If you only know the story of Pinocchio from the iconic Disney animated film, then you might want to check out Pinocchio: The Illuminated Edition from Beehive Books. This newly released tome reprints the original text of 1883's The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, pairing it with a lavish set of illustrations from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and annotations by A Series of Unfortunate Events author Daniel Handler, better known by his pen name Lemony Snicket. It's quite the combo.
With Pinocchio: The Illuminated Edition in stores now, IGN can exclusively reveal all of the more than 50 new images from Mignola featured in the book. Check them out below:
The goal with Pinocchio: The Illuminated Edition is to bring the story back to its darker, creepier roots. As if Mignola's haunting artwork weren't enough, Handler's annotations are designed to tell a horror story all their own, detailing Snicket's descent into madness as he digs deeper into Collodi's disturbing world.
"I wish I could take any kind of credit for the Daniel Handler annotations, but I had nothing at all to do with them—I am, however thrilled to have them in there," Mignola tells IGN. "I remember [publisher] Josh O’Neill asking who I thought we should get for an introduction to the book and I drew a complete blank—So somehow Josh thought of Daniel—A perfect and truly inspired choice! And then somehow an introduction turned into the annotations and the rest is publishing history. Pinocchio is a very odd book and having the Lemony Snicket voice provide a running commentary on it is a truly beautiful (oddly beautiful) thing."
Handler adds, “Mignola’s artwork has been spooking me for years, and since embarking on this project, I feel the sharp angles of his splintery shadows hanging over me with increasing ferocity, growing and growing with an almost unearthly nasal power.”
You can order a copy of Pinocchio: The Illuminated Edition on Amazon.
In other comic book news, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – The Dead Shall Rise just got an official trailer, and we explore why Steve Ditko might not have wanted to be crowned a Disney Legend.
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