Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Vol. 2: The Sinister Sisters and Other Terrifying Tales (Family Comic Friday)

Growing up, we had a number of horror anthology TV series to scare the pants off of us. Tales From the Darkside. Monsters. The Twilight Zone- both the black and white original in syndication and the full color reboot. But the show that creeped my generation out the most, was a series that on paper, should have been a much more tamer of a fright. That's because it was geared at teens and aired on Nickelodeon! I'm talking about Are You Afraid of the Dark?

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.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #15 (2023 Comic Book & Graphic Novel Reading Challenge)

The disgraced Cardassian tailor Elim Garak is confronted with his past as an assassin with the Obsidian Order. While on DS9's promenade, Garak comes face-to-face with a face he supposedly killed during the days of the occupation of Bajor. Later that same day, Garak experiences a massive headache that puts him into a coma. 

Rushed to the sickbay, Dr. Bashir discovers that Garak's neural pathways are deteriorating at an accelerated rate. The space station physician has never seen a neurological disease this aggressive and he vows to find a cure. Meanwhile, Garak continues to see the woman he long thought dead before immediately experiencing more violent episodes. With Constable Odo and the rest of Deep Space Nine's security team unable to detect the presence of this living 'ghost', Garak faces his own mortality. These experiences might in fact be hallucinations brought about by a deadly brain disease of which there is no cure!

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #15 was the last issue the series based on the TV show of the same name. DS9 was a part of Marvel's second run at the Star Trek franchise. In 1996, Marvel formed an imprint in cooperation with Paramount Pictures to produce works based on the motion picture studios' catalog. While Paramount Comics did publish a few comics of franchises such as Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible film series, Star Trek was the driving force of the imprint. 

Along with the series based on Deep Space Nine, Paramount Comics also released monthlies based on The Next Generation and Voyager. Star Trek Unlimited was an anthology that featured the Enterprise-D along with adventures of the Original Series crew led by James T. Kirk. Star Trek: Early Voyages went even further back in time and covered the untold missions of the Captain Pike tenure. 

The early to mid 90s was not a safe time for comic book publisher; even one as established as Marvel. With a proven talent like Swamp Thing's Len Wein as Paramount Comics' EIC and talent like Dan Abnett and Al Williamson among the members of this modern day bullpen, the future of Star Trek comics appeared rather bright. Yet, for one reason or another, but mostly decreased sales, the imprint folded by the end of 1998. A miniseries continuing the adventures of the Deep Space Nine crew was promised on the letters page of this issue. However, it along with several other promised projects never came to be. Only Star Trek: Untold Voyages, a 5-issue miniseries focusing on the events between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan was produced before Paramount Comics folded. The Star Trek franchise would not return to comics for another 8 years with the debut of IDW's Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between.

The script to this issue was penned by Andy Mangels (Star Trek: Section 31: Rogue) with Michael Martin. Pencils by Greg Scott (Fantastic Four: Heroes Return).

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Completing this review completes Task #48 (Last Issue of a Series) of the 2023 Comic Book and Graphic Novel Reading Challenge.