need to perform metaphysical defenestration, stat! Anyone got an open window going unused? Preferably on the 20th floor?
I’m familiar with NaNoWriMo, but I wouldn’t attempt it. I fear all the words would get log jammed in my head (see above paragraph).
I’m going fast. I am quite happy with the amount so far. ^^ here’s my page:
http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/695709
My friend says she likes my story so far, but I’m not sure about it. Good luck with NaNo Samantha! I am an official literary ninja! (I’m an EdMoWriMo ninja) Hope you can keep up with the comic and NaNo.
here’s the first paragraph of my novel, if you’re interested:
I will find him. I know I will. He left me clues, after all. He said that I was the one he wanted to have find him. But why? I’m nothing special. Just a normal girl, and he, well, he was amazing. He was tall, smart, strong. He could have been really popular, if it weren’t for the fact that he hung out with me. I mean, I am a nerd, no nice way of putting it. I’m not good at sports, only studying, and he was my only friend. Why did he have to leave me alone?
Cat2! So glad you checked out the story! <3 I’m always so excited when Densafolk visit!
DadaHyena: OOOoooOOo… House of Usher! When I read your post my brain almost immediately jumped to what I would do!
But then, HOOMI, with M.Valdemar …My brain is clicking! (not ticking!)
Moonpuppy: YAY! I will add you as soon as I figure out how. Nice start! Very relate-able situation right up front.
Ahmed: THANK YOU so much. I am so happy to see you here. Welcome!
Regarding Nanowrimo: I never did get more than the 849 words I wrote yesterday, but I intend to crank out some after I finish today’s comic.
I KNEW that familiarity with Poe would come in handy someday!
Both Usher and Valdemar would make for interesting parodies (now, we can start bugging Dada for a Poe-inspired Scapula story, heh heh heh), so we can look forward to their Witchytech versions sometime in the future.
Joan, I have my Internal Editor convinced there’s an Internal Editor Convention each November in Aruba, and he disappears for the month to lounge on the tropical beach.
My Day One total is 2747 words, and barring severe distractions, I should take that to over 5000 before bedtime tonight.
JoanH: I have been doing a stream-o’-typing… forcing myself to STOP going back to re-do that last sentence each time. I quit all together when all I could think about was how cold my feet were.
I’ve been catching up with Scapula and really enjoying it, btw.
Hoomi! Excellent! You’re inspiring me to keep it up. I have to finish today’s comic first, though! (Since I hadn’t planned to Nanowrimo, I’m cramming everything in.)
Aww, you guys are so nice!
Regarding Valdemar, his untimely fate might actually have some comedic possibilities, if it’s done right. In the “Life’s a Witch” world, I see Mr. Valdemar not rapidly putrifying into a pile of gore, but instead…TURNING INTO MELTY CHOCOLATE!
Well, I never said I had a GOOD idea.
Ray: OMG! ROFL! I thought SURE you were referencing on purpose! Hahahaha
DadaHyena: It is never, ever a good idea to discuss a waste of chocolate. *grin*
I’m coming to this late, but I wanted to say that I definitely heard this music while looking at the last two panels… Good job on the whole arc–the reworking in general, the art, etc. The ghostly framing panels were particularly fun. 
Bah, messed up the link, sorry. Here it is.
HAHAHAH I have totally bookmarked that link! ROFLMAO! Thank you, Scott, for your nice comments. <3<3
Love this so much. Happy Halloween!