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Stranger Things Omnibus: Afterschool Adventures
Three exciting standalone comics stories from the world of Stranger Things! Each focuses on younger characters from the Netflix hit, making this the perfect gift for any young fan.
Stanger Zombie Boys, Stanger The Bully, and Stanger Erica The Great
In Zombie Boys :
It’s spring in the normally quiet town of Hawkins, Indiana. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will grapple with the traumatic encounters they had with the Demogorgon–the stress building tension in their crew. Just in time to distract them, Spielberg-wannabe, Joey Kim, joins their AV club with a Betamax Camcorder and a vision—to make the scariest movie Hawkins Middle School has ever seen.
In The Bully :
Troy has been having nightmares about El ever since she embarrassed him in front of the school and broke his arm with telekinesis. Powerless and anxious, Troy is determined to prove that what happened between him and El is only some form of trickery. That is until he and his friend James encounter demodogs!
In Erica The Great :
With the Starcourt Mall’s recent destruction, Erica has lost her favorite hangout spot and her “free ice cream for life” deal at Scoops-Ahoy. To make matters worse, her brother is too busy for her and her mom won’t let her play Dungeons & Dragons anymore. This is the story of an ambitious, bossy, brilliant ten-year-old dealing with the complexities of maintaining friendships and learning how to compromise.
Stanger Zombie Boys, Stanger The Bully, and Stanger Erica The Great
In Zombie Boys :
It’s spring in the normally quiet town of Hawkins, Indiana. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Will grapple with the traumatic encounters they had with the Demogorgon–the stress building tension in their crew. Just in time to distract them, Spielberg-wannabe, Joey Kim, joins their AV club with a Betamax Camcorder and a vision—to make the scariest movie Hawkins Middle School has ever seen.
In The Bully :
Troy has been having nightmares about El ever since she embarrassed him in front of the school and broke his arm with telekinesis. Powerless and anxious, Troy is determined to prove that what happened between him and El is only some form of trickery. That is until he and his friend James encounter demodogs!
In Erica The Great :
With the Starcourt Mall’s recent destruction, Erica has lost her favorite hangout spot and her “free ice cream for life” deal at Scoops-Ahoy. To make matters worse, her brother is too busy for her and her mom won’t let her play Dungeons & Dragons anymore. This is the story of an ambitious, bossy, brilliant ten-year-old dealing with the complexities of maintaining friendships and learning how to compromise.
208 pages, Paperback
Published December 6, 2022
16 people are currently reading
89 people want to read
About the author
Greg Pak
1,649 books581 followersGreg Pak is an award-winning Korean American comic book writer and filmmaker currently writing "Lawful" for BOOM and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" (with Evan Narcisse) for Marvel. Pak wrote the "Princess Who Saved Herself" children's book and the “Code Monkey Save World” graphic novel based on the songs of Jonathan Coulton and co-wrote (with Fred Van Lente) the acclaimed “Make Comics Like the Pros” how-to book. Pak's other work includes "Planet Hulk," "Darth Vader," "Mech Cadet Yu," "Ronin Island," "Action Comics," and "Magneto Testament."
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 31, 2024
This book is a cute little graphic novel about what happens to the younger characters of “Stranger Things” between seasons. I fully admit that I had not paid close attention to the content before I got my copy, so word of warning: this is definitely aimed at a young adult audience: the stories are fun, but some little teachable moments are added in there, for good measure.
“Zombie Boys” is about the AV Club gang getting together with a new student to make a zombie movie, which helps Will, who still feels quite rattled by his experience in the Upside Down and by his new nickname. “The Bully” is about Troy, the mean little bully El put back in his place twice over the first season, and his attempt to understand what happened. And finally, “Erica the Great” is about Erica Sinclair’s attempt to get her girlfriends to play D&D, and how that doesn’t quite work out the way she expected.
The first story was cute, and I do appreciate the underlying message, that art can help us heal and reclaim who we are after trauma – and that scary movies can actually help us cope with real-life scary stuff, and I simply loved the last story, but then Erica is one of my favorite supporting characters: she is utterly terrifying and tragically underutilized, I hope they fix that in season 5. The middle story about Troy was an interesting choice: it shows that bullies usually learn their behavior somewhere, and tend to be just as terrified as the people they pick on, albeit for different reasons. And this will sound harsh, but Stranger Things does disgusting bully characters so-well that I am kind of indifferent to attempts at redeeming them.
Overall, a cute and fun little collection of bite-sized stories, but I would not consider it a significant addition to the universe’s cannon.
