Zombies, vampires and ghosts feature prominently in nearly all forms of entertainment in the 21st century, including popular fiction, film, comics, television and computer games. But these creatures have been vital to the entertainment industry since the best-seller books of a century and half ago. Monsters don't just invade popular culture, they help sell popular culture. This collection of new essays covers 150 years of enduringly popular Gothic monsters who have shocked and horrified audiences in literature, film and comics. The contributors unearth forgotten monsters and reconsider familiar ones, examining the audience taboos and fears they embody. “with this collection, Hutchison and Brown break new ground in monster studies...informed and sophisticated use of postmodern critical approaches...recommended”― Choice ; “the essays assess a century and a half of such content across a variety of media-literature, film, and comics”― Communications Booknotes Quarterly . Sharla Hutchison, a professor of English at Fort Hays State University, has authored critical articles on Gothic fiction, modern literature, and women writers. Rebecca A. Brown teaches composition and developmental English in Seattle. Her current and forthcoming publications focus on children in horror films and monsters in picturebooks.