Disney The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Story of the Movie in Comics

by Walt Disney Company, Alessandro Ferrari, Massimiliano Narciso (Illustrations)

Prepare for a twisted story of fright and delight in this spooky retelling of the groundbreaking stop-motion film and the tale of Jack Skellington.

Welcome to Halloween Town, where vampires, witches, and goblins rule the never-ending night! One Halloween, something befalls the almighty Pumpkin King. Beyond the tricks and scares, an emptiness begins to grow within Jack Skellington. He finds himself far from home, in a land where people smile, laugh, and sing with glee, and he feels that this Christmas Town could be the answer to his melancholy. Everyone is in for a surprise as Jack tries to unlock the secret of Christmas, take over the holiday, and kidnaps Santa Claus! Meanwhile, Sally, a compassionate rag doll, has a vision--a horrible end is near if Jack succeeds in ruling Christmas. Torn between her love for Jack and saving both towns, she must prevent her vision from coming true. As Jack assumes his role as Sandy Claws, he discovers where he truly belongs . . . But is it too late?

Join Jack and Sally as two of the biggest holidays collide in an explosion of chills and thrills in this graphic novel retelling in hardcover format!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Halloween, Comic Book, Christmas, Holiday

56 pages, Hardcover

Published August 25, 2020

About the author

Note: The decision was made to consolidate all Disney publications under the name Walt Disney Company. This profile is for Walt Disney, the characters he created, and the company he founded. Any questions, please ask in the Librarian's Group.

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. As the co-founder (with his brother Roy O. Disney) of Walt Disney Productions, Disney became one of the best-known motion picture producers in the world. The corporation he co-founded, now known as The Walt Disney Company, today has annual revenues of approximately U.S. $35 billion.

Disney is particularly noted for being a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme park design. He and his staff created some of the world's most famous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, a character for which Disney himself was the original voice. He has been awarded four honorary Academy Awards and has won twenty-two competitive Academy Awards out of fifty-nine nominations, including a record four in one year, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual. He also won seven Emmy Awards. He is the namesake for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resort theme parks in the United States, as well as the international resorts Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Disneyland Hong Kong.

Disney died of lung cancer in Burbank, California, on December 15, 1966. The following year, construction began on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. His brother Roy Disney inaugurated the Magic Kingdom on October 1, 1971.

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) (commonly referred to as Disney) is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the company was reincorporated as Walt Disney Productions in 1929. Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. Taking on its current name in 1986, The Walt Disney Company expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theatre, radio, publishing, and online media. In addition, it has created new divisions of the company in order to market more mature content than it typically associates with its flagship family-oriented brands.

The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 11 theme parks around the world. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Disney would purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5. On December 31, 2009, Disney Company acquired the Marvel Entertainment, Inc. for $4.24 billion. The company has been a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since May 6, 1991. An early and well-known cartoon creation of the company, Mickey Mouse, is the official mascot of The Walt Disney Company.

--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[aly ☆彡 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thing about me is that I make the whole Tim Burton aesthetic as my whole personality and Nightmare Before Christmas just happened to be my top two favorites. I love the very distinct artistic and worldview in which it is always eccentric, dark, and sympathetic to the outsider.

While this graphic novel did not sway from its exquisitiveness, it did not come up to scratch due to the short pages that inhibit the full story. Nevertheless, it is still enjoyable and the intricacies of art direction, setting up scenes, and sculpting characters were just delicately done.

As a whole, this has been a nice additional companion to the movie <33

[☾❀Apple✩ Blossom⋆｡˚ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Happy Halloween everybody!!👻



This comic is exactly Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas. And by that I mean that the words are the same, the scenes are the same, every drawing is a reproduction of a movie frame, complete with facial expressions. Trust me, I know this movie by heart. I watched it every year almost since the year it came out. So yeah, I don't really see the point of reading it to be honest. The story is great, but it's much better to watch it and enjoy the beautiful stop-motion animation and moving soundtrack!

[Lia Strange · Rating 5 out of 5]

mi amor a "El extraño mundo de Jack" es inmenso y esta pequeña novela grafica de menos de 60 paginas no es nada mas que un recorrido por la película sin la mitad de las canciones, es decir la película sin lo mas divertido. Es literalmente la película y me fascina

[Mariah Roze · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been on my to-read list for a long time so I'm glad I was finally able to read the comic version.