“Zombie Boys” is about the AV Club gang getting together with a new student to make a zombie movie, which helps Will, who still feels quite rattled by his experience in the Upside Down and by his new nickname. “The Bully” is about Troy, the mean little bully El put back in his place twice over the first season, and his attempt to understand what happened. And finally, “Erica the Great” is about Erica Sinclair’s attempt to get her girlfriends to play D&D, and how that doesn’t quite work out the way she expected.
The first story was cute, and I do appreciate the underlying message, that art can help us heal and reclaim who we are after trauma – and that scary movies can actually help us cope with real-life scary stuff, and I simply loved the last story, but then Erica is one of my favorite supporting characters: she is utterly terrifying and tragically underutilized, I hope they fix that in season 5. The middle story about Troy was an interesting choice: it shows that bullies usually learn their behavior somewhere, and tend to be just as terrified as the people they pick on, albeit for different reasons. And this will sound harsh, but Stranger Things does disgusting bully characters so-well that I am kind of indifferent to attempts at redeeming them.
Overall, a cute and fun little collection of bite-sized stories, but I would not consider it a significant addition to the universe’s cannon.
September 26, 2022
This was a fun graphic novel.
November 15, 2022
This omnibus collects three graphic novels. In "Zombie Boys," it's a year after the Will's disappearance and return, and he's understandably still having problems coming to terms with what he went through, and his friends are still having trouble as well. When a new student, Joey Kim, a budding horror movie maker, joins the AV club, a proposed collaboration to make a zombie movie offers a way for them to process some of the horrors that happened to them, at least for a little while... "The Bully" gives us a glimpse into Troy's life, and the inner turmoil that lead him to become a bully; this one's sad and frustrating, it hit me in the gut. Finally,"Erika the Great" brings the fun, as Erika introduces her friends to the world of Dungeons and Dragons, and the girls go on a real-life quest. Overall, this was spooky and fun, with some serious moments to balance things out. I still haven't watched the series, but I'm really enjoying the graphic novels!
August 5, 2025
First story about making a zombie movie was pretty good, but I was annoyed at the continuity/visual error of there not being anything on Joey's hand but then he leaves a hand print on Lucas' shoulder. I did like how the characters do an acting exercise and "dig deep", somewhat processing the events of the preceding year, as well as letting someone into the group and working together. Also really liked that they talked about the stereotype of the black character dying first (and/or not surviving).
Second story, I don't really care about the bullies, but yay for giving them a story and reminding the reader that they're people too with their own problems and stories. Makes me think of the word sonder.
Third story is the reason I picked up the book, I love Erica the Great. I wish that it had a little more...finesse? It seemed kind of stock and formulaic. Additionally, it seemed a little too young. I understand that Erica is younger than the other Stranger Things characters, but the volume as a whole was placed in the teens section, understandable due to the first story talking about eating flesh (more than just zombies or dark creatures) and the second story has cursing, but the last story could easily have been placed in the juvenile section.
Love how Erica rocks a blazer.
Second story, I don't really care about the bullies, but yay for giving them a story and reminding the reader that they're people too with their own problems and stories. Makes me think of the word sonder.
Third story is the reason I picked up the book, I love Erica the Great. I wish that it had a little more...finesse? It seemed kind of stock and formulaic. Additionally, it seemed a little too young. I understand that Erica is younger than the other Stranger Things characters, but the volume as a whole was placed in the teens section, understandable due to the first story talking about eating flesh (more than just zombies or dark creatures) and the second story has cursing, but the last story could easily have been placed in the juvenile section.
Love how Erica rocks a blazer.
December 31, 2025
The stories are often side plots to the main action in the actual TV series, and sometimes we get glimpses of what we've seen in the TV series, which is pretty cool, either through flashbacks or because the events are happening simultaneously.
Zombie Boys was probably my favourite of the three. It focuses on the main party making a film (or movies, as newly-introduced-and-temporary-character Joey Kim would stress) for extra credit, and in doing so working through some of the trauma they experienced during the first season.
The Bully gives us some insight into why Troy's so nasty to everyone, and we see his difficulty in dealing with being embarrassed by/frightened of El. He and James get to meet some demodogs, as well!
Erica the Great stars Erica (of course), who introduces her (very reluctant) friends to D&D, but her bossiness ends up pushing them too far. Things get out of hand and Erica and her friends need to work together to fix things. The story (and artwork) is made more interesting by Erica imagining that everything is a D&D campaign.
