Goosebumps (franchise)

Goosebumps
Number of books	Over 200+
First book	Welcome to Dead House (1992)
Latest book	The Ghost of Slappy (2018)

Goosebumps is a children's horror book franchise published by Scholastic Corporation. The books are written by author and creator R.L. Stine.

It is the second best selling book series of all time, selling 400 million books worldwide in over 32 languages

Beginning with the eponymous Goosebumps series in 1992, the Goosebumps franchise has spawned numerous followup and spin-off series. The franchise's other forms of media include a television series and a feature film.

The series is named after the skin condition goose bumps, which is a common symptom of fright.

Books

Main series

The first three books in the Goosebumps franchise, Welcome to Dead House, Stay Out of the Basement, and Monster Blood were published at the same time in July 1992 as part of the original Goosebumps series. From 1992 to 1997, sixty-two books were published in the original series. The final book in the original Goosebumps series was Monster Blood IV, which released in December of 1997.

After the original series ended, it was followed-up by Goosebumps Series 2000 the month after, with the book Cry of the Cat. The series claimed to be scarier than the original series, and the covers featured artwork that was more dark in tone. The cover art was also raised, unlike the original series, where only the logo was raised. Series 2000 and the spin-off gamebook series, Give Yourself Goosebumps, were discontinued in 2000 after R.L. Stine's contract with Scholastic ended. Due to this, the twenty-sixth book in the Series 2000 series, The Incredible Shrinking Fifth Grader, was canceled, along with the planned Goosebumps Gold series.

After receiving requests from fans for the Goosebumps series to return, R.L. Stine and Scholastic launched the Goosebumps HorrorLand series in April of 2008, with the books Revenge of the Living Dummy and Creep from the Deep. When the series launched, it had been eight years since the last main series Goosebumps book, Ghost in the Mirror. Around the same time, Scholastic launched the Classic Goosebumps series, which was a series of Goosebumps reprints that included bonus materials, along with new artwork from Brandon Dorman. HorrorLand has since been followed-up by Goosebumps Hall of Horrors, Goosebumps Most Wanted, and Goosebumps SlappyWorld.

Spin-offs

In September 1994, Scholastic launched the Tales to Give You Goosebumps series, which was a series of six books that contained ten short stories each, making a grand total of sixty tales altogether. Every book in the series came packaged with Goosebumps themed merchandise, which ranged from booklights to even undergarments. Some books were based around certain themes, such as Halloween and Christmas.

Another series containing a collection of short stories, Goosebumps Triple Header, launched in November 1997. Unlike Tales to Give You Goosebumps, this series only contained three stories per book, and were hosted by a three-headed monster, Lefty, Righty, and Slim. The series only received two entries, making it the shortest Goosebumps book series in the entire franchise.

A gamebook series titled Give Yourself Goosebumps launched in July 1995, with the book Escape from the Carnival of Horrors. the series went on until February of 2000 with the final book in the series, All-Day Nightmare. the series contained forty-two books and eight special editions. This made it the second longest lasting series, just behind the original sixty-two.

Other media

Films

Plans for a feature-length film based on the Goosebumps franchise were as early as 1998. However, plans for the film initially fell through. Columbus Pictures would later acquire the rights to create a Goosebumps film in 2008, and on October 16, 2015 would finally release the film as Goosebumps, starring Jack Black as R.L. Stine and also proving the voice for Slappy the Dummy. The film spawned a sequel titled Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (simply known as Goosebumps 2 in home media releases), which released on October 12, 2018.

Merchandise

Main article: Goosebumps (franchise)/Merchandise