The Witch's Wings and Other Terrifying Tales

Are You Afraid of the Dark Graphic Novels #1

by Tehlor Kay Mejia, Junyi Wu (illustrator), Alexis Hernandez (illustrator)

Based on Nickelodeon’s hit horror franchise Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Witch’s Wings and Other Terrifying Tales is the first in an all-new horror graphic novel series with three original stories based on Hispanic urban legends and cultural lore from bestselling and award-winning author Tehlor Kay Mejia, which are beautifully and hauntingly brought to life by artists Junyi Wu, Justin and Alexis Hernandez, and Kaylee Rowena.
 
A new Midnight Society gathers around the campfire to share urban legends, folklores, and all manner of spooky stories. These three terrifying tales feature haunted buses, monstrous creatures, and spine-chilling mysteries guaranteed to have you reaching for the light switch!
 
In “The Tale of the Witch’s Wings,” a young boy with a habit of bullying meets his match when an ancient witch sets her eyes on him. In “The Tale of the Haunting of Bus #13,” a young girl finds herself potentially trapped on a bus haunted by more than just ghosts! And in “The Tale of the Stray Comet,” two siblings bring home a stray dog that is much more monstrous than they could ever imagine!
 
Are you afraid of the dark? You will be…

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Middle Grade, Childrens, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Fiction

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 3, 2023

About the author

TEHLOR KAY MEJIA (he/him) is a bestselling and award winning author of books for all ages.

His debut young adult novel, WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE, received six starred reviews, as well as the Oregon Spirit Book Award for debut fiction, and the Neukom Institute Literary Arts Award runner up honor for debut speculative fiction. It has been featured on Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and O by Oprah Magazine’s best books lists, and was a 2019 book of the year selection by Kirkus and School Library Journal.

Tehlor’s debut middle grade novel, PAOLA SANTIAGO AND THE RIVER OF TEARS, was published by the Rick Riordan Presents imprint at Disney/Hyperion. It received four starred reviews, and was named Amazon’s best book of 2020 in the 9-12 age range.

Tehlor strives to create stories which showcase the importance of community, radical inclusion, and abolitionist values. He lives with his child, wife, and two dogs in his home state of Oregon, and is active on Instagram @tehlorkay.

Reviews

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This definitely reminded me so much of my experience growing up and watching the show. However, I think that it's also a great fit for newer readers who are interested in middle grade graphic novels. The artwork isn't consistent because there are multiple illustrators on this, but it worked for me as a whole!

[Crowinator · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Kailyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. A fun, nostalgic read.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Me and an old bruja in curlers versus a supernatural killer owl witch. Great odds."

[chasc.taylor_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, fun, and nostalgic! I loved Are You Afraid of the Dark back in the day. This would be great for any middle grade kiddos interested in horror. Story 2 was my favorite.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love introducing a new generation to Are You Afraid of the Dark? because SNICK was my jam. This graphic novel captures that creepiness perfectly. The last one is the scariest!

[Kyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Mehsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A terrifying and delightful graphic novel full of nostalgia and scary stories!


I really really loved the Are You Afraid of the Dark series (the OG one, haven’t seen the new one) so I am excited that we are getting new materials. We had a novel so far already and now a graphic novel series and BOY I am hyped! Oh, and a big thank you to my hubby for gifting me this one for my birthday!!

In this one our group of teens is startled with a new arrival, a girl who really wants to be part of the group, but will she be allowed in? Well, she got 3 spooky tales to tell her new friends and she is READY for it! Ready to scare the wits out of them (and well, the reader as well, haha).

First up is the story named: The Tale of Witch’s Wings. What happens when a bully gets a lot more karma than he can handle? Yes, I know, the boy has a tough life, with a horrible dad and barely any food to survive, but that doesn’t excuse him from being an absolute bully all the time. So yeah, when the witch started targeting him? Things got real spooky? I have to say that I had a hard time finding some sympathy for him. I was just hoping that if he survived this that he would get that he needed to change his ways. I found a particular favourite in the older lady next door who loved tele-romance stuff and seemed so grumpy but was actually quite kind. And things really got spooky and at times a bit scary. I loved that we got some backstory on the witch and why she is so pissed, and frankly, I don’t blame the older woman. OK, maybe it was a tad much, but seriously, if someone did all that? I would probably also return as a vengeful hungry ghost witch. It was a really good first story by the girl and I enjoyed it!

Up next is a story that is mostly sad with a dash of OH HECK no when a girl decides to run away and gets on a bus with ghosts. Yep. Don’t look back! Never look back! It was a spooky tale, but as I said it was also sad because of the situation the girl was in (her parents were constantly arguing and making remarks) and finding out what happened to the people in the bus. I loved that despite it being a very scary situation (I mean, do you want to go back to a bus full of ghosts?) she was trying her best to find out what happened and how to help these ghosts out. OK, I have to say I was SO pissed when she cut out that photograph from an OLD newspaper from the library, I get why she needed it but I would have rather have her make a copy in some way instead of just cutting it out, so disrespectful. It got very hairy at times and a dash scary and I loved every bit of this. And yes, I may have cried a bit.

