PINOCCHIO: VAMPIRE SLAYER | Action-Horror Fantasy | Review

Courtesy Top Shelf Productions

Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer is an action-horror and fantasy-adventure comic trilogy (also available in one convenient graphic novel). As you may recognize in the title, it takes inspiration from the age-old children’s story, Pinocchio. However, instead of being a retelling, Van Jensen and Dustin Higgins make every event in Pinocchio’s original lore canon– his origin story, if you will. Later in the series, they add more elements to the Wooden Puppet’s mythology, which expands the universe far beyond what we would’ve read in the original books by Carlo Collodi.

This Pinocchio variant is still a wooden boy. His creator and father, Geppetto, was ruthlessly slaughtered by vampires. The classic garlic-allergic, sun-intolerant, God-cursing, wooden stake-hating vampires. It sounds like an idea that shouldn’t work, but it reads like it was always meant to be. Van and Dustin carefully craft a vivid visceral, horrific, and comedic experience. Pinocchio is on a rampage, sworn to kill any vampire, no matter how good they seem. He tells a lie– usually a wisecrack joke –and snaps off his nose to use as a wooden stake. He’s an exceptional vampire killer, and even though everyone may not believe his stories of blood-sucking monsters, he continues to clean the streets of devil-spawn scum.

Pinocchio is not the first children’s story to be adapted into horror for a young adult audience. Let alone the first children’s story to be adapted into horror for a young adult audience with a vampire twist. And yet, Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer is strikingly original in its execution. It’s full of heart, clever one-liners, and sick metal-fantasy-style writing. Van and Dustin masterfully balance the times when the narrative takes itself seriously and pokes fun at itself without getting tiresome.

The art is scratchy, dark, and offbeat. It’s almost twisted and out of place, like a high schooler doodling in their notebook, but it’s somehow still fluid and fully visualized. The talent shines through to take these uneasy, sketchy designs and make them feel alive, like they’re full of blood, sweat, and tears. That wasn’t the most flattering way to describe the art style, but it lends very well to the tone and themes of the book.

Pinocchio is still a young wooden boy who’s impulsive and prone to make mistakes. Throughout the book/series, he grows in more ways than his trifling nose. He still holds all of the character development from Carlo’s stories with Van and Dustin’s added guilt, trauma, and angsty resentment. I mean, it’s all understandable. Vampires killed his dad.

For fans of Lincoln: Vampire Slayer, Blade, Castlevania, Evil Dead, and the pulp fiction genre, this is a gnarly read for you. Put on some gothic lo-fi or post-rock music in the background and burn through this awesome piece in one night. You won’t regret it, and my nose ain’t growing.

Courtesy Top Shelf Productions

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