I enjoyed this one immensely. Some stories more than others, of course, but the overall feeling of them were creepy and enjoyable.

I really liked reading short horror stories in this format. And the author’s notes after every story, explaining where the inspiration came from, gave the book a nice touch.

/ Denise

4.5/5

I wish there was more!

All the short stories were so good! I loved all of them.

In this little book we find multiple short horror stories. They all have totally different concepts and different art styles as well.
I honestly can't pick a single one as favorite 'cos they are all seriously super good.

Great collection with very good art. Definitely a favorite of the month for me!

I quite liked these short stories with a darker bent. I thought they worked both for adults or teenagers. I was surprised at how good the art was too. I've never heard of Ellis before and his illustrations were quite good.

What spooky, clever stories, and the art is just incredible. Full disclosure, I've been a fan of Adam Ellis ("adamtots") for years now, and have loved watching his art style evolve and how he started leaning more into the horror storytelling. This book does contain some comics that he has shared before - but honestly, it's great to see it all again, in a book form, and with some of his thoughts preceding it. He has such a nuanced way of adding a little eeriness, a little goth, a little creepiness - and still being riveting. I'm not even a typical horror reader (rom-coms are my jam!), but I appreciate his details and the way one panel can just change everything. I look forward to more of his work!

Like a graphic novel version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark , this collection of original horror tales is packed with urban legends, terrifying twists, and delightfully haunted stories by one of the biggest stars in webcomics.

Fantastic! Excellent art and wonderful story-telling!

This anthology is a captivating collection with a distinct vibe reminiscent of online creepy pastas. As a longtime fan of Adam Ellis's webcomics, delving into his horror stories in this volume was a treat. While I'm unsure if all of these tales were previously published online, experiencing them together was a delight. They transported me back to the days of browsing late-night forums for spine-tingling stories. While not every chapter had the same impact, the overall Halloween-like atmosphere was enchanting (I wish I had read it around September). The final story stood out as my favorite, delivering genuine scares and an unsettling conclusion that lingered long after.

I love Adam's drawing style and aesthetic. This collection of stories were just creepy enough and I'm glad he made them into a book. I really appreciated his notes at the end of each story; they were enlightening.

I’ve wanted to read Bad Dreams in the Night since it was announced, and it’s safe to say I’m obsessed. I’ve been following the author’s online comics for a while, so I knew this graphic novel would be amazing. It was even better than I anticipated. The art work is absolutely beautiful, and I love how each story had a slightly different coloring that really added to each story’s vibe. Bus Stop and Milk Door were some of my favorites.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read this ARC.

I've been an adam Ellis fan for a while now, I remember reading some of his short horror stories on insta awhile back, so it was nice to read a concise collection of them.
Some of the stories were pretty spooky and I really enjoyed them. For some of them, the set up made it too easy to guess where the end was going and that took away from the creepiness.

Other wise, I found this to be a solid collection of horror graphic stories

This was so much fun! I recently discovered I actually enjoy spooky stories. I’ve seen some great short comics from this author posted on Twitter and was delighted to find out there was a collection coming out.

The art is so nice and the author manages to depict the sheer horror in his characters’ faces with such subtle details. I loved the elements in the title pages referencing each story and the notes at the end about some of the author’s personal experiences that inspired the tales (he’s even a character in some of them!). It’s also a great start if you’re looking to get into the horror genre at a comfortable pace.

Many thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First of all I want to thank Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to read this graphic novel for an honest review.

Let me say I was really, really positively shocked on how much I enjoyed this book.
Normally I am not one who is a fan of short stories, especially horror ones.

I probably walked into reading this with a skeptical mind set. The first story I read was very predictable and what I thought would happen, happened. After that story my mind went: "Ok, so all of these stories are probably that simple and predictable", but oh my how I was wrong. I really enjoyed every story after that except for maybe one more. My personal favorite was the "Butter Corn Ramen" story.

If you are not sure of graphic novels like this just like me, I would highly recommend you try this one.

I was extremely excited to read this, but I think Junji Ito has ruined me for horror.
These were mild and thought provoking. The first story had a great premise, the Ramen one was enjoyable, the Green Ribbon retelling has a nice touch, but the rest weren't my cup of tea.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for me honest review.
And being honest, I loved this. It was the perfect mix spooky, humorous, and weird. The stories were succinct but all of them lingered in that creepy way that we love (yes we). I read this in the middle of a stormy night and it worked. I didn't realise that I had already been a fan of Adam Ellis' work before via he's online strips (he's twitter is amazing). Consider me a double fan now. This is the perfect collect and I already wanna reread it.

Collection of horror stories in a graphic novel format! Each story is a stand alone. Some stories pay homage to urban legends. The creepy level varies throughout. The shift of color palette with the next story, helps keep the reader separate each story. Ellis shares a note after each story of where the ideas came from. Hoping there will be a volume 2! "Bus Stop" is my favorite- a mix a magic and creepy.
VERDICT- Solid addition to libraries serving teens and adults.

This is a collection of short horror stories from comic artist Adam Ellis, very known on twitter for his wit that make conservatives mad. If you follow the comics side of twitter you might have seen one of his viral posts.

