Long Live the Pumpkin Queen Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas - GN

by Liz Marsham, Alessio Petillo (artist), Ismael Canales (artist)

Featuring all your favorite characters from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Jack and Sally Skellington seem like the perfect couple - but all is not well in Halloween Town! After escaping from Dr. Finkelstein and marrying her true love, Jack, Sally has become the realm's official Pumpkin Queen. But as much as she adores her skeletal husband, the spotlight of popular attention and the weight of her many new royal obligations have left Sally wondering if she might have actually just traded one form of captivity for another. To make matters worse, when Sally and Zero discover a hidden doorway leading to the previously unknown Dream Town, the resulting cascade of calamities threatens not only her new position as Pumpkin Queen, but also the very foundations of her world! To save her beloved home Sally wIll have to summon all the strength she has within her seams - or else the future could become a nightmare without Halloween!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Young Adult, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2025

Reviews

[Anna Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Jaimie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So technically I cheated, and should have read the novel that this graphic adaptation is based on first, but oops, it’s too late now and there’s no going back! Besides, what good is a story based on Tim Burton’s classic Halloweentown tale if it’s not brought to life on the page with spooky illustrations? Burton seems to have had nothing to do with the book, so it’s not quite as dark and angular in style as his original drawings or the stop motion characters that populated the film, but the artistic style chosen for Sally’s tale of self-discovery fits perfectly. The colour palette is still dark and moody (being largely set in the twilight world of Halloweentown), but we get lovely pops of colour as Sally visits the other holiday lands and the softer lines emphasize that this is a rag doll’s tale rather than that of a spooky skeleton. Her story begins just as she marries her true love, Jack Skellington, and begins her new life as the Pumpkin Queen at his side. But this wasn’t exactly what Sally signed up for - she loves Jack, but the scrutiny of being the Pumpkin Queen is more than she is used to, and in her anxiety she runs away into the forest and falls through a magical door that even Jack has never seen before. Her rash behaviour sets off a chain reaction of events that brings together all of the holiday lands and reveals that there are even more lands based on ancient powers and concepts, opening up the world of Halloweentown even further than even Burton’s creative mind had planned. Of course, with Sally as our protagonist, it is she who must earn her title as Queen by defeating a new adversary and learning to embrace her new role, all while finding a way to make it hers. We all know that by the end of the story everything will work out just fine, but the inventiveness of the tale is wonderful, and the visual spectacle on the page brings the story beautifully to life. It’s rare these days that I have such high praise for a graphic novel - most being lacking in both character development and storylines, and the artwork rarely living up to my expectations - but this book stands out as a well done effort and well worth the read. And really, we’ll take any excuse to visit Halloweentown again!

[Annie Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love entering this world again. It holds such a special place in my heart. 🥰🎃

I am so glad I picked this up, as I want to read Hour of the Pumpkin Queen sometime this month. Perfect refresher since it been a bit since I read the novel. Can't wait to read the squeal.

It was so fun to see these characters coming to life, and how all these different holiday worlds are portrayed. I saw it all so differently in my head, but I love seeing how others saw it.

If you love Nightmare Before Christmas, and Long Live the Pumpkin Queen novel, you will enjoy this. Recommend it!

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.