Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. While I did enjoy some of the artwork, it was unexpectedly much darker and gorier than I had hoped, given the blurb and the cover art. I may look into reading future graphic novels by the artist, though, but perhaps not for review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Bad Dreams in the Night is the latest release from illustrator Adam Ellis. I’ve been following him on instagram fir a while now and love his creepy horror stories, so I was delighted to see this on Netgalley. It’s published tomorrow and I think if you enjoy a spooky tale and stunning drawings, you’ll appreciate this.

There’s eleven stories in total, I’ve read a couple of them on his instagram already but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment of it.

The author said he was inspired by horror anthologies he read as a child, and you can definitely see that in here with an updated Green Ribbon (IYKYK 👀) story, for example!

There is some gross body horror in here too, so beware, if that’s something you normally avoid! It made me a little squirmy at times and I’m usually pretty stoic with this stuff 😅

I think this will be a handy horror read around Halloween time for anyone dipping their toe in creepy stories, but equally works all year round for the rest of us weirdos. 😅

With many thanks to @netgalley and @andrewsmcmeel for my early copy. All opinions are my own, as always.

I’ve followed Adam Ellis for the longest time on Instagram and I’ve been a fan of his comics, illustrations and stories. He never ceases to amaze me with his work.

This is a comic book with 11 horror stories - i absolutely enjoyed flipping through the pages. Some of my favorites were:

me & Evangeline at the farm
milk door
butter corn ramen
the green ribbon
bus stop
hangnail
murder party
viola bloom

thanks to netgalley. 🥳❤️

I’m a longtime casual fan of Adam Ellis and I’ve been looking forward to Bad Dreams at Night since it was announced. And I was very excited to pick it up during a very stressful weekend before the release.
There’s 11 stories of varying deftness, but I found them overall enjoyable though I wouldn’t really call them spine-tingling. Just a little baby spooky.
I’m glad to see that The Hangnail got expanded, and I thought Butter Corn Ramen was a great body horror addition. I think my favorites were Better Kate than Never and Violet Bloom. Ellis’ additional notes were fun insights to see what inspired him or why he was writing what he was writing.

Thank you to #NetGalley & Andrews McMeel publishing for providing me with a copy for review. #BadDreamsintheNight

This graphic novel may be in the General Fiction (Adult) category but I would have devoured these stories when I was a kid. These are the kind of stories you read in the dark because you could handle it. They are not that scary. And when you've finished reading and you're left alone with them playing over and over in your mind, your imagination takes over. And that's when the horror really starts.

This is a great collection of 11 short stories. It is a quick, enjoyable read with different levels horror. There may be a missing head or few. The last story, I think, is the scariest. After each story is an explanation of what was the inspiration. Don't skip over them. They show how easy an idea can form and, again, the explanation for the last story makes it that much scarier. Real life can be its own horror story.

And give this to the young kids in your life so they can begin a lifetime of enjoying horror stories.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a copy of this ARC to review.

I used to read Adam Ellis on his blog all of the time and then I absolutely loved "Adam Ellis: The Blunder Years" so I was so excited and shocked to see this new release. It definitely lived up to my inner hype because it was such a fun collection of short horror stories. This is EXACTLY what I look for when I look for horror short stories or graphic novels. Some of them are just fun or goofy horror while others are creepier and may have a deeper meaning. I love that he explained after each story what his motivation for that story was. I loved having that little bit of closure especially for some of the stranger stories.

This was great and I can't wait to read more.

I happily admit to being a bit of a scaredy-cat and I gotta say, these short stories did scare me a little. Not too much, but just enough that it was enjoyable without being awful. The stories are short and well-crafted, but some of them are maybe a bit on the too-short side; they didn't feel as "done" as the rest. My favourites were Bus Stop and Little House in the Sea - I hated Viola Bloom because it scared me to bits :')

Adam. ADAM. This is quite good storytelling, some pretty quirky and some more horrible, but each one has this unplaceable vibe that it's a story you might have heard through the grapevine before.

I liked some of the stories and some not. Some story were mostly gross, and I can’t deal with gross pictures in graphic novels. Overall this was alright, but not great.

really enjoyed the art style! featuring different artists for the backgrounds was a great way to visially differentiate the stories and perhaps elevate artists with smaller platforms

storywise, i had fun but i left several of the stories thinking it could have been pushed further. evangeline in particular had an interesting twist but was mildly eerie at most. this will likely work for many readers, but i was left wanting more. the mysterious figures could have appeared in the background at the end or something! let's get a little terror in here!!

overall i would still recommend this! despite my desire for more from some stories, i devoured it all in one sitting

I think I first started following Adam Ellis when his Dear David tweets were going viral. I remember obsessively checking his Twitter profile for updates on how he was being haunted. I've been following him on Instagram for a while now and I enjoy the comics he posts there. I was so excited to have access to this ebook a little early via NetGalley.

