Goosebumps: Monsters at Midnight #1
Written by Jeremy Lambert
Art by Chris Fenoglio
Letters by Christa Miesner
Published by IDW
Right up front: I hate to review licensed comics based solely on the source material, but I find it hard not to. So, let me say this. Since the time I was 8-years-old, I’ve probably read 30-40 Goosebumps book. If my teachers in school made me check a book out from the library or read something on my own, I picked up a Goosebumps. I even found my old stash a few years ago, and I spent a whole day reading through them, and I loved them all! (Except A Shocker on Shock Street. For some reason I didn’t like that one.)
The comic did contain some elements of the old books. But, not the charm. (After all, it wasn't written by R.L. Stine.) And, while I think it is unfair to only talk about this comic in comparison to the book series, let’s be honest with each other. Would you buy this comic if it wasn’t called Goosebumps? That’s why I feel I had to say that.
With that out of the way, there are some good elements in this book. Artistically, it was great. One thing that made the book visually stunning was the panel layout. On many pages, the setting filled the entire page as the background, with the panels placed over it on the top half of the page, leaving space at the bottom to work as the bottom panel. I’m fairly confident I did a terrible job explaining it, but, it will give you an excuse to buy the book just to see what I’m talking about.
The story does a good job of building suspense, but, if anything, it is just too slow. People read Goosebumps because they want to be scared, and I understand multi-issue story arcs, but, put some of the scares in the first issue! Don’t make me wait a whole month to see it! (Especially when this month is October! Everyone wants to be scared Halloween month! Who wants to be scared in November and December?)
So, you know what, it’s not a bad book. I guess I wouldn’t call it Goosebumps, just Goosebumpsish.
Art by Chris Fenoglio
Letters by Christa Miesner
Published by IDW
Right up front: I hate to review licensed comics based solely on the source material, but I find it hard not to. So, let me say this. Since the time I was 8-years-old, I’ve probably read 30-40 Goosebumps book. If my teachers in school made me check a book out from the library or read something on my own, I picked up a Goosebumps. I even found my old stash a few years ago, and I spent a whole day reading through them, and I loved them all! (Except A Shocker on Shock Street. For some reason I didn’t like that one.)
The comic did contain some elements of the old books. But, not the charm. (After all, it wasn't written by R.L. Stine.) And, while I think it is unfair to only talk about this comic in comparison to the book series, let’s be honest with each other. Would you buy this comic if it wasn’t called Goosebumps? That’s why I feel I had to say that.
With that out of the way, there are some good elements in this book. Artistically, it was great. One thing that made the book visually stunning was the panel layout. On many pages, the setting filled the entire page as the background, with the panels placed over it on the top half of the page, leaving space at the bottom to work as the bottom panel. I’m fairly confident I did a terrible job explaining it, but, it will give you an excuse to buy the book just to see what I’m talking about.
The story does a good job of building suspense, but, if anything, it is just too slow. People read Goosebumps because they want to be scared, and I understand multi-issue story arcs, but, put some of the scares in the first issue! Don’t make me wait a whole month to see it! (Especially when this month is October! Everyone wants to be scared Halloween month! Who wants to be scared in November and December?)
So, you know what, it’s not a bad book. I guess I wouldn’t call it Goosebumps, just Goosebumpsish.
A Look Inside
