Fall is approaching, and soon thereafter it isn’t long before the grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.
Disney Parks’ Haunted Mansion has already been giving fans of this classic attraction a wealth recently-released books and comics based on the mansion’s legends, lore, and 999 happy haunts.
These include the start of a young readers’ novel series, a five-issue comic book story arc, and beginning readers’ picture book. For those building their spooky book collections, here’s the some of the latest in this famous residence’s tomes:
Tales from the Haunted Mansion Volume 1: The Fearsome Foursome by the ghostly librarian Amicus Arcane (as transcribed by John Esposito and illustrated by Kelley Jones). This beautifully-designed book tells the tale of four horror story-loving middle schoolers who lose their clubhouse to a freak storm (Arcane may or may not have taken credit for) and just happen to come across invites to an even creepier venue. Once there, they learn they might be the subjects of some new tales. The recommended age range is 8 to 12, so the story and writing level are geared toward that group. It also doesn’t focus on any well-known mansion residents. Older readers may find this an easy afternoon escape, but it would really be nice to see a Haunted Mansion novel geared towards older teens and adults. Those tales could be gothic and potentially terrifying.
Disney Parks Presents The Haunted Mansion picture book is illustrated by James Gilleard, based on both the ride and its well-loved “Grim Grinning Ghosts” theme song with lyrics by Xavier “X” Atencio and music by Buddy Baker. This simple book, accompanied by a CD of the song, is the first of Disney Parks Presents series of attraction-based books. The book gives families with beginning readers a chance to relive the ride and enjoy Gilleard’s eerily adorable drawings. Not only is this a wonderful gift for Haunted Mansion fans, but if upcoming books in this series are as well done as this one, this will be a series worth collecting, whether or not you have young readers at home.
Marvel’s Disney Kingdoms: The Haunted Mansion by Joshua Williamson and Jorge Coelho. This comic book’s story is a pretty familiar scenario, with a young boy being lured into a seemingly abandoned old mansion to help lift a curse on its ghostly residents. The story is a good read for tweens and up, with Easter egg-filled illustrations. Better than the story, however, are some of the variant covers, especially the one by Skottie Young, for those lucky enough to find it. The first five volumes can be purchased as a collected hardback beginning Sept. 20, and the first issue will be available again in a special free edition for the 2016 Halloween ComicFest set for Oct. 29.
For those who want a couple of different comic looks at the Haunted Mansion, there are two other comic series inspired by the attraction.
The first, also a Disney Kingdoms series, is Seekers of the Weird by Brandon Seifert, with illustrations by Karl Moline and Filipe Andrade. The story follows a brother and sister trying to uncover the disappearance of their parents in the setting of a strange, perilous museum. The story itself isn’t that memorable, but the incorporation of some of Disney imagineer Rolly Crump’s original ideas for a never-created attraction Museum of the Weird, precursor to the Haunted Mansion, is worth a look.
Slave Labor Graphics released eight issues of its Haunted Mansion comic book series starting in 2005, featuring individual short stories by various artists based on the mansion’s most famous “happy haunts.” A lot edgier than the Disney Kingdoms series, these tales range from the downright spooky to a witty appearance by Roman Dirge’s Lenore: The Cute Little Dead Girl and a sweet tale of why the cowardly groundskeeper and his pup continue to visit the mansion nightly. The first six issues can be found in a collected edition, Haunted Mansion Vol. 1, Welcome Foolish Mortals, but the final issues might be harder to come by. These are some of my favorite Haunted Mansion stories, and some of the most imaginative. This one is more than worth hunting down.
Finally, for those wanting a behind-the-scenes guide, author and imagineer Jason Surrell’s books include The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic released in 2015. This is actually the 3rd edition of his The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies, originally published in 2003. I recommend the latest edition, as there are plenty of updates.
There is also the rarer The Art of the Haunted Mansion version by Surrell in 2003, the same year the forgettable Eddie Murphy movie hit the screens. I’ve even seen prices for this hardback edition range from just over $100 to $700. The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic, on the other hand, is about $15 on Amazon.
One non-Disney publication, The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion by Jeff Baham, is available, but it does get a ghostly hitchhiker-worthy thumbs up from imagineer Rolly Crump, who provided the forward for this book.
Hopefully, there will be more to come of Haunted Mansion reading material in the near future, so be sure to clear out a shelf in the library. This shouldn’t be a problem, as book lovers and Haunted Mansion permanent residents agree: “There’s always room for one more.”