And the last story was by far my favourite! Namely what happens when you find a stray on a roadtrip? Do you take it home with you? This got really scary and spooky fast and I just loved every bit of it. I was just NOPING so much at many parts. Lesson of the story, don’t pick up strays! You never know what you may bring home with you! I loved the ending, especially when it also went back into real life, aka with the teens around the campfire. That was just a-plus.

I also really loved the art in this one. In terms of ranking, Story #2 was my favourite, followed by Story #1, and then lastly Story #3.

Oh, and I liked that between the stories we saw the campfire, heard what the kids thought about the stories + more.

All in all, I just hope that there will be more of these because I need more spooky stories in my life! And I should really see if I can find the older TV series for some more nostalgia!

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a little too young and far too chicken to ever watch Are You Afraid of the Dark? so I didn't get a nostalgia punch from this one (I don't know that anyone did, I just can't compare this to the original). But I can say that I read a lot of graphic novels and I have a soft spot for horror comics and this one is very freaky. Four different illustrators lend their talents and each are spot on. The illustrations are a big part of this book, but the text is also well-paced and very creepy. Might give you nightmares, but a lot of fun nonetheless.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent addition to the AYAOTD? franchise. Before I even talk about the contents and my thoughts on the stories, I noticed that this book was… woke. This isn’t an issue by any means, but I wanted to bring it up since it’s just nice to see that we’re heading in a direction that represents diverse culture and sexuality within kids horror—whilst also not making it anything note worthy to the actual stories. Very neat… now for my upsides, all three stories have amazing art. The monsters designs to the creative visuals in the scarier bits to the memorable shots all accumulate for a very well crafted story on a visual level. My favorite shot is in story three when the monster is looking down on the girl. Shit gave me literal Goosebumps (pun intended). Along with the art styles for the three stories and mini-segments, the stories themselves were all in the sport of the franchise and were all actually really good in their own regards, my favorite being The Tale of the Haunting of Bus #13. The messages and themes are all great and even hit home a little. The ending of The Tale of the Stray Comet heavily subverts expectations in a way that is really weird but welcome. Also, (small spoiler) I love me some schpookey aliens… and we get a bit of that here. Now for negatives, I wasn’t big on The Tale of the Witch’s Wings—the literal title of the novel. It’s pretty good and has great art, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no resolution for some particular aspects of that story that leave you wanting an extra page or two to make the story a bit more… upbeat, I guess, than it already kind of was as the end.
Stray Comet meandered a lot for a story with no resolution, which didn’t bother me since the story seems like it’s gonna end, but it doesn’t. I’m fine with the idea it had there (it was blatantly said how it would turn out before the girl even began the story), but it just would’ve been a better story in itself if we had gotten that resolution. But uh… nothing really else to dunk on. There’s a typo in Stray Comet, somehow lol. But yeah—here’s my ratings for the three stories and the book overall.

The Tale of the Witch’s Wings - 7.5/10
The Tale of Haunting of Bus #13 - 9.5/10
The Tale of the Stray Comet - 8.5/10

Overall, the book gets an 8.5/10. Highly recommend checking this out.

[RVGSteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Growing up I loved Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? TV show. My brother, my best friend and I watched it religiously. The Midnight Society, the dust tossing into the campfire, The Tale of ___ graphic… everything felt organic and like lightning in a bottle. So imagine my thrill when I saw a graphic novel adaptation based off the same name!

This graphic novel contains 3 short scary stories. They all have different illustrations. To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the art. The first story’s art was solid and fine, but I found the art of stories 2/3 to be off putting. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I also didn’t like all the blank empty white spaces. I felt a little cheated.

BTW, the first story in this book is very reminiscent of The Sleepover by Michael Regina. Regina did it waaaay better. I recommend checking that one out!

I liked it but I didn’t love it like I was hoping to. Even the front and back covers are lacking. It could be so much more dynamic but both covers are just kind of eh. The back cover especially. Very low effort.

I will probably take a look to see what volume 2 looks like at the book store, but an instant blind buy that won’t be. A very lukewarm 3 stars. So much potential… I hope they hit it out of the park with the next one.

[Danyel Bookworm Gaymer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you afraid of the dark? Is one of my all-time favorite childhood television shows, may even be the precursor to my love for horror. Just for nostalgic sake, I wanted to check out the new novels and graphic novels in the recent updated reboot line for the series. Especially now that I have adult money. 😂

Damn! If I had this when I was young, it would’ve been amazing! I’m glad that almost as a 40 year-old, I get to reminisce and enjoy this. Are you afraid of the dark? has always been so great at packaging spooky creepiness and horror at a middle grade level without insulting kid’s intelligence.

This Graphic novel understands that assignment and is the same good fun as Creepshow is for adults. The art and colors don’t shy away with making the panels leap out with scary imagery. The storylines with the three interlaced stories treated with maturity and cool lessons for the young ones. Also, it’s just plain wicked cool. Highly recommend for any age. Genuine creepy good time!

