PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Children’s scary story author R.L. Stine is taking on a new challenge: comics. It was announced that Stine will be writing a five-issue run of Man-Thing. R.L. Stine is best known for his children’s series Goosebumps. Man-Thing is the perfect character for Stine who has a lot of experience writing about swamp creatures.
Stine has always like swamp monsters; last year he published Here Comes the Shaggedy, a Goosebumps novel about a swamp monster. In Stine’s eyes, swamp monsters are the perfect horror character because it is something rising from the muck that is truly disgusting and ugly. He also has a book that he came out in regards to a comic character in Goosebumps: The Masked Mutant. His love of comics started as a kid but he couldn’t draw. In his interview with Marvel.com, he stated, “I realized at a very young age when I started to bring in my own little comic books in fourth grade and everyone would say ‘You suck,’ and ‘Those are terrible’-I realized that I would have to write.”
In the first issue, Man-Thing heads to the bright lights of Hollywood with a big question: why is he not starring in his own major motion picture? The character of Man-Thing has been a silent character in his prior comics but Stine plans on having the character speak. “He can talk and he’s very sarcastic,” Stine said to the NY Times. The covers will be completed by Tyler Cook and the interior artists German Peralta and Daniel Johnson. The first issue debuts March 2017.
Final Thoughts:
This can work. Stine is known for his horror-filled tales, Goosebumps and Fear Street). The character of Man-Thing is silent but with Stine coming up with dialogue for the monster it will be filled with campy goodness. I have read a lot of Stine’s work, and even though this is something completely different for him I have faith that he will make Man-Thing a great piece to read.
