Disney Manga Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Review
TokyoPop have released a Manga version of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, retelling the classic story of Jack Skellington, who is the Pumpkin King, the ruler of Halloween Town and master of all things creepy and spooky. But he’s tired of his life in the shadows and longs for something new. When he accidentally stumbles upon Christmas Town, he decides this is the perfect chance to try his hand at a brand new holiday and is convinced he’ll have the world yelling “Scary Christmas”! With the young patchwork doll Sally trying to dissuade him and the evil Oogie Boogie waiting in the wings to take over Halloween Town in Jack’s absence, he’d better hurry if he wants to get his plan in place by December 25th!
If you’ve already seen the movie, then this book won’t be a huge surprise but if your after a different way of experiencing the story, this is a good way. And if you’ve not seen the movie, I’d recommend watching it instead, since it’s a classic and sadly no matter how good the artwork in this Manga version are, those great songs like “What’s This?” can’t be experienced in a comic. I also think this Manga comic gives a slightly simpler version of the story, so it’s a nice quick tale for younger fans and I’m sure NBC fans will enjoy this.
Personally the artistic style looks not as Japanese as previous TokyoPop releases I’ve read, which is a shame, it feels more like a traditional comic book version. So in some ways, it’s an easy way for beginners to try out the Japanese style, since your required to read this differently, as you read it back to front.
It’s also worth noting that the artwork is in black and white, so while it works for some of the scenes, especially as Jack Skellington is in black and white anyway, but some colour would have made the artwork pop off the screen.
Overall: The Manga version of Nightmare Before Christmas is a nice simple retelling of the story, it’s a good way of getting into the Manga style and while it’s a shame the artwork isn’t in colour, it is still a good way of enjoying this Disney classic.
Review Score – 6
