The 1990s were a wonderful time for young horror readers. Christopher Pike was churning out teen vampires under his Star Trek-inspired nom-de-plume, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark still had its original horrifying illustrations, and if you were a little older you had the triumvirate of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Clive Barker to entertain you. There was even a solid TV option that your parents probably wouldn’t complain about. But the undisputed king of children’s horror was R.L. Stine series.
62 Goosebumps titles were published between 1992 and 1997, and were selling four million copies a month by the mid-90s. The books have since inspired spinoffs, a TV series, and at least one blogger’s descent into madness. Now the classic horror tales are being translated into a new medium by Monster Edition, a zine dedicated to original Goosebumps art. The editors are Toronto-based artists Sabrina Parolin and Jennifer Ilett, who have included work from some 40 artists that each try to get to get to the heart of the books.
The art ranges from this evocative homage to You Can’t Scare Me’s unscare-able Courtney:
To this whimsical gnome-alanche:
To a Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb image that looks like it could prevent the plague of screen burn-in:
But one of our favorites is this truly chilling image from The Haunted School:
The variety on display sums up the beauty of this project: as silly as the books were, the images these artists produce highlight the universal kid fears that R.L. Stine tapped into. Check out more of the art at Flavorwire and Huffpost!
