Pumpkinheads Review
I’ll be the first to admit that I went into this one uninitiated. Sure, I’d heard of Rainbow Rowell of Fangirl and Eleanor and Park fame. And yes, I’ve read good things about Faith Erin Hicks and her work on the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics and Lumberjanes. But I’d never read a word by either of them, so I was stepping into this one without any attachments.
The good news is that Pumpkinheads does stand on its own, mostly. Deja and Josiah are work friends at their local seasonal amusement park, the Pumpkin Patch. They’ve worked together three years, and this is their last night on duty before the season closes and college peeks over the horizon. Their mission? Leave without regrets. Josiah needs to talk to the girl he’s had a crush on for three years. Deja wants to eat all the snacks. The stakes are…
Well. That’s kind of the problem. The stakes are medium-low at best. The story does bop around the amusement park in fun, sometimes cartoon-y hijinks as our leads chase their very mundane dreams (*looks directly at imaginary camera* and maybe learn a little something along the way) in a story that strives to capture that elusive, special feeling of autumn. Something’s ending. Something’s starting. Something in the slant of the light feels just a little more cozy and a little more fleeting. And then there’s the angry goat on the loose. You get the feeling that if the creators had worked a little harder to pick a tone, silly and glib or sentimental and sincere, it might have worked a little better.
I know it’s not really fair to pit writer and artist against each other, but Hicks is doing most of the heavy lifting on this one. The art is charming and does a lot of the work of endearing Deja and Josiah to the reader. The figures and motion are delightful; the colors are warm and soothing until the climax, when they become striking and emphatic. It’s a very fine book to flip through and just enjoy.
I’ll be finishing this review with a metaphor I hope the creators will find apt: Pumpkinheads is a lot like pumpkin pie: it’s sweet and it does hit the spot, but it’s not for everyone, and it’s not a treat you want year round. If you have a hankering for a slice of fall confection that might just be a little too sweet, by all means, dig in. But if the mood hasn’t taken you, you might only pick at this one. 3 hayrides out of 5.