Next month AfterShock Comics will release Fearbook Club, the latest entry in the publisher’s Seismic Press imprint of graphic novels for young readers. The book, about students in a middle school yearbook club who encounter ghosts and other supernatural occurrences, comes from the creative team of writer Richard Ashley Hamilton, artist Marco Matrone, and letterer Dave Sharpe. Today The Beat is pleased to present an exclusive preview of the book ahead of its release.

Here’s how AfterShock describes Fearbook Club:

When shy 6th-grade shutterbug Whit Garcia starts middle school, he’s forced to join a yearbook club with three other weirdos who will never be voted “most likely to succeed.” But after the ghosts of missing students start haunting them, Whit, Hester, Hillary and Press must solve the supernatural secret behind these spirits – or their yearbook club will be voted most likely to join them.

But are these ghostly students the real bad guys? Or are they just warning Whit and his friends? Warning them about a darkness beyond their schoolyard…a darkness that threatens to swallow the school – and its occupants – whole.

In a statement back when Fearbook Club was first announced, writer Richard Ashley Hamilton described how his own personal experiences and fears as a middle schooler informed the creation of the graphic novel:

“On a personal note, I feel like I also mined a lot of the fears that I faced when I was in middle school — not fitting in, not being special, never getting noticed by girls or anyone else for that matter — as well as the fears my wife and I now face as parents. When our sons started elementary school, the principal asked us to write “comfort letters.” Basically, you have to put into words how you want your kids to keep calm in times of crisis — like an earthquake or an active shooter situation — but also everything you want to say to your son or daughter in case you never see them again. 

These comfort letters are by far the hardest things I have ever had to write, and they really speak to that culture of fear we’re all living in. It would be great if Fearbook Club could teach our readers a few skills to survive and maybe even thrive with all of that fear.”

Check out a preview of Fearbook Club, including X pages exclusive to The Beat, below. The 112-page graphic novel is due out in comic shops on Wednesday, January 5th, and in bookstores on Tuesday, January 18th.