So, about the book...this is his first book of mostly original stories, about something he dreamt or personal experiences turned horror, other stories are a retelling. I didn't find them as scary or unsetling as i expected though i liked Milk door, Bus stop and Murder Party.

The art is ok, not too fond of it but neither dislike it. Some of the paneling is odd or i might be too accustomed to manga's style but i found some transitions didn't work well building up the suspense.

An ok read to pass the time.

Cute and creative comics from an artist I've been following for years. I love the spooky ones. And really loved the explanation of them at the end of each comic.

3.5

i’ve been seeing mini-comics drawn by adam ellis online, so i was somewhat familiar with his drawing style, so when i saw this anthology of horror comics, i was intrigued. overall, i enjoyed most of these stories, so i’m glad i requested it.

i think the author did a good job at crafting the creepy atmosphere, but i wish we got a bit more background on the stories. after each mini-comic ended, we get an author’s note with an explanation to how the story came to be and a few times, these notes added absolutely nothing to the story. all of the stories have basic plots and some of them are re-imaginings of popular creepy tales or other horror creators’ works.

one story that stood out to me the most was “bus stop” - not because it was scary, but because i found it quite creative. i’m not sure if it’s an original idea or not, but it was definitely among the more interesting stories.

i did read the collection over a month ago and i’m already forgetting most of what happened, so i can’t say it’s a memorable read for me, but i think it’s definitely worth a read.

This graphic novel was amazing!

This is my first time reading Adam Ellis and I was so suprised to see that he was the main illustrator for the entire book. His style is so different for each story that I had just assumed it was a collaboration with a bunch of different illustrators.

I think I yelled out "EWWWW" maybe six times while reading this lmao. There is a lot of weird body horror stuff that reminds me a lot of Jinji Ito. (If you're squeamish, its not really TOO gross visually, its mostly just contextually digusting. The art style isnt as intricately gross as Jiji Ito.) I particularly liked the 'hangnail' story which reminded me of that horrible scene in Black Swan which horrified us all.

I found the stories to be very predictable - i'd clearly see where it would go almost as soon as it started, but it honestly didnt take away any of the enjoyment, and I feel like that's often the nature of these kinds of scary stories anyway. I really liked that it relied a lot on visual story telling and allowed the illustrations to take the spotlight.

An easy 5 star for me, and I would recommend this to any of my friends who enjoy spooky vibes.

Spooky, creepy and spine tingling scary! These 11 stories are entertaining and beautifully illustrated. Each story has its own unique element that gets into your head. I’ll be thinking of these stories for a while. I enjoyed the entire graphic novel and devoured it in about an hour.

I wish there were more stories because they were fun, and creeped me out. Think Scary Stories to tell in the Dark but more for adults than children.

Colors and illustrations are appealing and make characters seem alive. I loved the who 90s retro/vintage vibe and would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

When I realized Adam Ellis’ gripping comics are in the shape of a book I literally squealed. In fact I couldn’t shut up about “Bad dreams in the night” and told every human in my vicinity of its greatness (unfortunately for Ellis I only had two humans close by). Then I read it by myself and picked some of the short horror stories to read out loud with said humans. Which means some of them I read twice. Three times if you count the time when I read their beginnings on instagram. What more can I say? I really love Ellis’ combination of horror and humor, which works perfectly for me, as I’m not much of a horror fan. I adore how many of the stories start from something simple, mundane, delving into something terribly creepy, but also kind of funny at times. I enjoyed reading the note about each story at the end - of how it was conceived or where the idea came from. I find these kinds of notes give context to the stories in a way which makes me appreciate them more. I’ll write a few words about each story below:

Me and Evangeline at the Farm - a good start to the book because it’s only a tad creepy, and kind of nostalgic in a way characteristic of the author.
Milk Door - super funny and super creepy at the same time, so I’d say it’s another classic.
Butter Corn Ramen - in black & white aesthetic, with perfect pacing, this one keeps you at its grips just like the character is kept, addicted, to ramen.
Green Ribbon - a re-telling of an older story, with a (feminist) spin that you might see coming and yet is still terrifying. The facial expressions Ellis draws add much of the humor, while finally seeing his work in a bigger format (not in my phone on a tiny instagram post) gives it space to be dazzling in its use of light to create a certain atmosphere of doom.
Forest Fruit - Short but vivid, indeed.
Bus Stop - This one is my favorite, I think, because the horror is quite unexpected. Read it and you’ll see why. Besides that - it holds a sort of magic & nostalgia as well.
Hangnail - Again something very mundane turned into something terrible. 5/5 because I can totally see that happening.
Better Kate Than Never - Interesting rendition but this one was kinda hard to follow, something about it was off for me.
Little House in The Sea - With beautiful backgrounds drawn by Deb JJ Lee, this one doesn’t feel scary at all, in fact it feels a bit lacking, as if unfinished, although interesting.
Murder Party - A punchy commentary on society’s obsession for murder & detective stories & small-fame.
Viola Bloom - This is maybe the most horrifying of all the stories, and a great way to end this book, which I 100% recommend.



Thanks to NetGalley & Andrews McMeel Publishing for the E-arc!