The word ‘Goosebumps’ will sure bring back your childhood memories if you grew up during the ’90s. I used to be a big fan of the Goosebumps book series back then, I tried to grab any book I could. The cover art for each of the books was AMAZING and sometimes it was even better than the story itself.
Since my nephew likes comic books, I decided to buy him ‘Slappy’s Tales of Horror’ – a comic book based on 4 stories from the original Goosebumps series: “A Shocker on Shock Street”, “The Werewolf of Fever Swamp”, “Ghost Beach” and
“The Night of the Living Dummy”.
But before I handed him the book, I had to check it out myself.
Each story was drawn by a different artist and there’s a one-page intro for each story, featuring the evil ventriloquist dummy Slappy (just like the Crypt Keeper in ‘Tales From The Crypt’)
A Shocker on Shock Street
‘A Shocker on Shock Street’, which opens the book, has the best drawings by far. The story itself is pretty nice:
Erin and Marty are at the Shock Street theme park, but things are starting to get weird when they get stuck inside one of the rides.
Like many other Goosebumps stories, there’s a good twist at the end.
The Werewolf of Fever Swamp
The best story in the book.
It features Grady, a teenage kid who has just moved to his new home, near the Fever Swamp at Florida.
Grady adopts a mysterious dog that looks like a wolf. Grady knows that his dog is just a regular dog… Or is it?
The illustrations are not as good as the ones in the first story, but they’re still good.
Ghost Beach
This story was predictable yet enjoyable: A brother and sister who visit their older cousins, decide to explore a mysterious cave by the shore, even though they were warned to stay away.
I didn’t like the drawings in this one. The nose-less characters made it all look half-baked and sketchy.
The Night of the Living Dummy
The last story features Lindy and Kris, two competitive sisters, who become interested in ventriloquism. One day Lindy finds a dummy in the dumpster, but she had no idea that this dummy was… possessed!
There’s a very different style of drawings in this one, which I personally find more suitable for funny comics. The drawings fail to capture the spooky atmosphere of the tale.
I am aware of the fact that the book is made to be child friendly, but that’s just too much.
Overall, it’s a good book for the little ones who like horror, and that’s all that matters.
