Preview: ‘Monster Fun’ Gets A New Look With The Halloween Spooktacular Issue

Monster Fun, the new kids comic from the makers of 2000 AD, is up to #12 now – it’s got the same great comics, same mix of classic Brit humour comics characters and all-new fun, but now it’s getting a brand-new look…

Debuting in April 2022, Monster Fun was the first new ongoing comic for years, designed for kids aged 7-12. It’s Rebellion and the Treasury of British Comics making great use of a load of classic British humour comic characters, including Gums, Hire a Horrors, Martha’s Magical Make-Up, Kid Kong, Steel Commando, and so many more. But they also made it a place where new strips like Chris Garbett’s Hell’s Angel would be a perfect fit.

Initially published every two months, it appears to be doing really well and went monthly a few months back. You should know by now that I believe that kids’ comics are essential to the future of the comics industry, way more important than the spandex and capes comics made for adults that we see so much of. So, Monster Fun is a great thing and something that I’ll keep championing at Comicon.

Next month’s issue, out on 4 October, is a Halloween Spooktacular, and, as they say in the Monster Fun PR:

In the spirit of ghoulishly good transformations, Monster Fun 12 will have a completely new design and logo!

Inside the bumper 48-page Halloween Spooktacular 2023 issue there will be more from Gums, Kid Kong, Hell’s Angel, and Witch Vs Warlock along with new characters and strips including Frankencritter, All Hallows Screams, and the debut of a rebooted Crabbe’s Crusaders ready for a whole new generation of readers.

Crabbe’s Crusaders originally appeared in Buster where a quartet of orphans (they’re always orphans in these strips, aren’t they?) with the wonderful names Red O’Rork, Smiler Smith, Willy Evans and Sammy Greig were shipwrecked on the same island where Professor Crabbe was hidden away. Crabbe, inventor and not averse to putting a group of children in harm’s way, set them up as his Crusaders and sent them off into the world in a series of dangerous missions.

The new Crabbe’s Crusaders is written by Alec Worley, with Ruairi Coleman on art, Len O’Grady providing colours and Sue-Marion Padurii on letters.

The Halloween Spooktacular also includes the results of the ‘Monster Fun Draw A Monster Competition’, with one lucky reader seeing their monster, ‘Smizerd’, a blue wizard whose magic is all about cakes and baking, inside a Monster Fun story.

The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular 2023 is on the shelves from Wednesday 4th October 2023. Issues can also be bought through the Monster Fun website, along with where back issues, international orders, and subscriptions.