The artwork and storyline in this graphic novel were very well done. I read this on a very old Kindle device and it was still an amazing experience. I look forward to purchasing the physical copy soon.

I have just started to get into this genre. I love seeing what is out there. This is very well done. The illustrative work is colorful and has almost a Disney quality to it. But admittedly so many of the scenes felt like the characters' expressions were too dramatic than warranted for the situations. If a scene can be overwitten then so too can panels be overdrawn. I was a bit frustrated by this throughout and felt that it heavily detracted from the story. But on the other hand, the illustrations did catch the bubbly joie de vivre of the story (quite a contrast from the Dickensian source material). Perhaps the best description of this is a very Americanized 're imagining' of Victorian London literature, complete with random (and tenuous) connections to other historic or fabled British figures such as Jack the Ripper and Spring Heeled Jack.. Those who have read the book will likely enjoy it and those who haven't read Artful won't get lost in this translation. But the simplicity of the story and illustrative work do feel a bit underwhelming. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher

I already read this book in novel form, and I don't think the graphic novel version really added anything to the experience. Maybe if you haven't already read the novel, this would be interesting to you, but... I guess I just felt like reading the graphic novel was like reading a very abridged version of something I'd already read (which it was).

I love author Peter David and I devoured this book in it's original form. I was very interested to see what it would be like in graphic novel novel formal. It was quite an experience! I'll say it's not made for a small screen; plan to read this on the screen you can. But fun factor is high! Graphic novel fans are in for a treat.

FULL REVIEW TO BE PUBLISHED.
Vampires are such interesting and atractive creatures. We don’t seem to get tired of them anytime soon because of how versatile they are and how easy is to work with them, and even more interesting how they can change a tale such as Oliver Twist’s.
There was also some Anime influence in the look of “Artful.” I cannot put my finger on it, as there is no certain scene to say such thing, but if you’ve seen anime, read manga, manhwa, or any other variant, you may get the same feeling, which got me a very good vibe. It was great to have both Western and Asian style combined.
However, I still have a very good time with this book and would like to see more material like this on the market, as the Pros were more than the Cons. Very grateful to the publisher for sending me this copy, I tried to be as honest as I could.

The Artful Dodger fights vampires in Charles Dickens' London - what's not to love? If you like Victorian mashups, then you'll definitely like this.

An awful adaptation of Peter David's book. The art and coloring are so amatuerish. The team decided not to use an inker but then didn't really use the coloring process to provide shading and lighting either. The book looks like a coloring book someone tried to color using Microsoft Paint.

The only bright spot is that I learned enough about the book to know I want to read Peter David's actual book, not this pale imitation.

Normally, I like anything Dickens, and anything Peter David, but this story of what happened to the artful dodger after the Oliver Twist story ended, with a hint of Vampires thrown in, just didn't sit well with me.

I got bored with it, and had to go back several times, to reread it, just so I could review it.

The art isn't bad, but I didn't find the story all that good, though I did like the idea of the Princess Victoria wandering around in Dicken's world.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Hmmm... I suppose this latest riff on Victorian melodrama, shoving the Baker Street lads into a vampire story alongside Dickensian types and so much else, is OK, but please - no more. These mash-ups have really been done to death in recent years. And this is about the least visually attractive, for it has some quite awful face work, and silly ideas about multi-layering characters on the same background as if animated. The plot here was OK, and the use of the mythology reasonable - it just needed to be redrawn and coloured with more class to make me really interested.

As a huge fan of Peter David's humorous writing, I jumped at the opportunity to read this book. The plot looked like the fun kind of silly and the cover was beautiful. Sadly, the insides were disappointing.

The plot varied wildly in tone and couldn't seem to decide what they want to go for- it swerved wildly between dramatic and serious and juvenile humor and it didn’t work well as a whole. I don’t mind silly cross-over stories, but I still expect them to have at least some structure. Artful has kind of an idiot plot going- the kind that keeps happening because everyone in it is an idiot. Not to mention that the pacing was horribly rushed, things kept happening one after another without any breathing space. The book has 200 pages for a plot that could’ve taken just half of those and yet, despite it feeling bloated, it’s still rushed. Not to mention that the “love story” present was completely forced and out of nowhere. The only instance I’ve actually laughed at was the part with the carriage driver.

The art was all over the place too. Sometimes the lines looked beautiful, but most of the time they didn’t. The vampire designs looked like something from a nineties cartoon for small children, and the over-exaggerated faces in every dramatic scene absolutely killed any kind of seriousness the reader might feel. The coloring didn’t help much either- the dramatic and nice colors with the blue undertones would’ve worked very well if used sparingly for added effect, but they were overused. All in all, the art felt childish, and not in the good way.

