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.

Comic Review -- X-Men #27 / Victor Gischler, Jorge Molina, Salva Espin, and Guru eFX

This is a pretty decent cover, though whether it works or not depends on how central you think Jubilee is to the team and the comic.  While Psylocke, Storm, Colossus and Domino all look pretty badass as they square off with Lord Deathstrike and his mercs, her absence is telling, given that the story has basically centered around her and her struggles with vampirism.  You could also say it's symbolic, given the ending of the issue, though I'll elaborate on that later.  In the meantime, I do think this is a nice cover.

Jubilee faces off against Kodo's assassin in a swordfight, and does all the heavy lifting on the banter and smack-talking end, as Lord Deathstrike is completely silent, and expressionless behind his mask.  Meanwhile, Warpath, Domino, Deadpool, and the Forgiven have succeeded in driving off the assassins that had come to kill them, and make their way back to Kodo and the other X-Men.  Unable to best Deathstrike in sword technique, Jubilee allows him to run her through so she can get close to him and, with sword sticking through her back, headbutt him hard in the mask, leaving him prone.  She nearly decides to drain him of blood then, but is stopped by a plea from Kodo and Storm, and spares his life.  He bows to her, teleports away, and leaves Jubilee to decide what her path should be now.  Electing to stay behind with the Forgiven, she vows to learn as much about being a vampire as possible, so that she may do the most good.

This was a good end to the arc I came into a few issues ago, and while I'm not very pleased about Jubilee's departure from the X-Men--she belongs there, as far as I'm concerned, and always will, mutant or not--it's an understandable one, as the Forgiven clearly have much they can teach her.  I think the parallels between these vampires and the X-Men are also noteworthy, in that both are hated and feared by the larger majority, despite the fact that they try to protect both.  So I will give my blessing for her departure, though I hope to see the day she returns home to her real family.

I also like the way the X-Men and the Forgiven have come to a kind of understanding of one another, through Jubilee.  They may not necessarily like one another, but they are more alike than they initially realized, both have had the opportunity to test and respect the other's combat prowess, and they both care for the teenager with the vampire complex, Jubilee.  It leaves the door open for possible future collaborations and storylines, and makes for the kind of relationship you might see in the real world between groups who respect one another: a silent kind of agreement or understanding, without extreme dollops of rage or love that we often see between super-groups in comics.

Also, I have to give props to how Jubilee handled combat with the mysterious Lord Deathstrike (though I do have issues with his name--is he related to Lady Deathstrike?  If not, find another moniker, please).  She clearly didn't have his level of skill, but decided to take a (normally) mortal blow to get close and finish the fight her way.  It was a badass move, and one that drives home the idea that you shouldn't mess with the teenage vampire girl when she's protecting an ally.

Art-wise, Molina continues to deliver a satisfactory rendition of the characters and the action, this time with some help from Salva Espin.  I can't tell who did what and where--it looks pretty much like what I've seen from Molina--but the overall result is a worthy blend of action, drama, and vampiric teenage rage that works for this installment.  One minor nitpick has to do with Jubilee's coat getting shredded during her fight with Lord Deathstrike, and then it being all fine and whole at the end of the issue.  Unless they have extras in the X-Jet, I don't see how this would be possible.

Overall, this was a fun, decent, if not particularly noteworthy romp through the dramas of the X-men and their world.  The story is fun, the artwork is good, and we see the departure of Jubilee for a while from the ranks of the X-Men.  Recommended.

Comic Review -- X-Men #24-26 / Victor Gischler, Jorge Molina, Guru eFX, et al.

X-Men #24
I like the cover for this issue, especially since this is my first direct exposure to Jubilee-as-vampire.  It clearly shows that she's still struggling with the situation, and gives a good insight to the story contained within.  It's also a Will Conrad cover, which is a bonus in my book.

Jubilee is in the care of the Forgiven, headed by vampire Raizo Kodo, as she tries to overcome her hunger for human blood, which she apparently craves without regular injections of Wolverine's blood.  She's having a tough time of it, refusing any of the animal blood they offer her, and stubbornly repeating her desire for human blood over Kodo's suggestions.  She finally breaks free from them, and is about to feed on an unsuspecting villager, when she sees her lack of reflection in a mirror, which sends her back to Kodo, begging for more help.  On the final page, we see her teammates on the X-Men have been searching for her, lair by lair, and won't give up until they find her.

