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VICE Cartoonists Remember Their Worst Halloween Costumes

Who among us hasn't donned a cheap skeleton costume, Where's Waldo outfit, or World War I metal saucer helmet?

It's that terrifying time of year when every blog and business feels the pressure to come up with Halloween-oriented content, even when they are supposedly aimed at adults. VICE isn't trying to make waves, so we asked our regular cartoonists to draw their worst Halloween costumes or memories and tell us a little about them. Check it out.

Stephen Maurice Graham

I have to wear glasses all the time due to a childhood eye injury, so I can't really wear any costumes at Halloween that don't involve specs. This narrows down the choice a little, since Pinhead or the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man would be silly with glasses. So I have to admit that I've joined the horde of Where's Wallies/Waldos that you will see thronging through the streets and parties this Halloween and every Halloween forevermore. I'm sorry, I know it's probably the worst and laziest costume, and I'm part of the problem, so I'm promising here and now to never do it again and be more creative. Happy Halloween!

Check out Stephen Maurice Graham's comic Michael.

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Peter Bagge

I never had much interest or energy to put into making a Halloween costume, so in my younger days, they tended to be variations of a "bum" or a "hippie" (being a hippie/bum of sorts already made that task even easier). I eventually invested in a cheap, standard, one-size-fits-all polyester skeleton costume that I've been wearing every Halloween for the last 25 or so years. So this is both my worst AND best Halloween costume!

Look for comics by living legend Peter Bagge on this very site soon.

Leslie Stein

One of my favorite Halloween memories is dressing up as Ghostbusters with my older brother Scott one year. Not an extraordinary or original idea, but it was the first—and only, I believe—time we dressed up together. He usually did stuff with his friends. So when he decided we should do this, I was beyond thrilled. My mother refused to buy us any pre-made costumes, so we slipped on OshKosh overalls, and my brother made our sick proton-pack guns out of Bristle Blocks.

Check out Leslie's Diary Comics.

Julian Glander

A couple times when I was a kid, it rained on Halloween. For health and safety reasons, I had to cover up my costume with this ratty Superman poncho. So I was Wet Superman two years in a row. Not the worst, but nobody likes a costume repeater.

Look at Julian's comic, PLEASE LOOK AT ME.

Anna Haifisch

I only wore a Halloween costume once. That was in 2008, in America. Halloween isn't very popular in Germany.

My friend Wolfy and me drew a flyer for a Halloween rock show at Tommy's Tavern. Before I left the house I taped "skeleton bones" on my sweater and jeans and biked down to Greenpoint to get loaded. One guy tried to be funny and yelled, "Get some food, skeleton. You look so skinny," or something. Hahaha, dude! A joke as weak as my costume.

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Check out Anna's comic, The Artist.

Nick Gazin

When I was eight, it was during the very popular Operation Desert Storm. My dad put me in a World War I metal saucer helmet and an adult-sized camouflage uniform shirt. With a jigsaw cutter, he made a wooden AK-47 for me to carry along. When asked what I was supposed to be, my dad had instructed me to respond, "I'm liberating Kuwait." This unnerved 100 percent of the houses I went to.

Look for Nick Gazin DJing around New York and curating the VICE Comics section.

Happy Halloween, everyone. Cause chaos and fear!