lurkerwithout | Sunday Trade: Courtney Crumrin

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things and Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics by Ted Naifeh

Courtney Crumrin is a young lass of the vaguely gothic and too smart for the world variety. Her parents, after years of living well beyond their means, have jumped at the chance to move in with her elderly great-uncle Aloysius at his mansion in the suburbs. Where dark things lurk in the woods and spoiled rich kids lurk everywhere else. And great-uncle Aloysius is very much more than the creepy old man in the creepy house (though he is that). Especially with his library full of strange books...

In the first volume Courtney deals with bullies, meets a goblin, gets a baby-sitting job, tries out a spell to make herself popular and then has to cope with being an outsider. In the second volume Courtney learns of the Coven of Mystics, the secret society of people like her. Witches and warlocks. And learns that people are still people and most of them are bastards, whether they're "normal" or not...

Naifeh crafts darkly amusing stories here. Sort of Harry Potter meets The Adamms Family. The original comics more than the tv show. A welcome addition to the library of any fan of fairy tales, modern fantasy or just well done YA fiction. Perfect for that young relative with the drawer full of plastic bats or simply someone with the heart of a child. Probably in a jar somewhere...