The only thing missing was Murray. There can never be too much Murray.
Zombie Boys was probably my favourite of the three. It focuses on the main party making a film (or movies, as newly-introduced-and-temporary-character Joey Kim would stress) for extra credit, and in doing so working through some of the trauma they experienced during the first season.
The Bully gives us some insight into why Troy's so nasty to everyone, and we see his difficulty in dealing with being embarrassed by/frightened of El. He and James get to meet some demodogs, as well!
Erica the Great stars Erica (of course), who introduces her (very reluctant) friends to D&D, but her bossiness ends up pushing them too far. Things get out of hand and Erica and her friends need to work together to fix things. The story (and artwork) is made more interesting by Erica imagining that everything is a D&D campaign.
The only thing missing was Murray. There can never be too much Murray.
January 10, 2023
The first omnibus of Stranger Things comics was actually rather decent, but this one didn’t quite maintain the quality. Somehow the decision was made to reduce the excitement and increase the kiddiness of it all, so that the three stories here are very young reading. Cute and fans of the show might still enjoy them, but overall, too light, with the cute leaning into cutesy, especially with the last story of Erica The Great.
Presumably, these comics will continue, because the spring of nostalgia is strong, and the show is likely to take its time returning for the final season. But you can skip this one and miss out on nothing. If you’re a completist, though, take comfort in knowing it’s only about 50% the size of its predecessor and reads very quickly.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
Presumably, these comics will continue, because the spring of nostalgia is strong, and the show is likely to take its time returning for the final season. But you can skip this one and miss out on nothing. If you’re a completist, though, take comfort in knowing it’s only about 50% the size of its predecessor and reads very quickly.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
April 28, 2023
I very much enjoyed this little comic of various short Stranger Things stories. I was most interested in Erica the Great, and that one definitely was my favorite overall. Loved how they mixed in D&D with that one. The first story was also pretty solid. I especially enjoyed the new character Joey Kim. The middle story was the weakest overall. I enjoyed it enough, but I found myself not caring about it much. It features two relatively obscure characters, and one of them just isn't all that likable at all. The artwork overall is really good as well, although some of the character designs aren't the best. Especially Joyce, it looks nothing like Winona Ryder.
If your a fan of the show its definitely worth your time. It is a quick and easy read as well.
If your a fan of the show its definitely worth your time. It is a quick and easy read as well.
December 8, 2025
I enjoyed this omnibus; I'd already read Zombie Boys, but the other two stories are good, too, especially Erica Sinclair's story. Erica is bossy as usual and wants her friends to play D&D with her, but she controls the game to the point where they don't want to play. Then, when there's a bigger problem to solve outside the world of board games, Erica has a strategy in place but has to get her friends onboard and collaborating effectively to take care of it.
These are enjoyable stories that will help fill in some of the gaps between seasons for loyal Stranger Things fans.
These are enjoyable stories that will help fill in some of the gaps between seasons for loyal Stranger Things fans.
January 28, 2023
Was instructed by my eldest (7yo) to read this. He’s right into Stranger Things and picked this up on a recent trip to the city in early January. He read it from cover to cover pretty quickly and left it on my bedside table for me to read as well. Anything Greg Pak over the years hasn’t let me down and this is no different. Some fun stories with heartfelt messages spread throughout. Proud Dad moment knowing he’s picking up and enjoying stuff like this.
January 20, 2023
Recommended by Mark. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore...
March 5, 2023
A great addition to the stranger things universe. Aside from Zombie Boy, this omnibus builds on background characters and allows for a more rounded world in which the show is in. Zombie Boy is also a lovely story that focuses on Will’s struggle to feel normal again.
May 20, 2023
Erica's my favorite character, and I loved her story the most. All three were great, and I loved the added dimension of Troy and James' story. I'm glad Will and the boys were able to talk about and find an outlet for the aftermath of their trauma.
June 22, 2023
The Bully was a little meh but I loved Zombie Boys and Erica The Great so much it more than made up for it. A lot of fun for Stranger Things fans, although Erica the Great is the only one which requires 0 series knowledge.
April 9, 2023
Three fun stories help fill in the world around the main narrative of Season 2. Loved it!
June 6, 2023
Three tales from the kids of Hawkins. Solid storytelling and great comic art that fans of the series will enjoy.
June 27, 2023
Cute fun stories that fill in some details around S2 of Stranger Things!
July 22, 2023
Erica the great storyline the best mhm
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews