Aleister Arcane

(IDW, 2004)
™ and © 2004 Steve Niles & Breehn Burns

Aleister Green was a TV weatherman who would dress up every Halloween as his mad scientist alter-ego Aleister Arcane and host the local horror film festival. When he and his wife semi-retired to Jackson, Oklahoma, he became the host of a midnight Saturday Night Creature Feature; joining the ranks of Elvira and Sinister Seymour as a B-movie host.

But Aleister tended to get a little gory with some of his skits, prompting sponsors to ask that he tone it down. He didn’t, and a few weeks later, a little boy chopped off his brother’s hand and Aleister was accused of influencing the youth. While on trial, his wife died, and so did the last bit of confidence he had in himself or his fellow man, even after the jury found him not guilty of any involvement in the crime. All Aleister could do was wait to die.

Thirteen years later, he is befriended by a gang of trick-or-treaters, but then, Aleister’s death soon triggers a chain of events that threaten to destroy every person who had tormented him all those years ago; and Jackson, Oklahoma will never be the same again.

— Ron Black

Jump to issue:

Notes

Writer

Artist