Truly Scary Halloween Masks

Roll your own trick or treat masks with John McCain, Sarah Palin, and other scary political figures. "Rotten Monsters," From comics archivist Ethan Persoff.

[#1 posted by weisbrod , October 20, 2008 10:14 AM]

Where's the Bill Ayers mask? Maybe it could double as a blast-shield.

Y flks r gttng mnr th clsr w gt t lctn dy. Pls, mr cvrg f srvllnc nd stmpnk, lss mn lft-wng(nt) sptng ff.

[#2 posted by Phikus , October 20, 2008 10:16 AM]

The candidates are scary enough without distorting their features.

[#3 posted by Phikus , October 20, 2008 10:23 AM]

WEISBROD@1: Another first poster with a true gem of wisdom. Gee, we've never heard anything like that here before.

Go back to passing out your fliers to people's windshields, willya? You have a better chance of finding someone who wants to hear your bullshit that way.

[#4 posted by cherie62 , October 20, 2008 10:55 AM]

Where's Obama? With a little tweaking, he'd make a good Bat Boy.

[#5 posted by sour60 , October 20, 2008 10:57 AM]

I'm a die-hard Dem but these are pretty off putting. Maybe it's the Cancer scars on ole' McCain or the Nazi era propaganda-ish Lieberman...I dunno, pretty ugly caricatures. And I know they're supposed to piss off Republicans but there are plenty more constructive ways to do that, like laying down the facts and explaining what their party has done to this country in the last eight years. Being an Indian living in Chief Wahoo land, I look at these and I'm reminded of some of the ugly caricatures I've seen of my people.

[#6 posted by Avram , October 20, 2008 11:04 AM]

Weisbrod @1, please don't insult the Boingers, or tell them what they can post about.

[#7 posted by Takuan , October 20, 2008 11:22 AM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t8YTvdYXws

[#8 posted by Cool Products , October 20, 2008 11:29 AM]

Sounds like a good way to waste over $30, on a Halloween mask that will be unfunny in less than a month.

[#9 posted by devophill , October 20, 2008 12:08 PM]

"Waste over $30"? How's that? You must have an expensive printer. (It's free if you use someone else's!)

[#10 posted by Jerril , October 20, 2008 12:35 PM]

#9, Mr Cool Products didn't bother reading the link, after all.

[#11 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 20, 2008 1:32 PM]

What, no Tony Blair? Though I could fancy a Lieberman mask with a Senator Palpatine costume -- I've always thought those two were separated at birth.

Cherie62 @4, you must not read TechCrunch. Of course there are Obama masks. There are always political masks for sale in an election year. You can tell which politicians have become folk characters: they're the ones whose masks still keep selling when they're not running, or even after they're dead.

Sour60 @6, I don't see why they remind you. These are precise caricatures of specific individuals. Ugly caricatures of your people tend to just be sloppy generic racism.

Come to think of it, it's been a long time since I've seen an "Indian" mask of any kind. These days, white people who want to dress up as Indians mostly just go for a cheesy costume, a really bad black wig, and fake war paint. The closest thing to an outrage I've seen in that line, not counting hideously bad wall hangings not intended to be worn, have been fake Pueblo and Pacific Northwest masks manufactured in the Far East.

CoolProducts @8: At this rate, you're never going to win big on The Price Is Right. These are paper masks. Even if you buy one instead of making your own, they're still only 99 cents. Thirty bucks would get you the Deluxe Obama Mask. For not-so-deluxe, ten or fifteen dollars.

Zizzybaloobah, drop me a note saying you're not an astroturfer and I'll put it back.

[#12 posted by Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator , October 20, 2008 1:46 PM]

For the record: from a single online vendor that doesn't specialize in political masks, in this year of 2008, I can get Obama, McCain, Hillary, Bush I, Clinton, Cheney, Nixon, Laura Bush, Rumsfeld, Schwarzenegger, Bush II, Reagan, Washington, Lincoln, Mitt Romney, Condoleezza Rice, and John Kerry.

[#13 posted by sour60 , October 20, 2008 2:40 PM]

Teresa Nielsen Hayden @11 I wasn't clear on that, but what I meant is that I grew up and still live in Cleveland where Chief Wahoo is a reality along with seeing dumb Cleveland Indians fans dressed up in red face paint and headdresses. I guess the comparison is not really simpatico to the political masks above. That being said, you can't deny that they are designed as purposely ugly caricatures and it's that that I find a little embarrassing; that "my side" has to stoop to such levels to make a point.

[#14 posted by sour60 , October 20, 2008 2:43 PM]

Also, the Sarah Palin mask above looks more like a young Estelle Getty.

[#15 posted by mioumiou , October 20, 2008 10:03 PM]

the masks are gruesome but i want to say thank you SO MUCH for posting the link to persoff's site. terrific, powerful comics i wouldn't have known about without the boing...

[#16 posted by Ray DelMundo , October 21, 2008 5:47 AM]

#9:
"(It's free if you use someone else's!)"

sn't tht th bm phlsphy?

[#17 posted by Junior Mad Scientist , October 21, 2008 10:08 AM]

Reminds me of Ivan Albright's "Picture of Dorian Gray" hanging in Chicago's Art Institute.

It's a favorite, but, still, ewww.

[#18 posted by LeavingHalfway , October 22, 2008 10:24 AM]

Ray, you missed three. Nice try though.

[#19 posted by Takuan , October 22, 2008 10:32 AM]

no ya didn't, Ray.