Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer

I have always had a general knowledge of DC comics and a genuine love for Marvel, but lately I have been lured to the dark secrets of the Independent comic book. Boy oh boy is Pinocchio, Vampire Slayer dark! It is a black and white comic with art provided by Dustin Higgins (Knights of The Living Dead) which could be compared to Mike Mignola art, but definitely has it’s own style. The dark hues and shadow work that Dustin puts into the illustration literally makes the story. I would even say that although Van Jensen (Snow White: Through a Glass Darkly) writes the series, most of the storytelling is done graphically. This is not to say that Jansen’s writing is weak by any means, but it stays very close to the source material whereas the art is something else. As Higgins goes from page to page, fights flow naturally and there is just this odd realism in a world of vampires and living puppets that is unexpected and takes you by surprise. In this way, I think that the duo of Jansen and Higgins succeed in taking a fairytale and melding it with a Japanese action movie without making it too hokey. Sorry Buffy, but at a base level, the idea that a wooden puppet (his body is deadly to vampires) would be a slayer makes far more sense than a blonde valley girl anyways. It’s a B-Movie, but it’s meant to be taken seriously. Clever writing and deceptively beautiful art make this a comic book worth checking out. For $7.67 at Instocktrades.com, this graphic novel should grace your shelves.