When I was a child, we had a copy of Heinrich Hoffman's Struwwelpeter in some fashion or another. I no longer recall if it was a stand-alone volume of Hoffman's rhymes or part of a children's collection ... but the poems and, even more dramatically, the original 19th-century illustrations are etched in my memory, as are the lessons they instilled.

Children who don't eat their soup will waste away and starve to death. Children who suck their thumbs will have them cut off by the long-legged scissorman. Play with matches, burn up and die. It's simple stuff, really. Hoffman, who thought most children's fairytales were insipid, certainly believed a little horror was good for the soul! Inarguably, his work had staying power.

Now, Bob Staake -- as part of Fantagraphics' Blab! picto-novelette line -- has adapted 10 of Hoffman's poems with new artwork. The pages are broad, the illustrations are bold and colorful. But, after reading the book, my only real question is ... why?

Where the original drawings were creepy and unsettling, Staake's are cartoony and comical. The effect doesn't make Hoffman's poems any more child-friendly, but it dilutes the potency of his words! After all, how can we worry too much about a long-legged scissorman with a friendly round face and a snowman's nose?

Given the atmosphere conjured up by the tales, illustrating them in this manner misses the point. Staake has replaced the finely detailed imagery of the original with unsubtle work that evokes disgust rather than dismay. I'd recommend sticking with the classic version for a much more satisfyingly unnerving reading experience.