Michele Roohani

These are scary times people! The tricksters have been at it for the past couple of years and everybody’s scared…Scared of the U.S. economy, scared of the future of Euro, scared of Greece and the Latin European countries going down in flames and scared of the horrifying islamists! Do we really need more ghouls and demons?

There are no trick or treaters in Paris but I can’t help thinking about Halloweens in United States; I love this fun holiday and the whole tradition of choosing the pumpkins, carving them and waiting for little kids to come begging for candies.

The best halloween I’ve had was years ago in Salem Massachusetts; it was raining and the whole neighborhood was covered with gorgeous foliage (on the trees and on the ground). I am getting a bit nostalgic here so here is the last pumpkin I actually carved in California a couple of years ago:

I am getting used to Halloween in europe though—this year I actually bought some pumpkins whereas last year in Zurich I just made a poster for the occasion!

My very frightening but prescient Holloween post of 3 years ago:

Trick-or-Treat, a blood red Halloween

Halloween in Darfur

On a happier note, watch the great Peanuts Pumpkin story here.

 

A great cartoon can make you want to laugh, cry, and think all at once. These are the best cartoons I’ve seen lately:

Massoud Ziaei’s works are little gems:

 

and for the bibliophile:

The following are from this young cartoonist:

his humor is getting darker:

and darker:

I laughed a lot seeing this one from Hamid Bahrami right after the batman movie:

I love his light/bright sense of humor:

There are some very sad cartoons:

 the quiet gnawing pain of children of divorce.

After the great masters, Ardeshir Mohassess,

and Kambiz Derambakhsh,

these young artists— mentioned earlier—bring in a sense of freshness. This is a very funny one called frustration from Randall Munroe:

and one from the late Roger Blachon:

and this from Roger Tetsu (passed away in 2008 like Blachon—bad year for cartoonists named Roger):

and  last but not least, one from the great Sempé…

I found this fabulous Russian site that archives many cartoonists’ work; once you’re in, there is no coming out soon…