R.L Stine is back—but not for the faint of heart—with a chilling take on an iconic character, perfect for fans of Fear Street and EC Comics horror titles. You’re familiar with the classic tale of a mad scientist hell-bent on creating life, but what these two demented brothers have created is something else entirely! Get ready to dive into Stuff of Nightmares.

Boom! Studios is kicking off the series premiere of Stuff of Nightmares with a bang – and a ton of cool variant covers. The main cover comes from acclaimed artist Francesco Francavilla. Plus, you can grab additional variant covers by Miguel Mercado, Adam Gorham, Jenny Frison , and Kyle Hotz. The first two covers will even have glow-in-the-dark versions!

And for the first time ever, Boom! will offer an extra-rare variant cover from Björn Barends signed by R.L. Stine, which also comes with a COA that will be recognized by the CGC Signature Series program.

Stuff of Nightmares #1 Review

I grew up on Goosebumps and loved seeing Fear Street hit Netflix last year. So, what better way to dive headfirst into Spooky Season than with some new R.L. Stine content?

Stuff of Nightmares sets the tone immediately, introducing us to our own macabre host, The Nightmare Keeper. Inside the Nightmare Keeper’s cabinet of curiosities lies a series of dark objects, each with their own haunting tale. Personally, I love horror that takes the approach of someone telling a scary story, so the setup here already had me hooked.

(Plus, while Stuff of Nightmares has been announced as a four-issue limited series, this narrative framing means it would be easy to extend the series for future runs. The Nightmare Keeper undoubtedly has plenty of scary stories to share with us…)

Diving into the central story, the Nightmare Keeper introduces us to the Cameron brothers. Hiding away in their beachfront laboratory, the brothers conduct their twisted experiments. It’s essentially a Frankenstein story; they’ve been stealing body parts to reassemble and create new life.

Unfortunately for the couple that stumbles across the lab, not all of those experiments have been successful… and the resulting creatures are not what you would describe as friendly.

As a first issue, Stuff of Nightmares covers the bases. We get to see a bit of the twisted experiments of the Cameron brothers; there’s blood and gore and creepy not-quite-human creatures; and we establish the central characters and begin to outline the conflicts that will either bring them together or tear them apart.

That said, there are plenty of Frankenstein-style stories out there, so I’m waiting to see what sets this one apart. I enjoyed issue #1 – enough to pick up #2 when it releases – but I’m not blown away by the story just yet. Still, I’m interested to see how everything unfolds, and what the Nightmare Keeper has in store for us.

Get your first look at the Stuff of Nightmares premiere issue in the preview pages below.

Stuff of Nightmares #1 hits comic shops September 21.

Series Info

Description: R.L Stine is back—but not for the faint of heart—with a chilling take on an iconic character, perfect for fans of Fear Street and EC Comics horror titles! In Stine’s reanimated reimagining, you’re familiar with the classic tale of a mad scientist hell-bent on creating life, but what these two demented brothers have created is something else entirely!

Author: R.L. Stine

Artists: A.L. Kaplan (art), Roman Titov (colors), Jim Campbell (letters)

Release: 4-issue limited series launching September 2022

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