This anthology series originally aired from 1992-96. It was the chilling capstone to a 2-hour Saturday evening program block that saw innocuous family friendly fare such as Rugrats, All That and more. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was good to spoil my good feeling mood and as I was a latch key kid on the weekends in the 90s, the show would put me on edge to where I was creeping out at every little late night noise.
The premise in involved a group of teens that made up a club called the Midnight Society. Each week, a different member would submit a new ghost story or other tale of terror for the approval of the club. Sometimes, it would be a potential new member having to craft a haunt in hopes of becoming a member. If I remember correctly, there was a couple of episodes (probably a two-parter of a season ending cliffhanger) where a member of the Midnight Society had violated the rules of the charter and had to tell the ultimate horror story in order to save their membership status.
In this volume, a set of twin sisters are challenged by the Midnight Society to tell the scariest story. The results of the competition could keep the secret club's existence from being made public or it could mean that one of the members is kicked out of the group. With use of Ghanaian folklore from the girls' ancestry, frightening tales of monsters that eat naughty students and angry gods will be told. However, the voting ends in a tie. Now the girls must team up to craft a story so terrifying that it threatens the siblings already fragile relationship!
Written by Roseanne A. Brown, who is from Ghana, I like the use of native folklore. I took an elective on myths and legends in elementary school and it was so fun, I continue to devour such new oral histories with aplomb! It's got me wondering if the previous volume is told in the same manner as there is a different creative team associated with it.
The artwork of the first story had some creepy elements. I was entertained by the middle story but not scared. Yet, that last one. Oh boy. It was edging on demon possession, which is one of the few types of horror stuff I shy away from.
Since the 90s, there have been 2 revivals of the series. Both occurred in this decade. Age and probably being exclusive to a streaming platform resulted in them not making a blip on my radar. Heck, if it wasn't for my local library having this book on a Halloween display, I wouldn't have even known that Are You Afraid of the Dark? was having a prose revival with today's youth. I scour Previews and other sites for comic new releases and I do not remember seeing this one even listed!
In reality, this early 2025 release is a tie-in from the most recent series reboot. While there hasn't been a new episode drop since 2022, Harry N. Abrams has published a couple of chapter books and one previous graphic novel as a tie-in, as the show had continued to be featured on Paramount+ . However, in the spring of this year, Paramount removed the show in order to focus on other projects. So this book might be the very last in the series, which is a shame, because it captured the spirit of the original series very well and creeped me out.
If your looking for scary reads this Halloween season for third graders and up, why not make a nostalgic connection with Are You Afraid of the Dark? If it resonates, there's at least one other graphic novel and a slew of chapter books, both in and out of print, to stoke the fire of literacy with the young readers in your life.
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.
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