Thanks to the excellent movie by Greta Gerwig, Barbie has had quite a year and I can speak from personal experience that the movie has brought in new fans such as myself. That’s why I wanted to look at something Barbie-related for the holiday. I’ve been binging the Barbie shows on Netflix and Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures does include a Halloween episode. Still, if you remember I said I wouldn’t be reviewing anything film or television-related this year due to the strikes. I understand that the animation guidelines are a bit different, but I think this is the best option. Ah well, perhaps next year.
It’s a cute episode focusing on Barbie’s youngest sister Chelsea thinking Barbie and her friends had been turned into vampires.
Since I decided not to review anything film or tv related, I searched for Barbie Halloween books and I remembered thanks to Longbox of the Damned that there were Barbie comics put out by Marvel.
I won’t be looking at the Barbie comics featured there. Perhaps in the future but the two stories I’ll be looking at are listed as Barbie Halloween Special Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. These stories are rather short but that’s okay.
Cover
The cover is pretty simple featuring Barbie and Skipper staring down Creepington Castle. It took me a moment to register the younger character as Skipper as modern Skipper is presented as a brunette with a purple streak in her hair. She is the only Roberts sister that isn’t blonde funnily enough.
I prefer Skipper’s modern look as it allows her to stand out more amongst her sisters. I’m not sure how old Skipper is supposed to be here but I’m guessing maybe somewhere in her teens, maybe 16 as that is usually how old she is presented as. I at first thought 11 – 12 like her younger sister Stacie but she looks older than that.
I’m probably just bad with ages.
The Plot
Like I said the plot is super simple, it can be summed up in a few sentences. Barbie and Skipper were invited to Creepington Castle to investigate by Lady Creepington (what’s with that name by the way?) as she’s afraid it’s being haunted by a ghost. While sleeping, Skipper hears what she assumes to be a ghost. And then a Scooby-Doo-esque chase ensues while the Roberts sisters try to avoid the ghost as it hides in a suit of armor. The eyes peering out of a suit of armor is a nice touch in my opinion.
The ghost is eventually revealed to be Lady Creepington, this isn’t exactly a big revelation as there are only three characters in this story and we see both Roberts sisters being chased throughout the story. It kind of reminds me of the joke about how Scooby-Doo villains put on a mask to scare people away from the real estate they want. This is similar but Lady Creepington is doing this because she wants to drum up business and she thought a ghost haunting the castle would be a good idea. Barbie is very understanding and decides to help the elderly lady bring business to the castle by turning it into a theme park.
That’s nice of Barbie and does show she’s a good person.
My Final Thoughts
This was cute and a fun light story featuring Barbie and Skipper being chased by a ghost but like I said it’s easy to figure out who the ghost is by process of elimination. We aren’t quite with Barbie just yet as there are two more Halloween reviews featuring coming up. Next up I’ll be looking at the second story in this comic…
Too Many Ghosts
About Author
Relatively speaking, the scariest Barbie book I remember my sisters having is a Little Golden Book in which Stacie and her friends have a sleepover during a thunderstorm; although the parts of the party preceding and following the storm feel more cutesy than scary.
Regarding the subject of this review, the twist regarding Lady Creepington’s motivations seems clever considering the target audience.
Ooh might have to see if I can find that Little Golden Book. Yeah, her motivation is clever for the targeted audience as you mentioned.
Some people posted YouTube videos of themselves reading it aloud, if that sounds like any help.
Thank you