"not every question has an answer. Some stories don't have endings"

the art for the title cards is amazing and skyrocketed my hopes for the art within the stories to feel really cartoonish and silly for how scary and gory the stories actually are. Most of them contained plot twists that actually made me respect the author even more and "Hangnail" is easily my favorite making me physically cringe, but the art kept drawing me out of it, preventing me from giving it a full 5 stars. The paragraphs after each story to give them some background and context, I really liked as well and made me appreciate some of the stories even more. I also really like that a lot of them weren't just horror for the sake of horror, but had fairly interesting, and even sad, plots at times too. Overall, really good stories, the art is not for me besides the title cards which is very very much for me.

Bad Dreams in the Night is a fun comic anthology with varying styles of horror for middle-grade readers. I enjoyed that it harkens back to scary stories we told in middle school and has a variety of different kinds of horror - situational, body, etc. My favorites were Little House in the Sea and Evangeline. Those seemed the most original and had the clearest plot line. Some of the stories were predictable and didn't make sense, which makes them less unsettling. I appreciated the short note at the end of each story that offered Ellis's insight and explained how many of the stories were personal to him. The stylization wasn't particularly for me. The characters had very little differentiation, and they needed more depth. They're short, fun stories, but they weren't very developed in terms of characterizations. There was a lot of copy and pasting between scenes and that in combination with the lack of facial/body diversity made it feel cold to me. Overall, this is a fun middle-grade novel with engaging coloring and accessible plot lines, but the art and characters are underdeveloped for older readers.

This is a great book. It is nicely scary but not too horrifying. The artwork is bright and the stories are gripping. I really enjoyed reading these.

I don’t usually read horror but I do love a graphic horror story. There is something so creepy about seeing the story come to life on the page. You feel like shouting a warning to the characters but alas they can’t hear you or can they? Great book by a very talented author.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

4/5

I really enjoyed the stories in this book. The retellings and urban legends were creepy and some even going to give me new nightmares so that’s exciting. I think if you like creepy pasta and horror you will enjoy this graphic novel. I want to get a physical copy to revisit the stories.

I already enjoy other illustration work this artist does so I was very excited for this arc. It was creepy and like their other work.

Great mix of horror stories here, from retellings of old tales and urban legends to new nightmares and mishaps. The author's art style and writing are appropriate for the middle grade genre, and I really like the addition of "author's notes" giving background on the seed of each story idea.

A great way to find a book's fineness is to witness it do things it didn't need to do, for even the smallest of benefits at times. Take the first story here, a very PG-13-friendly horror, where the narrator is trying to find a lost horror movie VHS – and ends up inside a VHS cassette himself. It makes little sense, but it's a great little quirk that proves the most basic visuals can be enlivened by a chance eye for the unusual add-on. Next, the world's smallest milk safe turns out to still be of use, a surprisingly empty ramen house serves the world's most addictive corn soup, and a plane crash survivor proves most resourceful. Rounding out the first half, more or less, is a wonder of a dollar store in the middle of nowhere, providing just what is needed to those who need it – well, some of them…

Our creator gets to revisit his older story of someone worrying at a hangnail just that bit too far. A cast member of a cheesy family sitcom finds out the tentative balance of fame in a world of instant re-casting; an island-dweller finds the task of motherhood thrust upon her. A true-crime podcaster sees the true bit to be not their taste (the bonus words concerning this story none more true, either); and again we close strongly with and old-fashioned pass-it-on kind of haunting.

You'll see what I mean when you get there, at least, and get there you should – these stories are 'light horror' in that they do exactly what you'd expect of them, and they have no extra side or nudge towards darkness that will exactly surprise, but they do what they do very enjoyably indeed, in the ways of the cosiest of crime dramas. Women wear ribbons round their throats for the standard reasons, the way of sacking TV starlets is no shock. This would so easily be a teen-friendly read were it not for some needless cussing early on. But all that said, I found these pages really enjoyable – formulaic, yes, but not needing to do anything else when the ease, levity and simplicity of the stories are to the fore. And the grandstand VHS beat I mentioned didn't exactly get matched or surpassed, but that didn't matter either – these pieces had a fine, broad appeal, and I think this one of the more successful, and successfully sustained, mainstream horror comics. Four and a half stars.

These were fun, thought provoking, and spine-tingling. Everything you want from a short story collection. I hope to be able to recommend this for Summer Scares at my library this July.

