Prose (Story): Book two in this graphic novel series by beloved suspense/horror writer R. L. Stine finds a pair of brothers who buy an old horror movie studio in Los Angeles, in order to resurrect some classic cinematic monsters, a bit over their heads when it seems said monsters never left the lot in the first place!
Don's (Review): This is my introduction to Stine's graphic novel series, and I was drawn immediately to the idea of a story showcasing the kind of cheesy monster movies from a bygone era that I loved on TV as a kid. Sure enough, with the help of a little backstory, readers are clued in pretty quickly that the re-opening of Monstrosity Studios helps to awaken some very real monsters from its past archives to life again - making Ruthie and Ezra, a brother and sister whose father is one of the new owners, ideal targets for Wolfenscreem, The Lagoonatics, and more. Mysterious accidents begin to shut down each new production the studio undertakes, threatening to bankrupt the new owners even as it turns them into bickering brothers, so ultimately it falls to the kids, Ruthie and Ezra, to uncover exactly what's going on and how to stop it, before someone gets killed. A lot of suspension of belief is required here, but then with the subject matter (resurrecting a grade-B monster films studio) you'd have to expect that - but the gung-ho, perky kids and diabolical (complete with maniacal laugh) villain and movie lot monsters make for a fast-paced, suspenseful story brought to absolute pefect life by Irene Flores's art; each full-color page is a throwback to old-school comics of the 1950's, perfectly suiting the monster-movie storyline. Hope the rest in this series are just as good, since they're now on my TBR as well (p.s. I wanna see a REAL Lagoonatics film next, thank you)! 4/5 stars
NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.
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