I've seen Jubilee as a stubborn teenager before, so while this experience is technically nothing new, it's a little disconcerting to see her hardheadedness in action concerning the desire to drink blood--specifically human blood.  She uses a myriad of techniques to make her point: shattering glasses, throwing blood in the face of her captors, even seduction, before finally getting the drop on one of the Forgiven and trying to escape.  Her realization that her humanity is really leaving her--driven home by her inability to see her reflection as she's about to feed on a human--feels genuine, and her turnaround points up how vulnerable she feels in her new condition.  Writing-wise, this felt like a good, solid story.

Artistically, I enjoyed Barrionuevo's pencils.  The linework seemed more lush and full in the scenes set in the darkness, and took on a more smooth and fluid feel in the daylight scenes.  Lacombe and Smith use shadows and shade effectively in a story that emphasizes light versus dark in several ways, though occasionally I was a little thrown by how often they were employed.  Finally Rosenberg's colors seemed to support the rest of the creative team with the daylight scenes done in very light, almost faded hues, while there was more depth to the darker scenes.  Very interesting work.

Overall, a good story to enter this series on.  I'll be looking for more stories about Jubilee becoming and vampire and dealing with it, but this sets up a good character development for her.  Highly recommended.


X-Men #25
Wow, now this is a beautiful cover.  The positions and composition, the light and shadows, even the relative tranquility on the subjects' faces in what should normally be a tense moment of struggle.  It makes for a beautiful moment between two teammates who have a long history together despite their current conflict.

The X-Men have been searching for Jubilee for weeks, clearing out lair upon lair of vampires with no luck.  Finally, they get a break and are sent to the South China Sea to find the current location of the Forgivens' mobile base.  After an initially tense meeting in which the Forgiven are forced to defend themselves against an overzealous band of X-Men, Jubilee forcefully steps in and demands they stop fighting.  Moments later, Colossus arrives, with a couple of bounty hunters and a message from them: there's a huge bounty on Kozo, and mercenaries for hire are currently swarming the island to find him...

This is a good continuation of last issue's story, where the focus now shifts to the team Jubilee left in her quest to overcome her darker nature.  Storm, Colossus, Psylocke, Domino and Warpath have remained single-minded in their quest to rescue their young teammate, and the fact that they've spent weeks searching for her shows their dedication, particularly when you consider that Jubilee could have gone rogue vamp at any point in that time, and they wouldn't know it.

Call me a party pooper if you like, but I have to say I'm getting a little tired of the frequency with which the whole shoot-first-ask-later bit happens in these situations.  Storm, particularly, has no excuse here: she's led the X-Men for years, and she's been the queen of a country.  She should know when and how to keep a cool head during potential standoff situations.  I know she has her issues with vampires, but that's still no excuse.  She has her team and Jubilee to think of.

Artistically, I think the issue succeeds overall.  I have a little bit of reservation about some of the faces Molina does in this issue--they seem slightly off in places--but they are also extremely well detailed and very expressive.  Even in the dynamic flow of the action, he does an uncanny job of drawing my eye to the feminine charms of his heroines, of which there are plenty.  Guru eFX does a vibrant job with the colors throughout the issue, bringing a variety of hues and shades that are pleasant to behold.

Overall, a good continuation of the previous story.  I'll be interested to see where the arc goes from here, now that the X-Men are in the position of having to work with the Forgiven.  Highly recommended.


X-Men #26

This cover feels pretty cinematic to me.  It's what I'd expect from the poster for an action film.  It's very balanced and dramatic, and another awesome, beautiful effort from Jorge Molina.

The X-Men and the Forgiven have taken positions to intercept and deal with the hired mercs who've just swarmed the island--except for Deadpool, who Domino has convinced to help them by agreeing to go on a date with him afterwards.  Storm and Kodo argue about command styles and strategy until Jubilee snaps at them both to put their differences aside for their people.  They hold off most of them, but one group manages to infiltrate the base, knocking out Psylocke, Storm, and Inka, and impaling Kodo almost fatally.  Enraged, Jubilee, not knowing who the masked assailant is, picks up a sword and challenges the would-be killer to a fight.

