Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer
By Van Jensen
SLG Publishing, 2009. 128 pgs. Young Adult Comics

Pinocchio Vampire Slayer continues where the classic Pinocchio story ended. After his maker/father Geppetto is killed by vampires, Pinocchio tries to protect the disbelieving inhabitants of his village, aided only by woodcarver Master Cherry, a greatly aged Blue Fairy and the ghost of the nagging cricket he squashed some time ago. As that last reference indicates, this is not the sentimentalized Disney version of the story; the protagonist of this book is one tough little puppet. As a vampire fighter Pinocchio has the advantage of a built-in wooden stake—as long as he remembers to tell lies at the right time.

I think that this book is quite clever in having Pinocchio use his bluffing nose as a vampire stake. I found the graphics to be a little hard to figure out at times, but would recommend this graphic novel to anyone looking for a twist on the Pinocchio story we all grew up with.

AMM