I wish I could’ve liked this book more. The main trio were delightful characters, but even they couldn’t carry this book, and after some time it felt more like a chore to continue reading it.

'Artful' is a graphic novel adaptation of the novel by Peter David. The adaptation is by Nicole D'Andria with art by Laura Neubert. It seems like an interesting story, but I wasn't that impressed with the art.

Combining characters from Oliver Twist and Dracula with real life characters like Spring Heel Jack, this is an adventure story starring the Artful Dodger. The story takes place after Oliver Twist and England is being taken over by vampires. Artful befriends a young woman. When she is taken by the vampires, he teams up with a relative of Abraham Van Helsing to find her.

There is a lot of action and the Artful Dodger comes across as a kindly but resourceful resident of the streets. There are cameos by other Oliver Twist characters and a few from other books.

The art just didn't impress me. The coloring feels dense and heavy, even in scenes that are in full daylight. The characters seemed skewed and the perspective feels off sometimes. The garish caricaturing of features works okay for the vampires, but on other characters it makes the characters expressions hard to make out.

This includes all 6 volumes of the series. I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

So this is a book graphic novel about The Artful Dodger but with a twist, there are vampires. Dodger was minding his own business when he sees a woman in trouble and when he saved her he didn't know how much his life would change. She ends up being the princess and Mr. Fang a vampire wants her and Dodger and Bram (Van Helsing's son) do there best to keep her out of harms way but they can't fight all the vampires so she gets kidnapped. They have to try and save her  from the vampires. 

I enjoyed this graphic novel and how they took a character from Oliver Twist and added vampires. It was a fun story and I liked the art work. The vampires had these creepy red eyes...lol. 

If your a graphic novels fan then I think you will enjoy this one.

Charming and full of adventure, this book is a great historical fiction/ paranormal adventure. This epic graphic novel kept me up and turning/ tapping the pages way past my bedtime! It's really refreshing to read a book that has vampires that don't "glitter" or make you fall "madly in love" with them, these vamps are evil killing machines and one in particular intends to take over the throne. Follow the Artful Dodger as he rescues London from the evil vamps!
The artwork is fantastic & I am just absolutely amazed at the great work Peter David did! I highly recommend for historical, paranormal, & retake fans ages 13 & up!

Artful was a well received book when it was published in 2014 by Peter David; capitalizing on the horror/classic literature mashup, the book gave us vampires in the world of Dickens. Considering David's history in the comic industry, it wasn't surprising to see the book get a graphic novel treatment. And although the adaptation is faithful, it can feel 'cartoony' in a juvenile way and a lot of the scenes do feel over emoted.

Synopsis: Oliver Twist's Artful Dodger, Jack Dawkins, escapes prison with his cunning and happens upon a lost young lady, Drina. She's obviously of quality and Jack instinctively seeks to protect her. But in doing so, he becomes embroiled in a plot that reaches all the way up to the English royal family. Will he be able to save Drina from the supernatural elements targeting her on the mean streets of Dickensian London?

Since this is a mashup, it is important to not take the anchronisms too seriously and just enjoy the dumbness of the plot. It means that a pampered Victorian era royal figure will kick butt in a modern fashion, the Artful Dodger will never lose his hat or cloak in any fight (supernatural or otherwise), and everyone sounds like they just stepped off an attraction in Disneyland. So no, not too different from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer. It's a novel to have fun with as a delightful Summer read and then promptly forgotten.

The illustrative work is colorful and has almost a Disney quality to it. But admittedly so many of the scenes felt like the characters' expressions were too dramatic than warranted for the situations. If a scene can be overwitten then so too can panels be overdrawn. I was a bit frustrated by this throughout and felt that it heavily detracted from the story. But on the other hand, the illustrations did catch the bubbly joie de vivre of the story (quite a contrast from the Dickensian source material). Perhaps the best description of this is a very Americanized 'reimagining' of Victorian London literature, complete with random (and tenuous) connections to other historic or fabled British figures such as Jack the Ripper and Spring Heeled Jack.

As an adaptation, this serves the purpose. Those who have read the book will likely enjoy it and those who haven't read Artful won't get lost in this translation. But the simplicity of the story and illustrative work do feel a bit underwhelming. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

All told, this book just didn't work for me. I like the idea of a spin-off story focusing on the Artful Dodger. Add vampires and you get a nice horror story. I was excited to get a chance to read this adaptation because I enjoyed the novel.

I feel like some of the Artful's personality is lost in this adaptation. It gives the superficial elements, i.e. he's a thief and wants to do good, but there isn't a lot of depth. This sort of carries into the plot in general because it is paced so quickly that it doesn't dig deeper into some of the issues. The setting is evoked really well though, especially with the inclusion of some familiar characters such as Fagin, Oliver, the Van Helsing family, and the Baker Street gang. They prop the book up at times and kept me interested enough to finish it.

