This was a fun read! Although I didn't grow up with the shows mentioned, I did watch Courage the Cowardly Dog and Beetlejuice, sometimes also watching Happy Tree Friends when my parents were not around. This book took me back to those times when I stayed up late just to catch another episode and see what else I could find, and hardly got nightmares because of them. Both the art and writing style made me feel like a baby-bat again.

Being a comic book, there's obviously a lot of highlight on the graphic aspect, but the writing is also strong. It's refreshing, original, and with a lot of twists that you don't expect. While it left me wishing some stories were longer, because "Hangnail" and "The Green Ribbon" were just too good to stay this short, there's a charm in them being quick shocks.

Some of the stories were not of the same quality, however. "Batter Kate than Never" and "Me and Evangeline at the Farm", for example, left me with a bittersweet taste afterward. There was also something strange about facial expressions in several of the stories, as if the characters didn't know what to do with their faces or how to react sometimes.

However, it's a reading you fall in love with because of its original charm. Addictive and creative, it's a tribute to the stories we horror fans grew up with. While Adam Ellis has a definite art style, he adapts it to fit different narrratives, giving each of the comics a distinct flavor. If you want to feel like that weird, darkly-inclined child one more time, this is the perfect option.

I have enjoyed some of Adam Ellis' art in the past, so I was excited to see this type of book from him. I wouldn't necessarily call these stories spine tingling personally, if you're looking like actual scary stories these may not be what you're looking for. That being said, most of the stories did have a good hook or twist and were enjoyable. I liked the differing color palettes that helped to vary the styles of the stories. Also, the notation of what inspired each story at the end of them was interesting as it can be insightful to know where the inspiration came from. Overall I enjoyed it and didn't regret reading it, but it didn't satisfy my hope for scary stories.

I follow Adam Ellis on Instagram and think he’s very talented. I was thrilled to see he was publishing a new graphic novel. This was a collection of 11 terrifying stories that made me want to jump out of my skin. Great for a stormy night, and for horror fans. I also love that he includes a little note about how he came up with the idea of each story. As scary as I found it, I still wanted more. Can’t wait to read what he publishes next. Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy.

Adam is the master at short story horror! Each story captivates you completely and always leaves you feeling unsettled and wishing for more. As a long time follow, I'm so happy to have seen how his stories have evolved (as well as his illustrations)! The additional illustrators/background artist he used absolutely completed each story.

Many stories are adaptations of other shorts, and Adam succeeds at turning them into his own. Each story ends with a blurb about the inspiration, and there is a wonderful dry humor that is classic Adam.

Big THANKS to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

My thanks to NetGalley for an e copy of Bad Dreams in the Night. It’s been a long time since I read a comic book and enjoyed every single page. The level of horror and grossness is what I want in a comic book. The art style is my favorite and the colors are beautiful. The mention of the 90s made it more enjoyable and the last story was very immersive that I imagined someone standing at my room’s door. I am happy I got this early copy and I would highly recommend if you love weird scary stories.

I follow Adam Ellis on Instagram so when I saw this book I was really excited. The stories are colorful and creepy just like I like them. He has a way of getting inside your head and showing stories that give you palpitations. Excellent work!

Thank you NetGalley, Adam Ellis, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

A just-creepy-enough fast read. The art is engaging and matches the stories well. For me, there was kind of an unexpected amount of body horror since the cover seemed more quiet, Poe vibes. I also didn't expect the author's prescence, with him being a repeating character, as well as including personal anecdotes after each story.

As a long-time Twitter user, I'm familiar with Adam Ellis because of his Dear David story/thread, which was sooo good. That was the first time I ever experienced a Twitter story as it was developing, and it was a lot of fun. It was also quite creepy, I loved it. That said, I wasn't familiar with Adam Ellis' graphic novels. I've seen his comics around here and there, but I'd never consumed one of his graphic stories until this collection.

