Day: August 22, 2024

Pumpkinspice is Back Again!

pumpkin-headed demon sprinkling spice on a moonlit night
| Mister Kessell

It’s late August and there’s a slight chill to the air, one of a few signs that my favorite season is near.

Merle the squirrel sniffs the air in autumn as leaves fall

I’m speaking about Fall of course, it’s the best, most spooky season and a time when I really come alive.

comic drawing of a bat boy lying in a pile of orange and red leaves in the woods
This is how I roll

One of the other indications of Autumn’s approach is the return of Pumpkinspice Everything!

a pumpkin headed demon returns to sprinkle pumpkinspice on food products in late august
Pumpkinspice is back! Again. And again and again.

I made this funny illustration five years ago poking fun at this phenomenon. I call it “The Return of Pumpkinspice.” I posted about it here on my blog.

It was both a critique of our consumer culture and an homage to Pumpkinhead, one of my favorite horror films of the 1980s. My illustration had a brief, nearly viral couple of weeks, which was exciting. Seeing something that I thought was funny also being liked and shared by hundreds of other strangers on the internet! Wowzers.

So why am I going on again about this Pumpkinspice thing? Word on the street is that Starbucks has released their Pumpkinspice creations earlier than usual this year. And I am here to continue to ridicule it while also enjoying the trendy flavor of the season.

What are your thoughts? Are you a fan of the spice?

In the years since, I’ve revived Pumpkinspice from time to time, most recently in this Batboy comic from last Fall.

batboy and merle love the smell of pumpkin spice in the fall
Pumpkinspice bringin’ back those spicy pants!

You’ll find this and many other hilarious comics in my latest Batboy Collection, Shvitzin’ to the Small Stuff which is available on Amazon.

Thumbnail of Book cover with Batboy dressed in 1980s gym shorts, leg warmers and headband doing aerobic exercise and sweating puddles. Title of the book is "Shvitzin' to the Small Stuff: Yet another Batboy Comic Collection by M. R. Kessell

Additionally, I have one signed and numbered, limited edition “Return of Pumpkinspice” 11×14 Print available in my Etsy Shop. Grab it now before it’s gone FOREVER!

a pumpkin headed demon sprinkles pumpkin spice on an assortment of coffee and food products
The last 11X14 Print available on Etsy

You can also grab Pumpkinspice as a T-shirt in my Amazon shop, or as a mug or a print here in my Redbubble Shop.

So will we see yet another incarnation of that evil Spice Demon in years to come? Probably, maybe, most definitely, yes!

Until next time, my friends, MAY THE SPICE BE WITH YOU!

M. R. Kessell is a dark artist and a writer/illustrator of silly comics. Check out his portfolio here. You can follow him on Instagram. Stop by and say HEY!