For all the hemming and hawing over Halloween being “cancelled” this year, there’s plenty of exciting stuff going on. The pandemic seems to have fired up people’s creativity, and gay writer/artist John Jennison is no exception. The Brooklyn-based creator of horror comic The Closet of Secrets has created This Deck Is Haunted, a ghostly Tarot deck.

“My relationship to the other side isn’t new,” says Jennison, who has previously created web comics about his own struggles with cancer as well as the homoerotic Mystic Male Tarot. “This Deck Is Haunted was me channeling some of my darker ideas of death and the afterlife, trying to find hope and meaning within it. Like good ghost stories, each card says a bit about the times we live in and the fears we have about the future.” Horror fans will also appreciate cards that pay homage to Poltergeist (1982) and the real life Annabelle doll. Jennison cites both Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, with its unforgettable Stephen Gammell illustrations, and Edward Gorey as influences on the project.

As the artist explains it, his creation is especially resonant in this difficult year. “It's not really the end of the world, but the past year sure has felt that way at times,” he states. “I want people to look at their fears and try to find ways to use the fear to your advantage and create the best future you can for yourself and the world as a whole.”

Jennison has launched a Kickstarter for the deck that runs for the next two weeks. “You have entered a world where the line between the living and the dead is blurred,” the copy declares. Jennison shares his own personal ghost story, which inspired a lifelong fascination with the paranormal. There’s also a fun, spooky video bringing the concept to “life.” Backers can select prizes ranging from a digital companion book to a drawing of yourself as a ghost.

As Jennison says, “Far too many strange things have happened to me to not believe that there are things in this world that we don’t understand. … Most ghost stories are used to scare us into living a good life and doing what is ‘right.’ But some are uplifting. I’m a fan of both, and that’s what this deck is based on.”