Monsters at Midnight

Monsters at Midnight is the first arc in the horror anthology comic series Goosebumps. It was published by IDW between October and December 2017.

Blurb
The kid-friendly horror series that defined a decade returns to comics! Readers beware, you're in for a scare! Brave the spine-tingling world of R.L. Stine to uncover the thrills and chills of the first ever Goosebumps comic series to feature original stories! Kicking things off is a new creepy carousel spin on HorrorLand! When Mia and Ginny go to stay at their Grandma's mothball-filled house for the summer, boredom forces them to venture out into her tiny town. But, soon, what appears to be a dusty used bookstore plunges them into an upside-down world of terror!

Issue #1
Due to a broken leg, Mia Ferreiro is unable to go to camp with her sports team, so she and her younger sister Ginny are spending the summer with their grandmother. On their way back to Grams' house, they come across a bookstore called Cursed Editions, where Ginny spots a cat and, more notably, a book she never got to finish that she left back at home. Despite her pleas to enter to see if they have it, Mia and Grams just head back home.

Back at Gram's house, Grams is fast asleep as the sisters begins whispering to each other. Ginny, on her asthma medicine, asks Mia if they can still go to the bookstore, since a sign said it doesn't close until midnight. In desperation since there is nothing else to do, Ginny convinces Mia that she'll do her chores for a week, but Mia says to make it two.

As they head off, a small shadowy figure is seen watching them. The sisters enter the bookstore and are greeted by a creepy old woman. They look around, with Ginny finding backwards books (and suddenly speaking backwards), until she drops the books she's holding to take more of her medicine. Mia starts to think that they should leave, but Ginny still wants to find the book. Despite her watch stating that it's midnight, a voice in a dark room labeled "The Really Scary Stuff" tells her that it's always midnight here. Ginny heads in, and Mia follows her after the woman points in her direction when asked.

The sisters suddenly find themselves outside when a small pink furry creature announces "Welcome to Horrorland!", and the two scream. Ginny realizes that the door they went through is suddenly gone, and the creature, excited that she got a scream, calls herself Irk, which Ginny recognizes as a vocab word. While Irk is saying she's not a "voca-bird" and trying to convince the girls she's scary, a spotlight aims at them and a voice tells them not to run away. The voice, coming from Slappy the Dummy tells them to scream, for no one will hear them. He then asks "Ain't Horrorland grand?!"

Issue #2
In rhyme and with a showman's hat and cane, Slappy welcomes Mia and Ginny to Horrorland, with the way back now having vanished. The Midnight March begins with all kinds of monsters, with Slappy eager to show the sisters all kinds of frights. Slappy asks if the girls would care for a drink, but Mia stops Ginny from drinking Monster Blood. When Mia fails to keep up, she is shoved into the House of Mirrors, where she encounters evil reflections of her mothers, which scold her for being a bad sister.

She manages to escape and confronts Slappy, who grows angry when Mia calls him a dummy. The girls are grabbed by monsters, with Ginny telling Mia that Slappy told them that there was no way out of Horrorland. Slappy, trying to convince them of this, takes them to the Coffin Cruise and has monsters shove the coffins they're in into the water, with Ginny yanking Irk in with them. As Irk and Ginny argue, Mia notices a waterfall and tells them to hold on. They land safely at the bottom, but suddenly get attacked by swamp monsters. Mia attempts to fight them off, but one of them snags Ginny, unable to swim, and pulls her under. Luckily, Irk manages to save her and all three manage to make it to shore.

However, Slappy manages to catch up with them, calling Irk a Horror, and that he never thought she'd stoop so low as to save a human (as Ginnny and Irk have grown to become bonded due to their small size). The sisters notices Grams' house is now a funeral parlor, and the trio run into an old crypt...that suddenly gives way underneath them.

They fall into a secret chamber full of barrels, where Irk, determined to prove she is scary, begins to drink from one of them. The green slime is revealed to be Monster Blood, and Irk, now bigger and more monstrous, begins to tower over the girls.

Issue #3
A gigantic Irk grabs the two, with Slappy congratulating Irk for being scary after all. Ginny tries to convince Irk all the good she has done, and how well they have quickly bonded, but Irk simply drops Mia. Slappy only tells Irk to prove herself if she doesn't want to be a runt anymore. However, Ginny manages to tell Irk about their words when they first met, saying that Irk is her favorite voca-bird. This moves Irk immensely, and she shrinks back down to normal size, saying she won't hurt "Genie".