"When it comes to Halloween, Jack Skellington has no rival. But when he stumbles upon Christmas Town and decides to replace Santa Claus, he gives the world "Claus" for alarm. With the help of the resourceful rag doll Sally and the trick-or-treating troublemakers Lock, Shock, and Barrel, the Pumpkin King soon discovers that there's no place like home."

[May Sun Aung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful art. Very short. A much toned-down version of the movie.

[morgan ☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Nice work, bone daddy."

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good, but the film is so iconic it was hard to compare. The art is good and the story follows the film well, but this seemed like a condensed version rather than a full retelling. It was cool to see the story as a comic because the art did a great job of capturing the film's essence, but of course it can't replace the movie.

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

This was like watching the movie with out the music. But I found myself singing the songs from the movie as I read this book. It took longer to read it because of that one reason alone.
I love the art it was stunning.

[Patry Salvador · Rating 3 out of 5]

3'5 *

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s fine. 🤷‍♀️

[NadiaN99 · Rating 3 out of 5]

خیلی کوتاهه و قسمتهایی که از انیمیشنش احتمالا برای همه جذابترین لحظه ‌هاست،حذف شده
به قول معروف انیمیشن رو "butcher"کرده

[Ace Kyser · Rating 2 out of 5]

The didnt even get the characters name correct. They switched Shock for Barrel and then called her "Stock" another time.

[☾⋆⁺ Nurse After Dark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've grown tired of all this...
The scaring, the shrieking and the frightening, everything I'm the best at.
I still am the Pumpkin King, but...
Something is wrong, an emptiness grows in me, deep inside my bones.

This GN was a lovely, true-to-movie read! It's by no means a replacement for the movie, though - you'd miss out on so much depth as the GN speeds by in a short amount of pages. I quite liked how the 'song moments' were handled - the lyrical text but not-quite-right lyrics take you to a more poignant place in that moment, before you flip the page and your back into the plot again.

[RisaKoizumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

La mia recensione completa qui: https://fioridiciliegio.blogfree.net/...

[Onceuponatime87 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jack Skeletron, il Re delle zucche della città di Halloween, scopre la gioiosa città del Natale e si rende conto di avere finalmente trovato quello che stava cercando. Stanco di spaventare i bambini nella notte di Halloween, Jack decide di sostituirsi a Babbo Nachele e di portare di persona i doni in tutto il mondo! Le sue intenzioni sono buone ma solo Sally, la bambola di pezza segretamente innamorata di lui, può impedirgli di trasformare la festa più bella in un vero incubo!

Per chi come me, ama alla follia Nightmare Before Christmas...Giunti propone uno stupendo fumetto che ripercorre passo passo il cartone animato Disney con stupende vignette magistralmente disegnate...un bellissimo pezzo da collezione con un prezzo alla portata di tutti...(9.90€)
Io l'ho trovato davvero ben fatto e l'ho letto subito ai miei bimbi... Nightmare Before Christmas è stato il primo cartone della Disney che abbiamo visto e sono super felice di aver aggiunto questo piccolo tesoro alla nostra collezione...

Voto= 9 su 10
08/01/2024

[Scott Waldie · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a technical level, the book works as a compact version of the film. The artwork is beautiful, the telling is loyal, and I can't really fault the actual people responsible for putting in the work here. The problem is that there is literally no reason for it to exist...the comic audience is a mere fraction of the movie/TV-watching audience, and it's rather unlikely anyone's going to go from this to that, so it's little more than a pretty collectors' item for super-fans or completists.

Now, had you taken this wonderfully capable art/writing team and had them create NEW stories in this long neglected fictional universe, it's possible they might have come up with something truly worthwhile. Nightmare is my favorite stop-motion film of all time, and one of my favorite films of all time period. It was brilliantly realized, in the script, the designs, the animation, the voice acting and the music. As it stands, this comic is a mere synopsis of a far greater work with pretty art.

[Krystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

No. This was not well done at all. They used a special font to set apart the part of the story where there would have been a song, and instead of poetry or song lyrics, they have some kind of random mashup of words that doesn't flow, barely makes sense, and doesn't at all capture the charm of the movie. The story itself is always stripped down, which would have been fine if it was done well, which it was not. It only makes sense because I've seen the movie a dozen times. My expectations were too high.

