Goosebumps author R.L. Stine is back with a brand new, original horror comic. Stine has partnered with artist Carola Borelli (Spider-Woman) and the folks at Boom! Studios to launch a coming-of-age horror series titled The Graveyard Club. The first issue will be hitting shelves just in time for the Halloween season, and we’ve got a first glimpse at not one but two covers for the book, as well as some plot details.
The first cover is the main cover by Miguel Mercado. We’ve also got a variant cover by Martin Simmonds. You can check them both out below. As for the specifics of the story? It involves teenagers, graveyards, and a harmless prank gone wrong. All of the touchstones of a classic Stine horror tale! The official synopsis reads as follows:
“Graves End is as sleepy a town as they come…especially being surrounded by cemeteries, and the local kids can think of nowhere they’d rather wreak harmless havoc. But being surrounded by tombstones comes with the pervasive reminder that in Graves End, there are more dead than the living…It is an endlessly eerie place with no shortage of strange and dangerous happenings, and when high schooler Parker West pulls what seems like a harmless prank, he may be putting his friends in more danger than he could imagine.”
This isn’t the first time Boom! has partnered with Stine on a recent comics project. The publisher and the author joined forces last year on Stuff of Nightmares: Red Murder. That served as the follow-up to Stuff of Nightmares: The Monster. Speaking about their latest collaboration, Stine had this to say:
“In The Graveyard Club graphic novels, the teens hang out in the graveyard–because it might be the safest place in town. Their town is surrounded by graveyards. And swarms of red-eyed bats come swooping out every night. And that’s just the BEGINNING of the horror! I’m having a lot of fun with this series!”
“All the best stories start with ‘it was a quiet town where nothing ever happened’ and this one is no different,” added Borelli. “A group of teenagers and a graveyard are the ingredients for a crazy story that will keep you on the edge of your seat!” Bryce Carlson, Vice President of Editorial & Creative Strategy at BOOM! Studios, had this to say in a statement:
“I’ve had the great joy of working with Bob on middle grade horror fiction with Just Beyond and adult horror with Stuff of Nightmares so I couldn’t be more excited/terrified to be working with him on some fresh YA scares. Carola is bringing an incredible artistic dynamic to The Graveyard Club that is going to leave readers trying to decide whether to turn the page or hide under the covers…”
Stine is managing to stay quite busy these days. He’s making a cameo in the upcoming horror comic True Believers, which is currently gearing up for its second issue. Netflix also recently announced a new Fear Street movie based on his novel The Prom Queen. All the while, Disney+ is keeping the new Goosebumps series with a second season, turning it into an anthology, as opposed to a one-and-done.
The Graveyard Club #1 hits shelves in comic shops on September 18 and in bookstores on September 17.
