For today’s random read, I wanted to do something interesting. For Halloween back in 2021, I dipped into the Creepover series. You can check my review of “No trick or treating” for details on the series. It does intruige me and I have been wanting to cover it again, even outside of the camp book.
And since then, they have launched a graphic novel series of it. Yep, each is getting a comic adapation and these recently started and are still going. Impressive for a series like this for it it still exist even if the main series seems to be done. I was curious about the graphic novel versions but I also wanted to look a regular book from the series. …So why not both?
Yes, for this I am reading both versions. I tried to do both at once, I read a few chapters of the og then the comic, going back and forth. Being a comic it’s not too hard. I’ll review the book as is and compare it to the comic to note any chances or the like.
As noted before, PJ Night is an MT Coffin type and our actual writer today is Michael Teitelbaum. He’s done a bunch of younger reader stuff, nothing too crazy. The comic’s artist is Giusi Lo Piccolo. Jesus that name. I couldn’t find anything on them easily which is weird for someone working on something currently.
Anyway ontop the book. Emily Hunter has made some new friends in Drew and Vicki. They are a bit aloof and she's never seen their parents but they're cool. They hang out every day and at this point Emily wants to include them in her offical friend group. So they plan this sleepover. However, Emily starts hearing strange howls and even sees a wolf outside a few times.
She starts to think something is off both in general and with her new friends. So this book was good, in a basic way. I'd say it's better than some of there more mid level ones I've read lately but I'd still put it as just a mid level good. Not because of major flaws, it just doesn't do anything too special.
It's basic and mostly goes in the directions you'd expect. They do throw you for a loop with what Drew/Vicki but that's mostly at as far as the main plot goes. It mostly flows well as it gets started early on. It does keep to its chest for most of it even though it's obvious where it's going so Emily does seem a tad slow. I can see others being more ants-y even if it things are indeed happening.
Not a ton for scares but there's decent atmosphere here. I mostly like it for the characters. They're basic but Emily is likeable and decently proactive/brave. The interactions with her family and friends are charming. Not every quip works but most work well enough. Parents are good, there's no/minimal disbelieving stuff and they are nice. We get some with the friends but Emily knows when to calm down.
The best part is the ending. It does rob us of a bigger climax but the nature of the ending is different from the usual and I thought that was cool and creepy. You may recall No Trick or Treating also had a different type of ending than usual so that seems to be a trend. This isn't as good as that one but the ending is still cool.
As for the graphic novel, it's mostly the same. The artwork is good, it's appealing and able to capture the spooky bits well. There's nothing crazy impressive beyond a couple neat transformation pages but nothing looks off to me at least. There are few rushed bits due to truncating the story to comic form and there's unneeded caption boxes. Not new problems for book to comic adaptations but it's not especially bad at least.
There isn't a ton of changes. A few minor bits are removed for pacing and while those bits worked for the book, not too much is lost aside maybe some fun character bits. They add in a few bits of their own that actually do work better in some cases, mostly early on. Nothing crazy but I like it. There is one added scene about missing kids that doesn't make sense with what we learn later on, I don't know why that's there.
I like the bits they add to the end which is thankfully kept intact, as well as the small bits of blood we see. Otherwise the story is the same so your opinion won't be swayed too much. I'd argue the comic is a tad better since the medium just makes it flow a bit quicker, even with a couple lost bits.
Overall, in both versions it's just a good book that isn't anything crazy. It's fairly basic but not a wholly bad way. The characters are decent and the ending is cool which does help it. It's not a high recommendation, it's one of the great kid horror books by any means. But compared to some other more mid level ones, it works fairy level. For what it is, I like it, and the graphic novel honors that well.
Worth noting the ghostwriter is credited in the same way in that version, they stick to the PJ Night Facade. Found that interesting. So there ya go, not much more to add.
As usual, not sure what is next but we'll see what happens. I do wanna re-visit this series outside of that camp book, not sure about the graphic novels. That aside...that's about it. See ya.