I didn't care for the art style. It is geared towards a younger audience for sure. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it dips too much into the cartoony style for my tastes. There aren't any illustrations that stood out to me either, so it becomes forgettable in a format where the pictures should excite me or at least leave some sort of impression. Younger readers should get a kick out of this story.

Taking one of the most interesting and memorable characters from Oliver Twist and using him as a jumping off point for a new story is a clever idea, and one that works well. While we see some familiar faces, such as Fagin, we are also introduced to characters from other worlds such as the VanHelsing family, and real life historical figures such as the future Queen Victoria.
Narrowly escaping transportation, Dodger flees to the London streets where he comes to the aid of a beautiful young girl Drina, and learns a shocking secret about his former mentor Fagin. Finding out vampires are real, and attempting to take over the city results in a dramatic adventure that sees our young heroes escaping Bedlam and infiltrating Buckingham Palace.
The story is well crafted, and uses its characters cleverly. The pacing is good, with a nice gradual reveal of what is happening before an action packed conclusion. The blending of characters such as the Artful Dodger with the VanHelsings and Princess Victoria was seamlessly done, making the story feel smooth and not at all forced. I was not such a big fan of the artwork, it felt quite cartoonish in style and lacked detail, especially in the background. The colour palette was well chosen though, and looked appropriate for the setting of the book, so while it was good, it did not blow me away.
While the book reads well as a stand alone, I also liked the set up for a potential sequel, in the final reveal that Fagin would become known as another infamous criminal in later years.
I received a review copy from Netgalley

I've always liked the Artful Dodger and with the vampire setting the whole thing sounded quite interesting. Our Artful needs to save princess Alexandria, soon to be Queen Victoria, from the vampires that actually turn her into one. The setting is quite simple, just saving the princess and trying to clarify who's the culprit behind it all. The plot is somewhat hard to follow even when it's simple. The structure is sporadic and the panels don't follow one another seamlessly. Mostly the comic is just running from one place to another and it gets boring. Considering the idea, I'm sad that the comic didn't handle the setting better, sinne the potential was there. Also, nothing made Artful really Artful either, which was a bummer.

The art is so and so. The line work is thick and the colors extremely dark and smudgy. It's obvious this was made with a computer and the art is lacking. It would've needed shading and livelier lines. The panels are mostly empty and look poor in a sense. Better art would've saved a lot, but not all. Artful feels incomplete as such, which is a shame with such an iconic character as the lead.

I found this graphic novel good. Nothing special but I think that this is the type of GN that you fully appreciate only if you have also read the book.
I think that Artful was the only character I like when I watch "Oliver Twist" the movie more than 10y ago.
I don't remember much about that movie so if you know the basic about OT you can read this.
The story was funny, I like the characters but honestly I didn't care much about them and I found the relationship between Artful and Drina strange and born from nothing, maybe in the book is better, who know..
I like the style of drawing but not the way they was colored, like old comics and I believe that would be much better in black and white or with "more gothic" colours.
A fun story but nothing special.

i was so pleased when the artful dodger, a true gentleman, cunning but with a big heart, meets up with the Baker Street irregulars a few books in - and that the safety of the royal family of victorian times rests in his capable hands - brave and plucky, he fights his corner for innocents whether they are high class or street urchins, fine ladies or prostitutes - the drawings are elusive and flourishing - we see all parts of London, carriages and horses, inside Bedlam - really engaging and witty telling.

The book that would nowadays be described as a spinoff of Oliver Twist gives pre-Victorian London a supernatural twist, as the one and only Dodger helps a woman he finds wandering the streets, which leads to much more than saving her from a territorial hooker.
For a non-streetwise lady who picked the wrong place to have a Roman Holiday, Trina sure figured out how to play him easily. Eventually she’s captured by vampires, led by Mr. Fang—really?—so the Artful one has to go save her again, for once sacrificing himself and his future prospects for the good of someone else.
So, turns out Fagin is a vampire. Okay. I suppose that explains a lot, as does what he eventually becomes. Van Helsing looks like he belongs on a ranch in Wyoming, not London. Besides, his son with the relevant name has a bigger part. Dracula wasn’t much of a villain here, used and then sunburned without much of a fight. But apparently vampires can use The Force.
“You’re the hero of this adventure.” Not much meta there.
As a sequel to Dickens, this falls far short. It’s an okay historical vampire story using characters mostly already created, but wouldn’t have been much different without them. It’s simply a literary shortcut. It’s too bad, for I’ve enjoyed this author’s Star Trek novels in the past.
2.5 pushed up to 3/5