Camp Midnight

July 4, 2016
Seagle (It's a Bird) and New Yorker cartoonist Katzenstein deliver a devilishly fun summer camp story. Their surly heroine, Skye, is furious when her father and wicked-seeming stepmother ship her off to camp while her mother is in Rwanda with Doctors Without Borders. In the rush to get on the bus, Skye winds up bound for Camp Midnight, where she soon realizes that she is out of her element in more ways than one: the campers and staffers are actually witches, werewolves, medusas, and other terrifying beasties. Katzenstein plays lurid shades of chartreuse, teal, crimson, and other ultra-saturated colors against each other to deliciously unsettling effect. Combined with his frenetic linework, checkerboard halftone shading, and intensely exaggerated cartooning, the resulting panels feel like an off-kilter storyboard for the unfolding horror-movie-esque adventure. And while this camp's activities don't start until long after the sun has set, experiences like learning to be true to oneself, making friends, fitting in, and having a first kiss turn out to be pretty universal. "I got kissed by a boy!" Skye gushes late in the story. "Or was I licked by a wolf...?" Ages 9â12.