This was fun, I enjoyed it a lot! The art is great and I loved that each story had its own style to match the vibes. The stories were simple but interesting and they're very much in the style of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is what the description claims, so that's accurate. Overall, it's a nice collection of graphic horror stories and I had a good time with it.

With thanks to Netgalley, the publishers and the author Adam Ellis

Bad dreams in the night is very spooky and very creepy, I was reading it during my lunch break at work and got a little freaked out.

There are 11 short but spooky ghost stories, and all of them are brilliant. I found Hang Nail and Butter corn ramen the most creepiest. Hang nail actually made me shiver.

Bad dreams in the night reminds me of all the ghost story books and films that I read/watched in my teenage years in the 1990s (with a bit of x-files thrown in for good measure with the Bus stop comic, The artwork/comic is also amazing.

If you like short but super creepy stories/comics Bad dreams in the night wouldn't disappoint.

Go buy this book now.

I’ve been a fan of Adam Ellis for a while now and I love his art. This book brings together 11 freaky stories some inspired by real life events (with a twist), nightmares and influences growing up. The artwork is incredible.

I found Hangnail and Viola Bloom particularly creepy. There’s a sequence of drawings where he’s running away from Viola Bloom in the hallway outside his apartment and I genuinely got freaked out because I’ve had similar nightmares.

It’s so good. I recommend this 100% Thank you so much for the Arc in return for a honest review.

Imgur link goes to Instagram graphic scheduled for April 19th
Blog post goes live April 16th
To be discussed IN April Reads pt 1 on Youtube

**TL;DR**: If you’re a fan or new to Adam Ellis’s work, these short horror comics are fun and unsettling. I really enjoyed these.

Longtime fans of Adam Ellis will probably need no pitch on this one but for new fans I really truly recommend this. The stories are short, bite-sized horror with inspiration in classic and modern horror.

This collection had two big strengths for me. The first was that each story had an author’s note telling about the inspiration and the root idea. I loved this as it added depth to the story and a perspective I might not have seen.

The second is that Adam Elli’s use of space and composition is fantastic. I love his panel layouts and designs and the angles of so many of his shots. This is a development I’ve seen over the years of following his work and this graphic novel really illustrated how he’s grown as an artist.

I loved this collection and can’t wait to have my own copy for the shelves to reread, as I’ll definitely do so in the future.

4.5 out of 5 Creepy Milk Doors

I love horror graphic novels and Bad Dreams in the Night is awesome! Loved it so much! Fantastic, dark and original stories in this collection. Highly recommend to all horror loving graphic novel fans.

Thanks to the author and publisher fir the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This book was right up my alley and I loved every minute of it!

I loved these stories, some more than others. The illustrations were absolutely fabulous and I had a great reading experience so 5 flying stars from me!

Now off to get some more of this author’s work because I’m hooked.

Absolutely loved the art, but the writing was not on par with it whatsoever. I've known Adam Ellis's work for a while now and think he is a great artist with an amazing sense of flow and layout, and Bad Dreams in the Night shows how capable of a visual artist he is. Writing-wise, I think the stories should have been edited much much more though. The spooky reveals/twists are often cliché and more reminiscent of Reddit two-sentence horror stories than actual carefully crafted narratives. The build-up likewise is almost always non-existent, Butter Corn Ramen probably being the worst offender - there is no gradual shift that allows the character and reader to feel and express the terror at the body horror transformation, the guy is just done after two pages without spending any time on his descent into addiction or his bodily changes. Others lack both build-up and punchline, such as Better Kate than Never, which could've been such a fun concept but fell completely flat and didn't make any sense whatsoever. Too many stories felt like they had no point, such as Me and Evangeline at the Farm and Forest Fruit. By far the strongest ones were Murder Party and Viola Bloom; Milk Door was also fairly fun and I generally liked the urban legend-feel of Bus Stop, but that's pretty much it.

I ADORE horror anthologies and really wanted to love this, but I honestly think the stories should have been streamlined far far more. They read more like bad to mediocre creepypastas than anything else.

