“It’s a good thing life isn’t a comic book –right?”
A unique comic book-themed Goosebumps book, Attack of the Mutant is a first-person narrated story from the perspective of a short-pudgy boy with a chipped front tooth named Bradley “Skipper” Matthews (because he liked to skip when he was young). He goes to “Franklin” in Riverview Falls but his grades are poor because he reads too many comics. He explains to his neighbor Wilson Clark that he collects pristine comics like Silver Swan number zero in mint condition and is fully conversant in other comics like Star Wolf, Z-Squad, Spawn, Captain America, and others –but his favorite is The Masked Mutant, a comic run about a villainous shape-shifter who can re-arrange his molecules and transform himself into anybody.
One day while on the bus, ostensibly headed toward an orthodontist appointment, Skipper meets a redheaded girl named Libby who also collects comic books (albeit just the silly High School Harry & Beanhead comic). As they chat, Skipper realizes he has missed his bus stop. He starts panicking until he suddenly spots a building outside that looks remarkably like a giant pink and green fire hydrant… it looks suspiciously similar to the secret headquarters of The Masked Mutant in the comic books!
Skipper later convinces Libby to join him as they investigate this mysterious building. At first, it appears to have disappeared until Skipper remembers that the lair has an invisibility curtain around it, just like in the comic books –“The comic book is real!” When they uncover it, the facility appears to be empty, but then Skipper and Libby take the elevator down and become trapped and separated. There are no signs or maps, and seemingly no way to get back to the lobby. Then he finds drawings of The Masked Mutant and other sketches around the facility… of himself! Right down to the little chip on his front tooth. What is going on here? Could this be the home of Collectible Comics? If so, why is Skipper being drawn as a comic book character?
Eventually, Skipper and Libby narrowly manage to escape but Skipper later returns by himself. He goes in alone and hears a cold dark laugh and among the many empty corridors, he finds a masked figure begging for help behind a bolt doorway. It turns out to be a comic book character named The Galloping Gazelle! Somehow the comic book characters are coming to life. Skipper tries to help The Galloping Gazelle but a battle ensues when the real-living Masked Mutant shows up. He sends the Galloping Gazelle running away and very nearly destroys Skipper until Libby suddenly arrives. She grabs a toy gun which she says is a “Molecule-Melter” and kills The Masked Mutant.
Skipper thanks Libby until she points the gun at Skipper and suddenly morphs into The Masked Mutant herself. As it turns out, The Masked Mutant was really just pretending to be Libby this whole time (there never was a real Libby). This all gets a bit convoluted but the other figure The Masked Mutant just incinerated was simply another character named the Magnificent Molecule Man who had been working for The Masked Mutant this whole time. Apparently, The Masked Mutant is always looking for new foes for his comics, and he claims Skipper has been changed into a comic book character, and he is now ready to star in a story of his own (he says there was an initial scanning beam of light first passed over Skipper when he entered the lair and it transformed him into tiny dots of ink). But in a goofy twist, Skipper claims he’s already a comic book hero called the “Colossal Elastic Boy” and the only thing that can destroy him is sulfuric acid. He tricks The Masked Mutant into becoming sulfuric acid which kills ultimately him since in the comics The Masked Mutant can only transform into solid object, not liquid.
At any rate, Skipper races and finds some relief with his nine-year-old sister Mitzi… until he accidentally cuts himself and sees that his blood is now multi-colored: red, blue, yellow, and black ink! Has Skipper actually become a living comic book character?
My Thoughts on Attack of the Mutant
Attack of the Mutant is a fun but ridiculous installment in the Goosebumps canon. The retro comic nostalgia is good for a laugh but the ending is far too farcical and complicated (even for a silly middle grade novel about a comic book character that comes to life). The existence of The Masked Mutant’s lair in reality is never even explained. How did it get there? Who built it? Where did the invisibility cloak surrounding it come from? How did The Masked Mutant first come to life in the real world? Why would he pose as a girl named Libby on the bus just to get Skipper’s attention? He couldn’t think of a better way to lure Skipper? Anyway, Attack of the Mutant apparently has a more favorable reputation among Goosebumps fans, but I’m comfortable tossing this one into the “fairly mediocre” bin.
Corresponding Episode Review
The two-part episode of “Attack of the Mutant” somewhat hilariously features Adam West as The Galloping Gazelle character. You can tell Adam West had a real laugh putting on a superhero suit again and filming this one! While the episode largely mirrors the plot of the book, it does create more of an ominous atmosphere early on with Skipper’s comic books secretly coming to life and there are some delightfully cheesy colorful ’90s television special effects (The Masked Mutant’s headquarters was filmed inside a Toronto brewery). Plus, Skipper starts believing he is hallucinating when his vision starts to look as if he is reading a comic book. A few minor differences between the episode and the book are: Skipper’s friend/neighbor Wilson collects rocks (instead of stamps as in the book), Skipper briefly mentions his annoying sister Mitzi in the book but he has no sibling in the episode, there is no “Magnificent Molecule Man” in the episode, the town is called Tarrington in the episode (instead of Riverview Falls), and the Masked Mutant can actually teleport (which is not mentioned in the book). But the most notable difference in my view is the twist ending in which Skipper returns home to his mom in the kitchen, but when he heads into the family room and she grabs hold of his hand, Skipper is revealed to be the Elastic Boy!
Stine, R.L. Attack of the Mutant. Scholastic, Inc., New York, NY, 1994.