[Chris Velazquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a big fan of Are You Afraid Of The Dark to this day, I had to check this graphic novel out.

Overall, it was good, and the three stories were fun, imaginative and creepy, with an emphasis on Hispanic culture, which I appreciated. Though it could have been so much better, as the book does drop the ball with the core essence of the franchise, which is the Midnight Society itself. All three stories are told by the same person trying to gain membership into the Society. It's a classic how initiations take place by telling a story, but telling three in one sitting felt rather off to me. This means we don't really get to know the members of the Midnight Society except for this prospective new member, and we don't even find out the names of some of them. I wish there would have been a good balance and at least a bit of characterization for the members of the Midnight Society.

Overall, good but not great. I'll certainly check out the next graphic novel.

[CoCoBug · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read - I really like the premise of teens around the fire pit telling scary stories and a new girl is invited. These 3 stories are her "audition" into the group - if they suck, she's out and can't return.

I agree with one of the kids on the first one - not great. Which is unfortunate because it's the titular story.

The second one about the Bus - I can't get over the illustrations of the girl's glasses. I don't know why, but it bugs me how they are drawn with the yellow highlight to show they are glasses. Besides that, I loved the idea of the haunted bus, and her going to the library to find out the old story from the 50's.

I'm not an alien person, so I didn't like the last story even more than the first. It ended predictably with the group of teens at the end. Overall, eh.

[Anabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best for halloween for children!

We get three tales

-The tale of the Witche's Wings
-The tale of the haunting of bus #13
-The tale of the stray comet

It's supposed to be a children's book, but a couple times it had me like this might be a little too spooky, but no it's exactly fitting!

Are you afraid of the dark started strong with this first graphic novel! loved the storytelling, the illustrations and the inclisivitinclusiveness! Reading books in English with a little sprinkle of Spanish and lore from my culture is a breath of fresh air, even if is a spooky one! I adore this little book and I believe your kiddos will too, heck you might too as well!

My kid and I are looking forward to reading the next volumes!

Are you afraid of the dark?

[Audrey | WellReadandUndead(ish) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but it didn’t feel incredibly cohesive. The premise for why Alicia is there doesn’t fit with the final scary story she told, so it doesn’t actually leave you feeling creeped out. Of the three stories, I think the last one did the best job of setting up a before, creepy event, and aftermath. The two others felt so random, and the happy endings really bulldoze over the horror element. The art styles were different for each of the three stories and the main storyline, which was fine but didn’t feel particularly necessary when all three stories are told by Alicia. The visual discrimination makes more sense to delineate between narrators, like in “Eerie Tales from the School of Screams.”

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was pretty excited to see this. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was right up there with Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as formative horror media for me. The framing device is basically as it was in the show, with a club of kids telling scary stories around a campfire. It's easy to imagine this as a couple generations down the line from the original club. The stories themselves are fine. They could've been in the show, but they wouldn't have been the best or scariest stories to appear. I liked the first, title story best, but I didn't find any of them particularly scary. Maybe that's because I'm an adult and not the kid this is aiming for.

[The Loco Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facinating graphic novel where a girl has to audition to become a part of the scary storytelling club.

TW: pg. 41 "when they killed her" but it only shows the angry townspeople, her screaming, and her house on fire; some scary images of the owl turning into a witch's face and then it becoming a demon; a young boy and an old woman vanquishing demons; in the last story, the characters have two dads; the girl says she doesn't want the dog's name to have "man" in it because she's a "feminist"; when the animals gather in the forest it says they made a "cult"

[Hilda Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first ever "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" book and it was creepy! The graphics really add to the horror element of the book and it was very entertaining. This book grabbed my attention from the beginning. I'm sure kids will devour this book, especially those that love scary stories.

Horror

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the tv series but this is another series gone woke the first 2 stories were good but the third one the tale of the stray comet definitely adult not children and the woke stuff is even worse girl says she’s a feminist and the sibling have 2 dads it is a scary tale too much for children and children shouldn’t be exposed to homosexuality and they shouldn’t even know what a feminist is

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love anything Tehlor does. The different art styles for each story were great, and i love that these had deeper themes and weren't just surface level spooky stories. Also love the Latine rep and casual queer rep.

[Alaina · Rating 3 out of 5]

a solid story (and stories within the story lol) that kept the same vibes as the original 'are you afraid of the dark' show. a nice read, but ultimately nothing stuck with me. if they put out more, i'll likely check them out, however!

[Betsy And The Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

I submit this for the approval of the midnight society my 4⭐️ review. This was just nostalgia central for me I grew up watching Are You Afraid of the Dark late at night in the dark and this just brought back all those memories.

[Kelli]

A fun, spooky graphic novel for the season!

[Arman Waggoner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cool reading something that's based from the show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy that each story has its own artist/s. The last story is genuinely eerie with creepy but still fantastic artwork.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://twitter.com/Spongey445/status...

A solid Good/high 3 bordering on 3.5.

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

MG
horror
Short Stories
Graphic novel

All new terrifying tales based on the hit Nickelodeon show, Are You Afraid of the Dark?!
Hispanic mythology/folklore.