Hey-Ho Pinocchio!
I really wasn’t sure what to make of Pinocchio Vampire Slayer when I first heard about it. The premise: Pinocchio versus hordes of vampires. It sounds like it could be really interesting but also sounds like it could turn out to be a steaming pile of elephant turd. Thankfully PVS is definitely the former: violent, action packed and very,very funny.
The story takes from Carlos Collodi’s original fairy tale. Much like the Grimm fairy tales, Collodi’s story is much darker than the Disney rendition. A prologue serves as an introduction to Collodi’s original tale. This prologue literally had me laughing out loud. Any fears I had the PVS would read like a bad Sin City story were completely laid to rest. Van Jensen proves to A) have a really cool name and B) be well adept at crafting a very funny story. A lot of the jokes revolve around Pinocchio’s nose. For anyone who’s forgotten their childhood or suffered a recent concussion Pinocchio’s nose grows with every lie he tells. You’d think that this gag would become tiresome but Jensen does a great job of keeping it funny and in one or two places resonate emotionally. Throw into the mix a lot of vampires and a wicked conspiracy and you’ve got yourself a very entertaining story.
Dusty Higgins’ art style offers some fairly unique viewing. The panels are constructed completely of black and white with series of small black dots that act as shadowing. The characters themselves look sketchy and scribbled. In a lot of ways it’s similar to Mike Mignola’s Hellboy but Higgins stands out in his own right and never seems derivative. He captures the feel of comedy, violence and tragedy using only two colors and a very cartoony style which I feel he should be credited for.
The problems with PVS are relatively small. There are a few pieces of dialogue that seem a bit hackneyed but fortunately these are few and far between. Similarly some of the art seems rushed in places and doesn’t keep pace with the otherwise good visual storytelling.
At 126 pages PVS ends just at the right time. You feel that if you stayed for too much longer the appeal might be lost but fortunately this doesn’t become an issue.
I know that PVS isn’t going to be to everyone’s taste. Some people just plain won’t like it. The thing is you’ll know whether this is for you by reading the first couple of pages. If you haven’t laughed by the end of the prologue you’re not going to. So check this out in your comic book shop, read the first couple of pages and if, like me, you let an audible snigger then this one’s for you.
8.5/10
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