What an absolute delight to read.
I don’t know who I didn’t know it was a bunch of little comics but I loved it that much more. The stories were creepy and fun and hit the spot.

Will be buying this for my step daughter!

Bad Dreams in the Night by Adam Ellis was a chilling and gripping collection of tales. The art style and narrative were well paired and whilst some had shocking plot twists, other's had a gruesome depiction, and both elements increased the thrill! And while there could have been some more depth and explanation, it was still easy to follow and the end had me looking behind my back, I was a bit paranoid but it was a clever thing to put in!! I think it would also be perfect for beginners getting into the horror/thriller genre, if they have the stomach for it.
This was a sold 4 stars and I'd look forward to get into more of his work :)

I really enjoyed this collection of short horror tales in graphic novel format. The art is great, and the stories, while not too terrifying, were intriguing and fun. I also love how the author explains what inspired each tale; this is an interesting look into the writing process that is much appreciated.

I'm not really sure of the intended age group, but I think I'll add this to our library's young adult collection, as most of the protagonists fit that age group.

*Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.*

As a fan of Adam’s work, Bad Dreams in the Night was a highly anticipated read for me and i’m so glad to say that it did not disappoint.

I loveeed every horror tales that make this book as they were highly entertaining and unnerving. As always, his story telling was great and beautifully illustrated.

4/5 stars

Adam Ellis has collected an enjoyable set of visions that bring to mind EC comics and more. Ellis takes the stories in new directions — and makes entertaining use of comics form.

This was such a fun collection of stories! I've always loved Adam Ellis' comics, and I remember being ecstatic when he announced that he was putting out this book. Despite being known more for his funny content, Adam's life-long love for scary movies and stories shines through in this; he pays homage to some really fun older tales while also putting a fresh new spin on them, and his completely original ideas are great, too. A few of these felt like comic versions of r/nosleep stories (in a good way), which has made me realize I need that to become a reality at some point. I loved this and will definitely be grabbing a finished copy for re-reading purposes at some point!

I'm usually not into comic books but felt like trying this one out because of the horror genre and how short it was.
And I'm glad I did! I had fun with it and flew through it quickly! I don't get scared easily but the last story did creep me out a bit. The writing wasn't the best in my opinion but I did enjoy the art.

There’s no such thing as a bad Adam Ellis story. These are short little horror snippets. I somehow misplaced my individual ratings for each story, some were better than others of course but the takeaway is that I enjoyed reading this and can’t wait for more Adam Ellis.

"Bad Dreams in the Night" by Adam Ellis is a fun and creepy mix of modern and legendary horror stories and I loved every piece of it!
This wonderfully illustrated graphic novel has everything that a young and old horror enthusiast will love. Spooky stories, creepy tales of women who lose their heads and supernatural encounters at a deserted place.

Every horror story is unique and has it's own important message. I can't decide which scary story almost made me jump out of my skin. Probably "Viola Bloom" and "Hangnail", closely followed by "Bus Stop" !

It's definitely a fun read and I loved the creepy atmosphere of this anthology.


4.5 stars!

I enjoyed this. I do think some of the notes after the stories were unnecessary and didn’t really say much. I also would have preferred everything being new instead of some I’ve already seen on Instagram. But it had a good spooky vibe overall.

When I saw the title of this book, I was immediately interested, and although it wasn't a 4/5 star for me, the experience was still good. I can't wait to read more of the author! If you like horror and graphic novels, this is the book can work out for you. 

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an ARC.

Bad Dreams in the Night is a collection of short horror stories that caught my attention just at first glance.

The pace and narration made this comic increasingly addictive which made me finish it in one sitting. I found the second story, Butter Corn Ramen, to be a pretty interesting narrative that starts with harmless actions but quickly turns dark. Although, the last one is the one that impacted me the most because of the plot of the story and the author's note at the end.

Overall, I enjoyed this read thanks to the illustrations and explanations of the origin of each of these stories. This comic is the first work I've read by Adam Ellis and I will definitely be coming back for more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This has really love art style, love the whole concept of a collection of short horror stories.

I was excited to read this but I am disappointed with some of the stories. First of all must of them didn’t make any sense, like I really couldn’t understand as to why must of them where even added. Also the description as to why some of them were written definitely didn’t make it any better. If you have to explain the comic is better not to write that comic.

There was also no suspense into any of the stories since it being a horror comic, I was expecting at least some of the stories to have me nervous to find out what happens next but there weren’t any.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.