The art is beautiful. Maybe next time I'll just look at the pictures and listen to the soundtrack. Or just watch the movie again.

[jzmcdaisy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that this comic is a very beautiful and succinct version of the story, but it felt more like Sparknotes for the movie rather than an adaptation to a different medium. Which if you need sparknotes for a children's movie you might need to re-evaluate some things. That's not to say that the book is without its merits though. I really enjoyed the different and more fluid style of the art in the comic, I really do. The cover features the cutest picture of Sally that's ever been drawn. But it also took out the songs, the very best part of the film next to the animation.

[Mystic DreamClouds · Rating 2 out of 5]

This comic was short and well drawn but the execution was flawed and choppy.

The comic starts off with a brief description and portrait of all the main characters. Without these descriptions, the comic wouldn’t make sense. The comic doesn’t do well in relaying the character’s emotions and personalities throughout the story.

The comic doesn’t do justice to the story. The story is choppy and the panels skip from one scene or event to another without any smooth transition. It makes understanding the story and characters hard and unintereting.

The only good thing about the comic was the art and use of various fonts and sizes. Each was well incorporated and helps identify the tone in which the scenes were occurring. The art was colorful and dark relaying the mix of Halloween and Christmas themes.

Overall, this comic was an okay summary although choppy. It’s probably better to watch the movie first for a better understanding of the story and keep this as a collector’s item.

Read more reviews @ Mystic's Review Shelf

[Rayjan Koehler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The artwork is good, but all of the gloss-over & cut parts to save space is sad-- At the beginning it's on-point, but then it goes-off a bit downhill like they were short on time or something.

Neat for a Disney/comic collection piece, but I think it falls a little short for what I'd expect from such a cult-classic franchise movie adapted comic. Maybe I was expecting more than a cash grab to bleed the franchise name though...

Not to say I hate it, but it did need more polishing before final publication I think (personal opinion).

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is our town
the town of vampires, witches and hanging trees,
clowns without a face and nightmares smiling
from the moon ...

We hide under your bed, we have spiders in our hair
and we love to fill your dreams with fright!"

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 for the artwork but ⭐️⭐️ for the story. If you haven't seen the movie, this adaptation leaves out much too much -- leaving the story a bit of a mess. Graphics are awesome!

[Chimene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable adaption of my favourite animation : The Nightmare before Christmas

It would never capture the film, there are many layers to the film, atmosphere and music - so a story board version was bound to be different.

Enjoyable for fans as it captures the basic story and the art work is beautiful.

Lovely quick read.

[Elaine Fultz, Teacher Librarian, MLS · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork and picture book GN format are enjoyable, but the dialogue is inconsistent for those of us who know the movie by heart. In the beginning of the story, the dialogue is word-for-word and the songs are shortened and altered, but the gist is there. But then, the dialogue is changed which is a little jarring after seeing it correct (movie-wise) in the beginning.

[GRivera23 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graphic novels, comics, and manga aren't usually my go-to, but I love this story. Thanks to a Kindle challenge, I was able to dip into one where I knew I already loved the story. Loved the graphics, it had all the important points, and it was overall enjoyable to read. I might give another one a chance.

[Jakob · Rating 1 out of 5]

THIS WAS HORRIBLE!!! It was not entertaining, even though i enjoyed the movie. it changed the songs into sentances that make zero sense, and sometimes it left very important stuff out. it was not as good as the movie. IT BRINGS SHAME!!!

[Ketelen Lefkovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

All hail the Pumpkin King!

Ahhh one of my favorite movies as a child... Made into comics!

This made me nostalgic and made me long to watch the movie again (I will because it is October!).

One more themed book for my readings this month, so happy about it!

[Daniel Hernandez Forero · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the movie, the book and the OST, but the comic is just lame. The art is great, don't get me wrong, but is just a quick review of the story, without any song, but parts of them, and it feels empty. Not worth it.

[Ghost Grey Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite movies. I was so excited to read this as a fun pass time while helping take care of my nephew. But if you haven’t seen the movie it won’t make a lick of sense. The dialogue is not all there and huge chunks are missing. Over all I would say a 3.5.

[Sarah Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a different version that is actual screen shots of the film that I liked better. Although this has direct quotes, it also changes some of the dialogue and doesn't include the songs. It was okay.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love the art style.