Christmas Book Review- The Nightmare Before Christmas

Title: TheNightmare Before Christmas

 Author: Tim Burton, Jun Asuga

Published: August2005 by Disney  

Length: 176 pages

Warnings: Clean.8+

Source: ForbiddenPlanet

Other info: Basedof film. There’s a tonne of other stuff around too.

Summary : JackSkellington's got the blues. He's sick and tired of his hometown holiday,Halloween, and is longing for something new. But when his soul searching leadsto his good-intentioned kidnapping of Santa, things start getting pretty hairy!

 Review: A longtime ago, longer now than it seems, in a place that perhaps you've seen in yourdreams, the King of Halloween Town is bored, gets lost in his own forest, andfinds an even stranger town than his own. Before he knows it, Jack's got histown working hard to give Sandy Claws the day off this year. Only rag-dollSally is objecting, and no-one listens. Plans are made-make gifts, build therain gear(reindeer) and whatever happens, keep the Oogie Boogie Man out of it!

This is a manga adaptation of one of my favourite films.Halloween and Christmas together = awesome. There's not much space for you togo wrong here.

Give you a review of the story? Well, why not. It's reallycute, combines two great holidays and has a nice clear message that you shouldfollow your heart and that evil does not win.

The character designs are the same, and we still get closeto Jack and Sally and Zero the dog. Yes, one of my favourite characters is thedog. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of Oogie Boogie and the Trick orTreaters though.

The art lacks a little something. I say this because when Ithink of The Nightmare Before Christmas, I think of the slightly whimsical artfrom Burton. The art in this, provided by Jun Asuga/Kodansha seemed a littlebit too clean, but was a very good imitation of Burton's style, with the styleof the eyes and  the scenery and so on.

As with almost any adaptation, you're going to lose a fewthings in the crossover. The songs have all been dramatically condensed, ashave the less important parts to the story. The good thing is that it retainsthe signature lines, such as the opening, the cry of "snakes eyes"and other familiar things, all while, more importantly, still making sense.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to a must-read for fans of theseries.

Links: | Goodreads| 

P.S. That's my last post before Christmas. Then you'll have next week full of my look at 2011. Happy Christmas everyone!!

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