Author: Van Jensen
Publisher: Top Shelf Comix
Rating: WORTHY!
Illustrated by Dusty Higgins
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review.
How can you not love a comic with a title like this? Well, I wondered exactly that as I read the opening sequence - recapping the original story of Pinocchio (with some additions). I wondered, is this necessary, and then I wondered, if it is, does it have to be drawn this scrappily? It looks like it's been Xeroxed twenty times, and it made the text harder to read than it needed to be. I thought, until I enlarged the page - something which I wouldn't have been able to do in a print book! - that they'd misspelled Miranda rights as 'Meranda' rights. They hadn't.
I don't appreciate the wasting of page space, either. There's no reason why these images couldn't have been made brighter and occupied more of the page than the 60% they do occupy (surrounded by funereal black). I saw that they were trying to achieve some sort of ebony wood-grain effect, but it didn't work and only served to highlight the fact that they seem to have sadly missed out on the very real fact that trees are precious. We're privileged to have them, and shouldn't be abusing them by wasting paper so. Also, on a point of order, too, Shrek was an ogre, not a troll!
That said, once the actual story started, the illustrations were dramatically better (although still too wasteful of the page) and the writing was excellent. This is yet another good reason not to read prologues! Just jump right to the main story: it incorporates the whole Pinocchio story, but in ways you might least expect it, as Pinocchio and some allies stalk (or is is stake?) across Europe seeking out vampires, and slaughtering them mercilessly as indeed all vampires, especially ones named Edward, should be slaughtered.
Pinocchio has a love interest, but she's nothing to be ashamed of! Quite the contrary, in fact, which made a very pleasant change for me. I likes me some strong female characters. The story is intelligent and engrossing, and it amused me and made me want to read more of this (but no more of those prologues, please!). I didn't get to read the complete story, but if the rest of it is anything at all like the first half (or whatever portion it was that was included in the volume I read!), then it's going to be good. I'm happy to rate this a worthy read.
