The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Little Vampire volume 1

by Joann Sfar

First Second

Little Vampire is a delightful all-ages comic that reminded me greatly of Jill Thompson’s Scary Godmother since all of the monsters and ghosts are the nice kind and I very much doubt that any child capable of reading and understanding the topics addressed would find much to be scared of and would probably find plenty to love and laugh about.

There are three short stories in Little Vampire, each is the perfect length for a good bedtime story or to let the older reader enjoy for themselves.

In the first; Little Vampire Goes To School, we meet Little Vampire himself who really just wants nothing more than to be a normal little boy and will do whatever he can to help his new-found friend Michael, whom he meets after writing in his notebook at the human school. Of course, being a Vampire he’s not able to go to school like normal children but he’s helped by his ghost and monster friends and they sneak into Michael’s school by night. But on getting to the school for the first time, an excited Little Vampire is sad to discover it’s dark and empty:

(A perfect example of the wonderful humanity and emotion Sfar wrings out of his monsterous creations.)

Of course, Little Vampire’s notes to Michael do lead to a few difficult explainations:

But after the acceptance of his friend’s nature, Michael becomes a regular feature at the monster’s house. Where we’re allowed to share, like Michael in the delightful family of Little Vampire. Sfar’s writing here is all about family and the wonder of being a child, even a Vampire one. But it’s with the inclusion of a normal child, in the shape of Michael, that serves to point out the differences between the monster’s world and ours. Although at times it’s the monster’s who show greater humanity and consideration to each other and those around them.

The second story; Little Vampire Does Kung Fu looks at Michael’s problems with the school bully. The monster’s are unsurprisingly keen on the killing, cooking and eating route (although some can do without the cooking stage). But in the end the problem is resolved far more cleverly, with the assistance of  the Cat-Rabbi who resides in one of the paintings in the monster house.

The third story; Little Vampire and the Canine Defenders Club is all about Little Vampire and Michael trying hard to do the right thing when they rescue a trio of lab dogs.

Sfar is never afraid to throw more complex emotional themes into the stories as well. Self-reliance, bullying, loyalty all feature in these stories but never really intrude upon the act of telling the story, they’re underplayed and this makes the moments of quiet contemplation and realisation of the issues all the more effective.

The artwork is beautifully detailed and organic. Even the panel borders move and flow, allowing Sfar to utilise the white space on a page to great effect at times. But he keeps his characters simple, letting all readers find them appealing and sympathetic. And he’s able to combine delightful, funny and simple cartooning with great emotional detail and depth.

Little Vampire works so simply and so nicely. It’s dark & violent (but in an inventive and child friendly way), spooky and plain fun. Something slightly subversive for children that they should absolutely love. And it’s certainly not just for children, as there are plenty of great touches for us old folks as well, including some genuinely rather heartbreakingly sad moments, in the way that all really great children’s books have the ability to be.

You can read more Little Vampire at the First Second website.

Richard Bruton