Mike Mignola and Lemony Snicket team up for a gothic version of PINOCCHIO

We have a new Pinocchio project under development, but this comes from the creator of Hellboy Mike Mignola AND Lemony Snicket from A series of unfortunate events fame. This will be an illustrated and commented retelling of Carlo Collodi’s classic novel about a wooden doll who wants to be a real boy. We even have some artwork to share with you from the project!

Mignola said in a statement, “This is a book that I have loved since I read it when I was a young teenager. I really think between that and Dracula, that’s what shaped whatever I do, my sensibility.

Speaking about his take on the story and the character, Mignola said, “It’s fundamentally stupid. He means well, but he bullshit endlessly. And there’s a charm to that, that not wanting to be fucked. It’s that thing of having to make a million mistakes to be like, ‘Oh, okay, now I get it. I burned my feet, the blue fairy died because I was an asshole, and I’m starting to see a pattern in all of this. Maybe if I start not being that guy, I can make things right.’”

He went on to add, “It’s a gothic, almost Victorian thing. That’s the kind of environment I was drawing, the kinds of buildings. I was drawing Hellboy and Hell, which was these buildings put together, and I really enjoyed drawing that kind of architecture. I thought, ‘Well, Pinocchio takes place in such a strange world. Why not make it happen in my world?’”

Speaking about the challenges of adapting this story, Mignola said, “It was tough. Because, again, there is an illustrated edition of ‘Pinocchio’ which is almost a graphic novel. For me, because it’s a version I read a long time ago, it’s what Pinocchio should be like. The hardest thing was saying, “Well, okay, I can’t just copy that.” I have to invent my own.’”

He then described his vision of Pinocchio, saying: “My Pinocchio is a little more primitive. He’s a little simpler [with] limited facial expression, and that was a challenge. Just to come up with something that read with a character, but still have this, ‘Oh, that’s just a block of wood,’ kind of a feeling. I didn’t want it too animated. I wanted this weird awkwardness of a primitively carved piece of wood, or just a carved piece of wood.

As for Snickett, he has provided over 100 annotations for the project, which will be presented as inserted typed sheets, hidden in the hardcover work. The author said: “Pinocchio it is a book of expressly peculiar power, a phrase which here means all who have read Pinocchio all the way through and spent some time thinking about it, he became a raving lunatic.

Also on board is award-winning colorist Dave Stewart, and Beehive Books will publish it. For more information, go to the project’s Kickstarter page.

Source: variety