NIGHT OF THE LIVING TED

Teddy bears come to life—and they’re evil.

Lisa Marie loves both big words and the Create-a-Ted store. On Halloween, while shopping with her new older stepbrother, Vernon, she sees that Create-a-Ted has a sign declaring a new owner—and it’s giving away Halloween bears. They get an Elvis bear (original name: Bearvis; Lisa Marie’s new name: Elvis Grizzly) for her Elvis-loving father; Lisa Marie makes a cute witch bear; Vernon—too cool for bears but pressured to make one—tosses together as many ghastly accessories as he can (a decision that will come back to haunt him). On Halloween night, the bears come to life, magically endowed with the abilities and powers of their personae. The witch bear and Vernon’s monstrosity start looting the town and causing all kinds of mayhem—including changing people into animals. Decisive Lisa Marie, with the help of Vernon (when he’s not fainting) and the heroic Elvis Grizzly, must find a way to stop the sinister stuffed menace, which escalates under the leadership of Vernon’s bear. The humor—apart from the zany setup—ranges from potty jokes (both innocent and gross-out) to tongue-in-cheek quips and a generous helping of puns. The ending doesn’t quite restore the status quo (but leaves a bully hanging in a funny way), promising the story will continue. The human characters are illustrated as white.

A riotous genre-mashing good time.