Goosebumps—the beloved, long-running children’s horror series first published by Scholastic in 1992—expands its world with today’s release of IDW’s Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp, a middle grade graphic novel by New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends, Before I Let Go, The Oracle Code) and artist Yasmin Flores Montanez (Marvel Action: Captain Marvel, Tilly), published by IDW Publishing.
Secrets of the Swamp introduces twelve-year-old Blake, an avid gamer who never lets anything—tough opponents, her prosthetic hand, nothing—slow her down. When she’s shipped away to her weird aunt’s home in Fever Swamp, Blake expects a summer of endless boredom…but stumbles upon a spooky turf war between wolf hunters and werewolves instead! With real-life monsters on all sides, she’s about to face danger and fear on a whole new level!
“One of the things I love best about Goosebumps stories is the creepy, there-are-monsters-under-the-bed atmosphere. In Secrets of the Swamp, the monsters aren’t hiding under the bed, but they do hide between the trees. And as Blake finds out, when you brave Fever Swamp on a moonlit summer evening, you find far more adventures than you bargained for,” says Nijkamp. “Now that the story will be available as a single graphic novel, I hope readers will enjoy seeing all the twists and turns of the night play out! The scares, the dares, and the unexpected friendships she makes along the way!”
“Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp is a story where nothing is what it seems! Visually, I enjoyed exploring this through the setting, which is a spooky character itself, giving it life through the forms of the trees and shadows to create a disorientating and at times scary effect,” says Flores Montanez. “Friendship is also an important theme of the story, and the character expressions were key to transmit fear, hope, sadness, anger, loss, and happiness.”
“Marieke Nijkamp and Yasmin Flores Montanez are inspired creators whose collaboration brings even more audience representation to readers. It’s one of the best parts about making comic books: giving the audience the opportunity to see themselves reflected in the stories they read,” says John Barber, IDW’s Editor-in-Chief.
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