Archie is a Countdown to Halloween fave here in Tulgey Wood, so let's turn to our reliable source for out-of-the-ordinary Archie comic stories of action, danger, suspense and /or strangeness, Life With Archie. #39 from 1965. In the midst of monster-next-door TV comedies such as The Munsters and The Addams Family, Archie meets a family of monsters, the Kreeps. Hey, it worked for the Flintstones, why not for Archie Andrews?
Published in the Fall 1989 issue of Disney News, this marvelously macabre mashes up the transparently silly trio of spooks from Walt Disney's Lonesome Ghosts (1937), Mickey's pals Goofy, Donald and Daisy (but not Mickey himself), and the classic Disney theme park attraction, Haunted Mansion. Each of the Mickey's friends have their own reaction, right down to Daisy being ok with a ghostly appertain as long as he's winking at her. The delightful spooky-season painting by Disney illustrator Don Williams is a feast-for-the-eyes Countdown to Halloween treat.
What could be better for the Halloween season than the Marvel villain Jack O'Lantern? And who better to battle this spooky time baddie than Spider-Man? It's all here in this stylishly spidery Frank Miller cover from Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #56 July 1981. And while not intended as a specifically a spooky season tie-in, this cover puts us in the just the right mood for the Countdown to Halloween.
Ready for a maximum of treats and a minimum of tricks as the Countdown to Halloween continues? Disney's Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) has become a Halloween favorite. Below is a story while the film was in production in the Studio newsletter Disney Newsreel, from the new backlot small town set to the elaborate homes built inside Stage 4. One fun fact for hardcore Disney fans not mentioned in the article is that Royal Dano portrays lightening rod salesman Tom Fury. This veteran character actor is perhaps better known as the performer hand chosen by Walt Disney as the voice of Abraham Lincoln in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
On this October day in 1952—October 10, 1952, to be precise—Walt Disney's Trick or Treat first saw the inside of movie theaters, and movie audiences first laid eyes on Witch Hazel. And what an eyeful she is! As is this classic animated short, that is a Halloween favorite. Be sure and see the article I wrote for D23 a few Halloweens back here. And in the meantime, enjoy this mask that was published as the back cover of Donald Duck #26, the comic book that included Carl Barks' classic adaptation of the animated short. It's all part of the Countdown to Halloween. Be sure and check back tomorrow for more fun. 
As we continue to Countdown to Halloween 2020, here's a fun Halloween issue of Looney Tunes Magazine from 1990. The ghostly cover is drawn in the classic Chuck Jones style by Juan Ortiz and Bob Pasquale from a concept by Eric Doescher. Inside, is another Jones-style feature, starring Witch Hazel, in which the old bag (pardon me, I mean old hag) teaches trick-or-treaters how to make wind chimes that make some Halloween-friendly chain-like clanking sound. This soundly spooky article was written by Rob Dinsmoor with excellent art by Dan Haskett and Bob Pasquale. Witch Hazel was introduced in Bewitched Bunny (1954), voiced by the great Bea Benaderet, and later by the leading lady of animation voices, June Foray. But in case there is any doubt, Disney's Witch Hazel came first, in Trick or Treat (1952), where she is voiced by (who else?) June Foray.
Much has been made of the darker vision of the Land of Oz seen in Disney's Return to Oz (1985). So as the film celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, it only seems appropriate to incorporate all the spookiness and scariness of this often-overlooked Disney film into our 2020 Countdown to Halloween. A vintage article from the employee newsletter Disney Newsreel details some of the work of Creature Design Supervisor Lyle Conway (who had worked with Jim Henson on The Dark Crystal, among other projects), including electronically controlled figures of Billina, a talking hen who accompanies Dorothy on her new trek though Oz. A glimpse at one of the Little Golden Books retelling of the film's story gives us an indication of Billina's devotion to Dorothy when she is confronted by the evil Mombi. Will these Ozian wicked witches ever learn? Don't mess with Dorothy—or her Plymouth Rock Buff laying hen.
Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks premiered in London (in England, you might say) on October 7, 1971. The debut of this Oscar-winning musical-fantasy was accompanied by some captivating memorabilia. Not least among the magical merch is the Aladdin lunch kit, complete with some charmingly interpretive art. Lucky for us this winningly witchy movie debuted in October because that earns it an honored place in our annual Countdown to Halloween. Come back throughout October for more magic.
Though not a Halloween cover specifically, the cover of the 2017 one-shot Donald and Mickey comic book qualifies as a spooky-season entry for its atmospheric scariness—and especially for its inclusion of the sinister Phantom Blot. As indicated back here, the Blot is a bona-fide Disney villain who is something of comic superstar. Here, in cover art by Andrea Freccero, illustrating the 2006 story, "The Big Fat Flat Blot Plot," the shrouded baddie helps us continue in a singular sinister way, our Countdown to Halloween 2020.
