(Spoilers for the House Haunters comic series)

I've been collecting and reading all the IDW comics, and have, so far, thought them all to be pretty middling. I don't really like the new canon established in the Once Bitten book, and personally I thought New Scaremester Series 1 was dry and OOC. The oneshots can be a bit more interesting, but not by much.

I just finished the House Haunters series, and oh my gosh it's so much better than any of the comics I've read so far.

The main ghouls are characterized so well, their dialogue reads completely as themselves. The banter is funny and engaging. Cleo and Clawdeen's interactions in particular feel the right amount of caustic without being actively antagonistic. I don't think I've ever seen Frankie looking and acting so cool!!! She feels more like the main character and participant in the action, rather than being more of a passive mediator like she felt in New Scaremester.

The side plot with Deuce and Torelai was really cute (I'm someone who doesn't mind Clawdeen x Torelai at least in concept). It reminded me a lot of the ending part of the Scaris movie, where the ghouls are frantically trying to get home on all these different forms of transportation.

The jokes are funny!!! It doesn't solely rely on monster puns, but even the puns it does make are unique and made me chuckle.

House Haunters truly *feels* like the original movies, in dialogue, characterization, plot structure, pacing, etc. Maple Lodge feels like another movie-typical character turned new friend, and Echkidna feels like the other movie villains.

I'm not sure if Ben Kahn has worked on Monster High previously or if this was his first time writing for the franchise, but huge hats off to him for this series!!! I'm a bit shocked he's not writing for the main comics.

The art, colors, and panel compositions are also really great 💜 So props to Sonia Liao, Rebecca Nalty, Johanna Natalie, Serena Mercado (I bought her covers) and everyone else who worked on House Haunters.

House Haunters Appreciation Post