Hairy Halloween

Hairy Halloween was inspired by my previous works, Cherry Christmas, The Friendly Man, the Bitter Woman and their Wicked Children and The Coconut Candy Creature.

Specifically, for Hairy Binkle's character, I was inspired to create an "outlandish" character that was similar to people I had met and worked with in real life. A demeanor with eccentricity and quirkiness, an energy and vibe that I had personally found unique and enjoyed being around. You could compare Hairy Binkle to classic characters such as Willy Wonka and Mad Hatter (And my lead character, Muffy, can be your Charlie or Alice *winks eye*)

Personally, I had always imagined my hair (an afro) as cotton candy in its texture and largeness, which led to the idea of creating a character who "eats their own hair." That became Hairy Binkle's original concept. Later, I worked on Hairy's other hair products for hair growth, hair removal and more (and then also robots!)

Like Cherry Christmas, Hairy Halloween's lead character is another young girl named Muffy Macdonald. Muffy was born was green choppy hair and has always been the subject of bullying due to it. When the students at her school pull an awfully terrible prank on her, Muffy cries and runs away from school... and just like Cherry runs into the homeless shelter... Muffy ends up running into the man himself, Hairy Binkle.

Because Hairy Halloween is written from Muffy's perspective, we don't know why Hairy Binkle is there... later in Hairy's Book, you will find out that Hairy was actually on his way to The Friendly Man's house to gather ideas on how to create a realistic human. This moment where Muffy and Hairy meet is the final chapter of Hairy's Story, and then the events of Hairy Halloween continue Hairy's Story (you need to read both books in order to understand what I'm saying, you know?)

In Muffy's world, Hairy Binkle is a famous scientist.. so Muffy is shocked when she realizes it is him, but the bullying she experiences at school is also very overwhelming, so Hairy and Icky Poo Poo make an effort calm her down and invite her to Hairy's mansion. We don't know this, but Hairy recognizes that Muffy is one of The Friendly Man's children due to her choppy hair and is actually interested in gathering information from her. He offers Muffy one of the hair products designed to grow her hair back, and Muffy is excited by her new appearance and feels that the bullying will finally stop.

As Muffy gets to know "the man who eats his own hair" better, she realizes that Hairy is more human and normal than most people think. As Hairy continues to help Muffy, Muffy also helps Hairy in his journey to understand what is really important in life.