Happy Halloween, guys! Here’s a collaboration piece from West Side Effects for you:

It’s late at night, but the streetlamps illuminate the sidewalk enough for Herbert, Beta and Jimmy to see each others’ faces. The lamps glow eerily, in patches; light, dark, light, dark, down on their heads, setting the three friends on edge–there’s something different about this night. It’s Halloween. But the stories of ghouls and goblins creeping out to play on Halloween are just stories, right?

Here’s the thing: they’re not just stories. There’s a creeping shadow that follows the trio from house to house, waiting, just waiting, to catch them unawares.

And then, and then—

 Flashes of light, color, sound—screaming—and the three are all separated. It’s a flurry of motion and sharp pains—is that—what is?—there’s something attacking—Whoa, hey, wait—

And it’s over.

Or at least, the attack is over. Whatever had lashed out at them had had magic in its claws that soaked into their skin, mixing with their blood and transforming them into impossible creatures, if only for one night. The sickly yellow of the street lamps glow strangely on the three’s faces. It casts shadows on their bodies, illuminating the changes they took and making them look otherworldly; but it isn’t just the streetlamps that make them look unearthly.

They really have become other creatures……. 

Matching of characters with mythological creatures, “costume” design and body illustrations by GUEST ARTIST: Wes Schmidt-Rundell. Not only does he have vast amounts of knowledge about mythological creatures, he can apply it to best suit ready-made characters, which, combined with a good eye and steady hand, makes for some pretty KA human-creature hybrid designs.

Face line-art, coloring and writing by Leela Sathyaputri.