Posted in: Boom, Comics | Tagged: boom, boom studios, just beyond, R L Stine, welcome to beast island

BOOM! Announces Welcome to Beast Island, the Next Middle-Grade OGN in R.L. Stine's Just Beyond Series

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2020 19:00:40 -0600

Explosive publisher BOOM! Studios has announced the next middle-grade horror graphic novel from big shot writer R.L. Stine in Stine's Just Beyond series, set to hit stores this October. Just Beyond: Welcome to Beast Island will feature artists Kelly and Nicole Matthews and letterer Mike Fiorentino. The book is about an ill-fated visit to the titular Beast Island, which we imagine must have a really fantastic tourism department if they're able to convince people to vacation there despite its obviously foreboding name.

"Hey kids, where do you want to go for vacation this year?"

"How about Beast Island, Uncle Billy?!"

"Really? You want to be torn limb from limb by terrifying swamp monsters rather than, say, go to Disney World?"

"At Beast Island, there are no lines to have your flesh rended by the sharp teeth of foul creatures."

"Sold!"

Anything is better than waiting in lines.

Check out the press release below:

LOS ANGELES, CA (February 18, 2020) – BOOM! Studios today announced JUST BEYOND: WELCOME TO BEAST ISLAND, a brand new graphic novel in the highly acclaimed middle grade horror series from R.L. Stine, the award-winning, bestselling author of Goosebumps and Fear Street, artists Kelly & Nichole Matthews (Pandora's Legacy), and letterer Mike Fiorentino, and featuring a cover by Julian Totino Tedesco (Life of Captain Marvel), in stores October 2020.

Trips to exotic islands can be more exhausting than relaxing sometimes, and on the island of Mala Suerte, they're a real beast! Karla and her little brother Benny accompany their Uncle Bill on a scientific expedition to study unidentified species on the remote island but after a little "bad luck" they soon discover something terrifying and deadly living in the river swamp… With nowhere to run, will Karla, Benny, and Uncle Bill survive the unimaginable and harrowing horrors of the place aptly nicknamed BEAST ISLAND?

JUST BEYOND will be published through the company's award-winning KaBOOM! imprint, marking the first time R.L. Stine has originated new concepts in the comic book medium as part of his multi-book agreement with the publisher. With the release of his debut novel Blind Date in 1981, R.L. Stine established himself as one of the most important voices in horror for a new generation. This was followed up with the release of Fear Street in 1989, which remains the best-selling YA series in history with more than 100 books published thus far, and Goosebumps in 1992, which transformed Stine into a worldwide celebrity. The series was soon adapted as a hit TV series and recently returned as a blockbuster film starring Jack Black in 2015 from Sony/Columbia Pictures, with a sequel hitting theaters October 12, 2018. Stine has continued to create exciting new horror concepts for younger audiences each year, in turn becoming one of the most successful American novelists of all time.

"Swamp monsters are horrifying to me. They rise up from the murky depths, bringing nothing but terror. With this story, I hope readers will feel like they are watching one of those timeless old-fashioned horror movies that make everyone shudder and scream," said author R.L. Stine.

BOOM! Studios' award-winning KaBOOM! imprint is home to comics for middle grade and younger readers including licensed series such as Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Rugrats, Peanuts, and Garfield, along with original series like Dodo by Felipe Nunes, Mega Princess by Kelly Thompson and Brianne Drouhard, Bodie Troll by Jay Fosgitt, Ruinworld by Derek Laufman, and The Deep by Tom Taylor and James Brouwer.

"R.L. Stine and Kelly & Nichole Matthews have already taken us JUST BEYOND with a twisted trip to a sinister school, and a camping trip turned 'trying to survive alien body snatching.' Now they're leading the way to the deepest, darkest island swamp filled with beastly, unimaginable new horrors," said Bryce Carlson, VP, Editorial & Creative Strategy, BOOM! Studios."If readers think the first two books were scary, they are not prepared for what lies ahead in WELCOME TO BEAST ISLAND."

Print copies of JUST BEYOND: WELCOME TO BEAST ISLAND will be available for sale in October 2020 at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one), bookstores or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and the BOOM! Studios app.

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