Angered over how useless Irk is, Slappy says that the girls belong to him now, and they gotta learn all the scares in the book if they want to be his minions and not screw-ups. While Irk holds off the monsters, Mia and Ginny run to the funeral parlor, where they come across an evil version of Grams with worms. This time, Mia stands her ground, knowing this isn't their real grandmother, as she would never hurt them. No longer afraid, Mia throws her crutch at the evil Grams, who vanishes.

The doors burst open and a defeated Irk is thrown to the ground, but she is still determined to help as she shoves Slappy aside. Irk tells the sisters that in the next room, there are special books. She scares off the monsters with a roar before ramming through the door, telling "Genie" and "Meow" that the books can literally take you places, which was how she was able to come to their town. Mia realizes that the books have powers, just like the backwards books. Irk holds the monsters off by barricading the door with a bookcase of the books Slappy uses to get new kids into Horrorland. On the chair, the sisters find a book called "Cursed Editions", the name of their town bookstore. Inside, they find a picture of a younger version of the woman in the store, called Barbara Soditch. The kids read a rhyme in the book and, while Irk stays behind, the girls are warped back home. They walk back to their grandmother's house, with Ginny worried about Irk.

The next day, Mia and Ginny's mothers are driving them home. One of them tells Ginny that she didn't leave the book in her room at home because she saw the bookmark in it, so she put it in the backseat which Ginny forgot to take when they arrived. Annoyed that it was right there the whole time, and no longer in the mood to read it, Ginny just tosses the book in the trunk, where something goes "Ow!". Ginny asks if they can stop since "she needs to pee". The sisters rush inside a building with a suitcase and inside they find Irk, who says she can read. However, a voice says that she's not the only one.

Near a room labeled "The Really Scary Stuff" just like in Cursed Editions, Slappy and Curly are also there, with Curly trying on a pair of sunglasses. The story ends with Mia, Ginny, and Irk screaming.

Trivia

 * Because Mia and Ginny's parents are a lesbian couple, this marks the very first instance of LGBT tropes in Goosebumps media.
 * One of the books on the shelves in Cursed Editions is the Necronomicon, as depicted in the Evil Dead films.
 * Curly's appearance in this comic arc marks his first actual appearance in a Goosebumps story, as he usually appeared in covers and merchandise in the past.
 * One of the gravestone's in one scene reads "Scaremy Lambert", a reference to the comic's writer, Jeremy Lambert. Additionally, one of the other names is Chase Martoz, an editor for IDW, the comic's publisher.

References to other Goosebumps media

 * Night of the Living Dummy saga: Slappy the Dummy appears as the primary antagonist.
 * One Day at HorrorLand/Goosebumps HorrorLand: The Horrors make an appearance, and HorrorLand itself appears as a setting. Several locations in Horrorland also appear, such as Fever Swamp, Werewolf Village, and the House of Mirrors. The Coffin Cruise also makes an appearance.
 * Monster Blood saga: Monster Blood makes an appearance during issue 3.
 * Tales to Give You Goosebumps: Curly the Skeleton can be spotted amongst the crowd of monsters.
 * A Night in Terror Tower: A book called "Terror Tower" appears on a shelf.
 * Stay Out of the Basement: Ginny can be seen reading a book called "Don't Go In the Basement", which is a parody of this book. But given how the actual book title could be seen in the car ride, it's possible that Ginny mispronounced the name.
 * The Horror at Camp Jellyjam: Mia mentions being unable to go to Camp Jellyjam.
 * The Haunted Mask saga: The Haunted Mask appears on issue 1's B and RI covers, and Mia is dressing up as Carly Beth as she is depicted on the original cover on issue 1's RI cover.
 * The Werewolf of Fever Swamp: Will Blake appears on issue 1's B cover, and the book appears on a shelf in issue 1.
 * The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight: A Scarecrow appears on issue 1's B cover.
 * The Cuckoo Clock of Doom: The Cuckoo Clock appears on issue 1's B cover.
 * Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes: A Lawn Gnome appears on issue 1's B cover and during the monster march.
 * Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns: A Pumpkin Head appears on issue 1's B cover.
 * A Nightmare on Clown Street: Murder the Clown appears on issue 1's B cover.
 * Werewolf Skin: Ginny is seen attempting to wear a Wolf Skin on issue 1's RI cover.
 * How I Got My Shrunken Head: The Shrunken Head appears on issue 1's RI cover.
 * Legend of the Lost Legend: A Viking helmet can be spotted on issue 1's RI cover.
 * Welcome to Horrorland: A Survival Guide: Slappy references the So That's Where All The Axes Went slide of the Deadly Doom Slide by name when he sees a roller coaster with said axes.