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

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

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Romance

192 pages, Hardcover

Published July 1, 2025

Reviews

[Sean McNulty · Rating 2 out of 5]

The two stars are solely for the lovely illustrative work done for the book, but I can’t put it any higher than this simply because of the story. Not sure if this has been canonized but it really takes away more than contributes to the legacy of the first film in my opinion.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm gonna admit something... I read this version before I read the novel! haha
The art in this was fantastic! LOVED the story beats. Really well done!

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations get 4 stars, the story gets 2 stars. I didn’t like Sally’s backstory, it was weird and unnecessary. Sally is much more timid and insecure than she is in the movie; I did not like this change, it didn’t fit. The epilogue was a happily ever after cliche. However, I really liked the illustrations. They conveyed the events very well. This is a short, easy read.

[Nicole Albergo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was ok true to the book but the print was to small to read. Also the illustrations were amazing it brought the actual book to life to all the characters what they look like and come alive.

[Kris Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's something in the wind. Sally still feels displaced now that she's the Pumpkin Queen. Everyone has an idea of what the Queen should be and it isn't Sally for anyone but Jack. Feeling displaced, she runs into the cusp of trees and finds a hidden one that begins the plot of our wonderfully written story. This would make the perfect on screen sequel to the original story.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet, fluffy read. A little repetitive in spots, but I can easily see myself revisiting it at Halloween for fun.

[Morgan E.H. C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

this graphic novel was So much better than reading the book! the art is beautiful and the story rolls along smoothly

[Alex(Books-In-A-Storm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was beautiful and I love the art. The story was fun and now I need more.

[Sarah Woolworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It gets 4 stars due to the beautiful illustrations. The story seems...half done.

[Alaina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Greatly enjoyed this compared to the book!

[JD Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel, like the original novel, expands the world of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" in such a fascinating, and fun way! Sally is a captivating main character, and she really has a lot to work through. I loved how this book talked about how being different was what made Sally a good leader and person. This beautifully adds to the original film's own message. "Long Live the Pumpkin Queen" is a great sequel to the original film that adds lore, powerful character arcs, and fun surprises! All of this, of course, is accompanied by some beautiful art!

Sally's biggest strength as a main character is that she has a clear, and important arc. She doesn't shy away from being queen, but realizes that the Pumpkin Queen and Sally can both coexist. She is macabre and sad, and seems to be ripped right from the original animated film. The same goes for everyone in Halloween Town; especially Jack Skellington. They are illustrated perfectly, and the writing was so on point! I also really liked the designs of the other towns, they fit the world very well, and they all were fun to (briefly) explore. I also loved Dream Town, but especially the Sandman. Very scary, and chilling, and amazing! Sandman, in particular, seemed as if he could've been designed by Tim Burton himself. The vibes overall of the characters were just perfect. The designs looked like they were made for stop motion, and it was so nice! I didn't expect him to be as good as he was!

The overall art was literally perfect for what was described in the original novel! As an adaptation, it was perfect! We got a lot of Sally's inner monologue, which was very important in pushing this story along. I loved how there were character designs and scenic designs at the end of the book, it really was a wonderful surprise! The artists did a wonderful job realizing the world, and it fit the original film perfectly. This goes for the colors too! The colors were the exact, perfect shades. That sounds a bit pretentious, but it just really worked! The scenic designs, in particular, were my favorite. They just looked so spot on!

Overall, a great adaptation of a fun novel!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel adaptation of Long Live The Pumpkin Queen hits all the right marks. The story beats are all there from the original novel. The artwork's pretty great, and consistent with other entries into this universe that we've seen elsewhere. It's nice to see some of the new characters that were introduced in the novel shown in pictures for the first time.

The issues I have are with the original story, so it feels wrong to penalize this for emulating them; I'm not entirely down with the complete villainization of Doctor Finkelstein, and it feels like the world gets a bit TOO big too quickly with the introduction of Dream Town and then all the other hidden realms at the same time. But I'd probably have been more confused had they not copied those over here, so it was a lose-lose situation.

[Megan Wintrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's the most wonderful time of the yeaaaaaar! I love Halloween, I love the spooky season, I love the dark, I love the autumn and the cold weather and we've had a lot of it in my little village soooo..... I dived headfirst into this graphic novel. I do have the proper novel by Shea Ernshaw to read too at some point.