I thought the art in this book was excellent, and I loved all the little details (all the Oliver Joy merch??). In one panel in one of the early stories, you can see the last photo the character took was a silly picture of themselves and I just thought that was so fun.

Apparently this is a hot take, but I liked the blurbs at the end of each story. I do agree that stories mean different things at different times to different people, and that the author detailing what inspired those stories can distract from that. However, you can simply Not Let It™. I love gossip, so I was able to let the stories mean what they meant to me while still being glad to hear the author say what they meant to him.

I liked that sometimes you are meant to draw your own inferences from the end of the comic (like in Forest Fruit) and sometimes the fate of the character is extremely clear (like in Milk Door). I remember reading Bus Stop on Instagram but I had forgotten how unexpectedly wholesome it is. Overall this collection was so fun and I immediately preordered a signed copy for my shelf.

thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the arc

FOR THE PUBLISHER/EDITOR on page 143 there's a repeated line "which went extremely viral online, and everyone hated it because it was gross." hopefully someone else pointed out the mistake and that it is fixed before the book gets shipped out for print

anyways!!! very fun, loved the range in stories and inclusion of other artists’ backgrounds,,, some stories were a bit silly but I appreciate the little explainer blurbs at the end of each one. i think there could've been more gore tbh! would've loved to see some active murders or slashings.

favs: Bus Stop, Little House in the Sea

I loved this and can’t wait to share this with my students who are constantly asking for horror. I artwork is so visually pleasing and really add to each story in its own way. I love that this feels like the stories that would get passed around so much you never knew if they were real or not. Also gives lots of creepy pasta vibes love it and can see this being constantly on loan.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for this arc!

Not a horror fan, but I enjoyed Adam's mix of comedy and spooky stories. A fast read!

This was a fun read! Although I didn't grow up with the shows mentioned, I did watch Courage the Cowardly Dog and Beetlejuice, sometimes also watching Happy Tree Friends when my parents were not around. This book took me back to those times when I stayed up late just to catch another episode and see what else I could find, and hardly got nightmares because of them. Both the art and writing style made me feel like a baby-bat again.

Being a comic book, there's obviously a lot of highlight on the graphic aspect, but the writing is also strong. It's refreshing, original, and with a lot of twists that you don't expect. While it left me wishing some stories were longer, because "Hangnail" and "The Green Ribbon" were just too good to stay this short, there's a charm in them being quick shocks.

Some of the stories were not of the same quality, however. "Batter Kate than Never" and "Me and Evangeline at the Farm", for example, left me with a bittersweet taste afterward. There was also something strange about facial expressions in several of the stories, as if the characters didn't know what to do with their faces or how to react sometimes.

However, it's a reading you fall in love with because of its original charm. Addictive and creative, it's a tribute to the stories we horror fans grew up with. While Adam Ellis has a definite art style, he adapts it to fit different narrratives, giving each of the comics a distinct flavor. If you want to feel like that weird, darkly-inclined child one more time, this is the perfect option.

I have enjoyed some of Adam Ellis' art in the past, so I was excited to see this type of book from him. I wouldn't necessarily call these stories spine tingling personally, if you're looking like actual scary stories these may not be what you're looking for. That being said, most of the stories did have a good hook or twist and were enjoyable. I liked the differing color palettes that helped to vary the styles of the stories. Also, the notation of what inspired each story at the end of them was interesting as it can be insightful to know where the inspiration came from. Overall I enjoyed it and didn't regret reading it, but it didn't satisfy my hope for scary stories.

I follow Adam Ellis on Instagram and think he’s very talented. I was thrilled to see he was publishing a new graphic novel. This was a collection of 11 terrifying stories that made me want to jump out of my skin. Great for a stormy night, and for horror fans. I also love that he includes a little note about how he came up with the idea of each story. As scary as I found it, I still wanted more. Can’t wait to read what he publishes next. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy.

Adam is the master at short story horror! Each story captivates you completely and always leaves you feeling unsettled and wishing for more. As a long time follow, I'm so happy to have seen how his stories have evolved (as well as his illustrations)! The additional illustrators/background artist he used absolutely completed each story.

Many stories are adaptations of other shorts, and Adam succeeds at turning them into his own. Each story ends with a blurb about the inspiration, and there is a wonderful dry humor that is classic Adam.

Big THANKS to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My thanks to NetGalley for an e copy of Bad Dreams in the Night. It’s been a long time since I read a comic book and enjoyed every single page. The level of horror and grossness is what I want in a comic book. The art style is my favorite and the colors are beautiful. The mention of the 90s made it more enjoyable and the last story was very immersive that I imagined someone standing at my room’s door. I am happy I got this early copy and I would highly recommend if you love weird scary stories.

I follow Adam Ellis on Instagram so when I saw this book I was really excited. The stories are colorful and creepy just like I like them. He has a way of getting inside your head and showing stories that give you palpitations. Excellent work!

Thank you NetGalley, Adam Ellis, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!