No Holiday for Murder

Fans who grew up on Goosebumps will relish the throwback scares and camp horror in this adult-oriented offshoot of Stine’s Stuff of Nightmares series. “Red Murder,” the first of the volume’s two stories, centers on comics creator Alex Oxaca, whose personal fame dwindles in inverse proportion to the popularity of his ax-murdering character Red Murder, who he named after his troubled but beloved brother Dale. “I guess I made Dale immortal,” Alex says on a podcast. There’s even a blockbuster film adaptation, for which Alex gets no cut of the profits, having drawn the killer work-for-hire. When what appears to be the real Red Murder shows up at a horror convention and kills fans and panelists, his creator and readers reckon with just how close blood relation can be. An unconventional visit from Santa and his rat “reindeer” sets the tone for the second entry, “Slay Ride.” Loner Heinrick Fiddler gets laid off from his job as a mall Santa, which sparks a spiral of rage and delusion as he paints the town red—and not in the festive way. Gorham and Bak match the spirit of Stine’s oeuvre, complete with twist endings, while upping the gore—though by contemporary standards, nothing feels that shocking. Old-school horror lovers will dig this. (June)