“Before Watchmen? Whatever. “Akira” remake? Fine. You know why? Because it’s not like people won’t be able to read or watch the originals.
However, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” they’re replacing Stephen Gammell’s classic illustrations with half-hearted chicken scratch by Brett Helquist, who is best known for illustrating “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and ruining “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.”
This is terrible. This is awful. Look, was the original art way too intense and twisted for a kids book? Absolutely. Did that make it THAT much cooler? Fuck yeah. Even as a snotty-nosed 10 year old, I knew these books were a cut above and I and several other “arty” kids were inspired by Gammell’s illustrations and tried to imitate the atmospheric style. The only thing the new drawings inspire is a catatonic state.
Parents, if you truly care about your children having their childhoods warped by a QUALITY product, get them the real thing before it’s too late.