- ARC provided by NetGalley -

This has to be one of my favourite graphic novels of all time.

I have to admit I was Adam Ellis' follower before getting to this book, so I found some sort of nostalgia on the drawing style. I loved how fast-paced it was, and how short the stories felt to me, as I finished it in about an hour.

My personal favourite stories were Viola Bloom and True Crime.

Recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

I've followed Adam Ellis for a long time on instagram, and I've loved seeing his artwork adapt and change over time! His characters are always really well rendered, the style is striking and unique, and the premises for the comics are haunting! I really enjoy this new direction for his work, and hope to see more!

It's been some time since I've last read or watched horror short stories. Far too long. These stories pretty much awoke my love for horror. I recommend this comic so much, so I also wrote a small review for each tale, right down below.
1st story - Me and Evangeline at the farm - this one has a story inside of a story. It's mainly about a love story between an alien and a farmer. Gotta say, the storytelling is really beautiful and the ending bittersweet.

2nd story - Milk door : this tale was definitely more on the disturbing line. It started normal, crossed towards some foreboding territory and then went on a scary rampage. I love the pacing of these stories so far, the artist makes sure to create the right atmosphere.
3rd story - Butter Corn Ramen - alert, alert, we've reached disturbing realm .
4th story - Green ribbon : is set in a different timeline, late 19th or early 20th century(if not older than that) , which is a nice change of pace. The main character was an undeniable bad guy this time, which I like a lot. The story had supernatural elements that were unrelated to the guy, but which illustrated a bit of a poetic justice.
5th story - Forest fruit : a story about the kid who's the only survivor. It's too short, I feel like it wasn't developed enough, but it does have potential.

6th story - Bus stop -- loved the story, it was slightly disturbing, but also really interesting.

7th story - Hangnail - that was so hard to read because it was so unsettling and scary. Worthwhile though for this genre.

8th story - Better Kate than never - creative concept and cool, creepy twist, with black mirror vibes , plus, I really loved the author's explanation for how the idea came up.

9th story - Little House in the sea - unsettling story - I do wish there were longer versions to some of the stories though, I mean, I wanna know more about them.

10th story : Murder party - the protagonist here is really something...kind of an obsessive villain, which is interesting because we see things from her pov.

11th story : Viola Bloom - this is the scariest one, at least for me. The explanation of the artist of how he got the inspiration for this story is truly sad.

This was just plain perfect. I don't usually give five stars, but I truly, truly loved this book. Loved the artwork, loved the stories, this was a perfect mixture of childhood scary-comic-book happiness and modern twists. Read it in one sitting and would have happily devoured more. In fact, while I was fortunate enough to receive this as an ARC, I'll probably buy a physical copy as well to put on my shelf.

Amazing horror graphic novel! Great for a quick horror binge and a great place to start for those curious to horror.

Eerie and captivating short horror stories, each typically inspired by real events or dreams. There's such a sentimental and disturbing aspect to each story. Some with nostalgic 90s elements and some that are across history or sub-genres. I'd been a long fan of Adam Ellis' work, and when he started exploring horror, I was so excited!

Also, as an artsy person myself, his illustrations, environments, and compositions are gorgeously detailed. There's a lovely variation of styles to gawk at.

I hope Adam continues his work! I look forward to more of his horror! [Despite the challenges he disclosed at the end, made me sad to hear how awful people can be :( ]

Thank you to Netgalley, Adam Ellis and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this advanced readers copy. I was over the moon to have this copy approved!

I LOVED this book. I’m new to the graphic novel world (this is like my 5th one) and I was FLOORED with how beautiful the artwork was. Each story had its own vibe and he switched up his art style for each individual story which I thought was incredibly impressive. I wouldn’t really call it a horror book as much as I’d call it a thriller but that’s just me! Each story was sufficiently creepy and I LOVED the way it ended, I thought it was so interactive and fun.