Teenage Destiny Harper is at a crossroad in her life. Graduation is coming, and she has zero prospects for the future. Answering an ad for "The Night Care Nursery" seems like a great idea, until she is magically transported to Gloomvania, where dark creatures lurk the streets, and the world is being mysteriously overrun by baby vampyres called Vamplets! Can Destiny serve her term as Governess of "The Nightmare Nursery" and return home? Fairy tales get a modern update in the second issue of this coming of age tales of monsters, mayhem, and magic!
This was a really cute and unique story. I just felt like the story jumped around a lot and that I was missing pieces. Like was this an individually published short comic series that they then pieced together into a larger volume with missing stories or didn't put them in order? I enjoyed it, I just kept getting confused here and there when they would mention characters or scenarios I knew nothing about or hadn't been introduced to yet.
Take one giant fraidy-cat moth, a very proper non-stinky stink bug, spontaneously appearing vampyre babies, and a bizarre teenager who drinks dirty glasses full of a strange liquid and you get this book. Oh, and let's not forget the evil, violently pink, gang of vampyre friends, and a victorian stylized mortal named Pandemonious.
I bought this at the bookfair because a) it was on sale and b) it was a graphic novel, always a favorite among my kiddos.
After reading it, though, I'm a little worried about putting it out with the kids. Not that their was anything wildly inappropriate about it's just bizarre to the extreme.
It opens with two vampyres on a moonlit stroll. One is about too proclaim his love and the other says "No! Don't say it, you know the consequences!" But he doesn't listen and *poof* a baby vampyre appears.
Apparently this is a common problem, so they have to open a vampyre nursery and they get a young mortal to come handle the babies. That's the whole crux of the plot, but the book has very little to do with the actual babies, in my mind. And I don't really get why this mortal girl, Destiny, was supposed to be so amazing. I didn't like her much. She wasn't mean or stupid, she was just kind of there. There wasn't anything fantastic about her.
The plot is set in Gloomvania, and in Gloomvania all good things are supposed to be bad and all bad things are good. For instance, the evil pink brigade cleans the nursery all up slick and shiny and Destiny gets in trouble....yet....all of the characters are dressed to the nines. Super fancy like, so if they hate cleanliness so much why do they all dress so slick? It's very confusing.
I just didn't like it. I feel a little weird about putting it out for the kids because of all the weirdness. Like when she just randomly drinks a mysterious drink. Ummm....wtf? The whole time reading this, I couldn't help thinking, how did this shit get published? Not to mention the instalove Destiny feels for the random mortal entertainer Pandemonious (that name is killing me) who literally just walks by her. Oy.
Odd, odd book. Definitely not reading anymore of this series.