This was a really good one, it was nice to hear a new story that came after Jack and Sally got together. In this one they get married but then tragedy in the town happens.

We also learned a lot about Sally and her life before and that, not everything as it seemed with Dr Finkelstein. It's also kind of heartbreaking to be honest. She is filled with anxiety and "what if I'm not good enough", which is as relatable as it gets.

I thoroughly enjoyed this and the illustrations were beautiful, I need to read the proper novel now.

[Sesana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Adaptation of a Nightmare Before Christmas continuation novel, from Sally's pespective. The art is really nice, but that was all I liked. Sally's narration felt overwrought and not entirely in character. She felt like a far less interesting and active version of herself. Every character felt like a cardboard version of their movie versions. The romance with Jack just felt dry. And the story introduces an all new and frankly inferior backstory for Sally. She was perfectly fine as is, she didn't need these weird complications. And surely I'm not the only one who thought it was bizarre that a ragdoll and a skeleton would feel the need to get married at all, or that the ragdoll would feel the need to take the skeleton's last name. Disappointing.

[ThirstyGrunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be crazy for rating this higher than the book, but I swear it is.

The art and depictions bring the story to life far more than a book could. With a simple story, books often feel dragged out to fit a page count. But a graphic novel feels perfectly paced. It’s like a stop motion movie, you sacrifice dialogue for intentional action and emotion from the characters. It’s one of the reasons why the stop motion film is so beautiful.

The artistry is amazing. They captured the characters very well and had a very similar interpretation for the new characters that I had imagined. I read the graphic novel for the sequel comes out in October and I’m excited because the book it’s based on is even better.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was so excited to read of one my favorite “Sally” stories in comic book form, the illustrations are amazing and very well done, even though some of the dialogue from the chapter book version was cut off, which is to be expected since they can’t add every line in the graphic novel and it doesn’t matter since I love anything Sally and “Nightmare Before Christmas” and I love “Long Live The Pumpkin Queen”! And even though I love re-reading the chapter book version over & over again, it was awesome to experience the story in a whole new way and it makes the imagination of what happens next in the story come to life for me!👑🎃

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute little story, perfect for a younger audience who just like the film - although might not be as enjoyable for adult fans. The story feels a like half-baked and I personally don't like how Sally was characterize. Aside from that there are some things I like - for example the artwork is delightful and I love how each of the other holidays are designed (My personal favorite is Valentine town.). I do like the idea of Sally belonging to Dream town although I wish the reveal was a bit more thought out.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the expansion of the Nightmare Before Christmas world, but this doesn’t feel like the clever, perseverant Sally from the movie. I’ll read the next one for the fun visuals but not for Sally. It’s too bad they didn’t choose a different author who wouldn’t have made Sally a typical, YA heroine with a woe-is-me, insecure attitude

[Jose Marquez Castillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

4🌟

[Kimberly Karalius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed it more than the book, honestly.

[Crystal Price · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book and then picked this one up. They did a good job conveying the story. They did a stellar job with the art. Loved seeing it come to life through the pages.

[Shannon Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the original format for this book so I knew I'd love this one. Getting to see characters and places never been visually depicted before was amazing.

[Susana Duarte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super Halloweeny vibes, very well done story! I enjoyed reading this for sure!

[Wm]

Married, leaving, and it takes 20 pages to meet another character. Tedious.

Beautifully drawn, though.

[Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the artwork and the storyline! I am so intrigued for the exploration of the other towns! I definitely need to read the actual books now 😂

[Katie Whiteman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations are beautiful but the story is 2 so I split the difference. I may have liked this more if I read the book versus the graphic novel

[Nikole · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I read this as a physical book due to a power outage. I really loved this graphic novel. It was really good. It was nice to see a little bit into Sally’s past. Now I definitely need to read the actual novel as I have that too.

[Layne Young-Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the art style in this one. I do prefer the regular book for enjoying this story, though.

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now I want to read the actual book. But I loved the story and the pictures to go with it. It feels like it gave us more about Sally and a short she needed told.

[Katie Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it! It was everything I wished for as an autumn loving girlie wishing October would come sooner.