Any self-respecting child of the 90s will know that the place to be whenever the Scholastic Book Fair rolled into town was whichever table was offering the latest book from R.L. Stine's iconic Goosebumps series. Whether in the form of sentient ventriloquist dummies, malicious fortune-telling cameras, or Halloween masks so scary they can kill, Stine is responsible for sending chills up and down the spines of generations of young readers. But, what some might not know is that the Stine's universe didn't end with the novels, and there's plenty of continuing adventures to be found in comic book form.
The original Goosebumps run consisted of 62 books and were so popular they spawned a TV series, two Jack Black-starring movies (with a possible third in the works), and even a board game. Stine recently revisited the signature novels with a new batch of books in the Goosebumps Most Wanted series. The brand's legacy was so lasting, in fact, that a new incarnation may soon be hitting the small screen in a fresh TV adaptation.
But fans need not wait for the revamped show to get additional Goosebumps, considering there are plenty of comic book options to choose from in the meantime. In celebration of the series' 25 anniversary, IDW Publishing released three story arcs beginning in 2017 that continued Stine's universe and offered a blast of nostalgia to anyone who grew up on the books. The first arc in the series, Monsters at Midnight, sees a return trip to the original books' HorrorLand. The second arc, Download and Die!, is a re-imagining of the Goosebumps classic Say Cheese and Die!, catering more to the smartphone generation. The third arc, Horrors of the Witch House, finds a group of children trying to save their town from an evil witch and even features a sneaky cameo from a notable ventriloquist dummy. While Stine didn't pen the stories himself, he was involved in the projects - even writing the books' forwards - and readers will find scores of Easter Eggs and nods to his previous books.
But this wasn't the first time Goosebumps has graced comic pages. Back in 2006, Scholastic Publishing released its own series of graphic novels based on the property, with Goosebumps Graphix being direct adaptations of Stine's original stories. Stine, a self-professed comic fan, has even taken to writing for the medium, partnering with Boom! Studios to launch his own line of graphic novels.
So while many avid 90s readers may have thought their time in the Stine-iverse ended with the final Goosebumps book in the original series, 1997's Monster Blood IV, there's a plethora of other stories for fans to explore... if they're up for some more scary tales!