GN Review -- Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater / Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins

My memory of the first volume of Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer is a book that had a good premise, but that ultimately felt underwhelming due to that premise wearing thin quickly.  There were a lot of twists and turns that I saw coming, jokes that were overused, and a plot that I'd seen too many times in other works.  It wasn't a bad read, but I couldn't help feeling that it could have been more.  I'm pleased to say that its sequel, Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer and the Great Puppet Theater, delivers a much more engrossing narrative and really ups the stakes in a positive way.

Having slain his creator-turned-vampire Gepetto in the last book, and now having to ally himself with a friend who's now a vampire, Pinocchio coldly continues his quest, his anger threatening to consume him.  When he and his comrades are overwhelmed by a large group of vampires, they are rescued by the wooden puppets of the Great Puppet Theater, who have met him before.

They begin a hunt for the vampire who turned Gepetto, trekking across Italy to find him, but have more than a few significant obstacles to overcome, from the interpersonal dramas within the ranks of the theater puppets to Pinocchio's distrust of Cherry's vampiric bloodlust.  When a tragic turn of events deprives Cherry of his life, his fairy friend Canpenella turns him into a real boy, making him a liability in a fight.  Canpenella dies as a result of the spell, and soon after, Carlotta is kidnapped and taking to sea by the vampires, who are in league with the villainous Fox and Cat.  Despite a dogged pursuit and valiant fight aboard the vampires' ship, Pinocchio and his puppet friends are left adrift at sea, their fate uncertain as the vampires escape with Carlotta as their prisoner.

Taking another turn at the darkly irreverent humor that made the first book so popular, Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins deliver a worthy tale that combines adventure, dark fantasy, and just enough laughs to keep things from getting to gritty and serious.  And believe me, there are some fairly serious twists and turns in the narrative.  Pinocchio's unabated bitterness and anger at his station in life is made explicit, and they are ultimately the cause of several big turns for the worse.  On the other hand, you have the hilarious personalities and squabbles of his puppet brethren, as well as the occasional wordiness or idiocy of the vampires everyone fights lightening things up from time to time.  It's a delicate balance to maintain, and these gentlemen pull it off nicely in this volume.

Dusty Higgins's artwork does an excellent job of supporting the narrative.  It's dark and gritty, with expressive undertones that make plenty of room for the story's humorous moments.  While it does look a little rushed or indistinct in some places, there are many more where it truly shines.  Pinocchio's fight with Cherry is both vicious and heartbreaking, and the ship to ship fight between the vampires and Pinocchio's forces is exhilarating to behold.

Overall, if you liked the first book, I'm pretty sure you'll like this one even more.  It's got a lot going on, packing character drama, adventure, humor and dark fantasy in one enjoyable package.  Highly recommended.

GN Review -- Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer / Van Jensen and Dusty Higgins

There's little point in arguing that the premise to Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer is a lot of fun. I mean, come on, a puppet whose entire body is made out of wood going and killing vampires? A "wee little puppet man" kicking the collective ashes of the bloodsuckers he stakes? With all of the monster / classic literature mash-up books that have come out, this one seemed the most light-hearted, amusing, and flat-out fun.

It certainly starts off that way. From scribe Van Jensen's apology to the original creator of Pinocchio to the very cleverly narrated beginning hunt scene, he wastes no time in playing this continuation for laughs of the dark variety. Drawing us into the premise that this pint-sized protagonist can endlessly attack the vampires by lying and then breaking off his nose, he then lays out the story thus far about his father Gepetto's death at the hands of the bloodsucking undead, and Pinocchio's subsequent quest for vengeance.

A multitude of allies and adversaries populate the story, from a ghostly cricket and a weaponsmith carpenter to a duplicitous fox and cat and ignorant townsfolk who are too freaked out by Pinocchio to believe him. Pinocchio tracks down and confronts his father's killers, setting the stage for a final showdown with the vampires that contains the requisite twist near the end. Things end on a dark, somewhat tragic note, with just a little bit of humor thrown in as well as the promise of more to come.

It's a promising setup, and things do start out well, but after a while the jokes seem to fall flat from either overuse or bad timing. The dialog is amusing in places, but after a while it seems there are more wasted punchlines than funny one-liners. And the story itself, while far from the strongest plot premise in the world, starts off engaging and humorous, but after a while seems to fall in on the weight of its own gravitas. It seems Pinnochio, Vampire Slayer doesn't quite know how seriously to take itself, and we're left with an awkward mix of jokes and darkness and vampires and magic and townfolk personalities that isn't patently bad, but seems underwhelming given the story's auspicious beginning.

The artwork, while not bad in and of itself, isn't all that remarkable either. Dusty Higgins's cartoon style is appropriate for the story, given the popular if misguided perception of Pinocchio originating as a Disney cartoon, and it goes to the appropriately dark places the narrative demands when it needs to, but it does seem as rushed and unfinished in places as the writing. Overall, I was underwhelmed by its simplicity and lack of detail--some visuals of the cricket come to mind--and wished there had been a little more to it.

Which isn't to say that Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer is a bad story. It's not. It simply doesn't pack quite the punch it seems to promise. Given the way it starts off, I was ready to be dazzled, and... well, wasn't. It's a good enough story, that reads fairly smoothly and with a serviceable enough plot and cast. But I just can't help the feeling that it could have been a lot better, a lot more fun. Moderately recommended, particularly for vampire enthusiasts, Buffy fans, and people who like seeing literary classics mashed with monsters.