Already twelve issues into their latest comic series, the cult monsters from Full Moon’s “Puppet Master” franchise are here to drill, slash, and pulverize their way into your heart. After spawning more than ten movies including spin-offs, is there enough left to satisfy horror hounds and comic fans alike? Hit the jump for the review…
PUPPET MASTER # 12
Writer: Shawn Gabborin
Pencils/Inks: Michela Da Sacco
Colors: Yann Perrelet
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Price: $3.99
Previously in PUPPET MASTER: With obvious affection for its source material, Puppet Master continues the tale of the murderous band of puppets, a gang of toys infused with the souls of former puppet master Andre Toulon and his family and friends. Hoping to live forever, the puppets now find themselves divided between a quest to regain their humanity and a pact with a demonic entity that is using the puppets for its own sinister reasons.
BETTER THAN PUPPET MASTER FIVE…
As mentioned, Action Labs’ Puppet Master books have regarded its source material with the utmost seriousness and love. This issue is no different, and serves more as a calm interlude between the ending of a major story arc and, I imagine, the start of a new one next issue. A new status quo is introduced as the puppets bring their new puppet master, a disabled boy, back to their bodega hideaway, and catch him up on their plight. A downfall of this issue is that much of the time is spent watching these creative and cool horrors sitting on a bed chatting it up. That’s not to say there’s no action; as demonic henchmen use two of the puppets to slay some apparently random people. The kills are dramatic enough, which is what one who reads slasher-comics probably wants, but there’s not a lot of gravitas or story advancement this issue.
BUT NOT QUITE UP TO THE STANDARDS OF PUPPET MASTER TWO
I have no ill will towards this issue, despite the fact that it’s mostly talking heads. If you take all the books of the series together, the folks at Action Lab have been doing a tremendous job expanding on the Puppet Master mythos and have succeeded in transforming the puppets into characters with depth, emotion, and a reason for existing. It’s amazing to think that these voiceless puppets are characters that I have grown to care about.
BOTTOM LINE: THEN AGAIN, BETTER THAN CURSE OF THE PUPPET MASTER AND RETRO PUPPET MASTER COMBINED
If you’re a fan of Puppet Master, this series will be right up your alley. However, I can’t recommend issue #12 as a starting point. So little happens that the horror enthusiast might be too bored to continue with the series. The exposition is necessary to further the arc, I suppose, but I wonder if there could have been a more exciting way to progress the plot.
[taq_review]
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Thomas J. Angelo has lived life to the fullest since birth and is living proof that people can see their dreams become reality. He has hunted ghosts, been a prison guard, graduated from professional wrestling school, written a novel for young adults, and taught middle school Social Studies. Writing for Major Spoilers is yet another fantastic adventure. A comic book fan for life, Thomas is a huge fan of Marvel comics and has also jumped into DC’s New 52. In addition to comics, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of WWE trivia and Disney’s animated films. Someday he hopes to write his own comic series.