There's not much to this issue, plot-wise.  The firefight and slugfest was set up last issue, and now it's being executed.  It is fun to watch the fireworks, though, and I always enjoy the opportunity to see Deadpool get in on the action, switch sides, and make insane, juvenile quips.  The X-Men and the Forgiven work well together, despite the intense dynamic between their leaders and particular teammates.  It'll be interesting to see how things are wrapped up in the next issue, with Kodo's life hanging in the balance.

I think I've still got some issues with Storm's characterization in this arc so far.  She's far to obstinate and headstrong.  I've always known her to be diplomatic, level-headed, and cooler under pressure.  Maybe I need to read about her encounters with Dracula to get more perspective on her experiences with vampires, but she comes off as too childish and too eager for a fight with Kodo.  She's not thinking of Jubilee's long-term welfare, which should be a central concern, nor the fact that she's survived several weeks with Kodo and still hasn't fed on human blood.

Artistically, Molina continues to delight.  His characters are well-drawn, and the action scenes are fast paced and cool.  I'm still occasionally distracted by the faces and forms of some of his characters--Storm has several such moments in this issue, particularly page 5, panel 1--but for the most part am willing to overlook them in the face of the more frequently good renderings.  I do think he's doing a good job of fleshing out Jubilee's vampiric state in a more subtle fashion, be it through slightly extended fangs, or red eyes that don't glow.

Overall, I'm eager to see how this story concludes.  I'm also eager to see if Jubilee actually knows how to use a sword, as I've never known her to be proficient with them.  Either way, I think it will be good to see how she comes through this, and how the X-Men resolve their conflicts with both the assassins and with the Forgiven.  Good story, mostly good art, and well presented.  Highly recommended.

GN Review -- Baltimore: The Plague Ships / Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden, and Ben Stenbeck

Be careful which vampires you slash in the face in self-defense; they may take it personally, curse you, and make it their mission to cause you hellish pain and unending personal torment. That's the basic premise of this dark and grisly tale, which features plenty of undead to hack and slash. There are also plenty of one-liners, lots of action, and tales told in flashback. The authors and artists have collaborated to create a tale not unfamiliar to comic book readers, that of the dark avenger cursed to fight alone, lest his allies die for being aligned with him.

Set just after World War I, the plague has virtually ended the war, providing ample cover for vampires to feed on the dead and dying without being seen. In the aftermath of a battle in which the protagonist, Lord Henry Baltimore, is lying wounded among the dead, the vampires, in the forms of giant, multi-jointed bats, descend to take their meals. One, named Haigus, sees and goes after Baltimore, who grabs a bayonet and manages to slash the beast across the face, invoking Haigus's wrath and ensuring he would be spared no pain from the vampire's retaliation.

Upon his return home, he finds his parents and sister have been killed by Haigus, who then finishes with his wife only when he's home to witness it. Vowing vengeance, Baltimore now pursues the vampire with a single-minded determination, caring little about anything else but destroying the thing that destroyed his life. In pursuing Haigus, Baltimore begrudgingly enlists the help of a young woman who wishes to leave Villefranche, the town he finds himself stranded in. He relays these tales to her in between a harrowing storm at sea, their washing up on an island full of haunted submarines, and a battle with the undead from those submarines.

The writing really helped make this a fairly entertaining read, as well as a good introduction for me to Mike Mignola's storytelling. He seems to have a good grasp of the dark hero, and sets up an epic that works well as a foray into the horror genre. Christopher Golden isn't an unknown variable to me, and I can feel his fingers on the buttons of creepiness that pervade this story. The weird looking lotus blossoms that sprout to life on the zombies just before they reanimate? That totally felt like Golden.

The artwork by Ben Stenbeck was noteworthy as well. The style is fairly reminiscent of the horror comics from decades ago, particularly the facial close-ups, but he also demonstrates adeptness at bringing the undead back to life. From giant vampire bats (or are they bat vampires?) to fungus-scaled zombies to family-turned-vampires, he clearly has fun drawing them in a cartoony-yet-dark fashion that fits well with the action-horror epic the authors have crafted.

Overall, this was an enjoyable start to a dark saga that could go on for some time. Baltimore has a vampire to hunt, and who knows how long it will take him to reach him. While it didn't feel particularly fresh, it was nonetheless well handled, deftly plotted, and rendered in horrifically beautiful drawings. This would likely be of interest to horror enthusiasts, lovers of revenge stories, and anyone left who still digs vampires in their comics. 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.