“I have been cursed a thousand times by such as you. I am a jumble of curses. One more will make no difference”
Courtney Crumrin becomes involved in mischief turned murder when a deadly hobgoblin is summoned forth.
Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from an online bookseller.
TITLE:
COURTNEY CRUMRIN AND THE COVEN OF MYSTICS
WRITER:
by Ted Naifeh
ARTISTS:
by Ted Naifeh
SERIES:
The Courtney Crumrin Series #2
Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics Mini-series #1-4
PUBLISHER:
Oni Press
CHARACTERS:
Courtney Crumrin, A girl in middle school who discovers she could be a witch.
Courtney Crumrin Parents, Courtney’s parents aspire to climb the social ladder and are as vapid as humanly possible.
Uncle Aloysius Crumrin, A mysterious old man who turns out to be a lot more than he seems.
Ms. Crisp, Courtney’s teacher and Aloysius’s disciple.
Marshal Hector Hughes, The leader of the Coven of Mystics.
Madam Harken, A popular witch, possibly more versed in the ways of the night things than Aloysius.
Skarrow, A night thing that chose to live with Madam Harken.
Tommy Rawhead, A Night Thing, one of the worst that ever was.
Butterworm, A goblin who enjoys eating children — like Courtney. He is also the narrator of the four stories.
GENRE:
Graphic Novel (collection), Horror, Dark Humor,
DESCRIPTORS:
Witches, Goblins, Talking Cats, Teachers, Curses, Teenage Girls, Night Things, Familiars, Yuppies, Warlocks, Magic, Love, Obsession,
SUMMARY:
Hector and a group of men, powerful witches all — at least politically powerful — arrive on the doorstep of Uncle Aloysius asking for his help in putting down a dangerous hobgoblin which has slaughtered two families of witches already. He reluctantly agrees and forbids Courtney to go outside at night until the matter is resolved. However, she sneaks out, worried that her Uncle would face the monster all alone and she walks straight into Tommy Rawhead.
In the next story Courtney follows a pair of talking cats to a meeting where the cat leader is resigning and issues a challenge for the cat who would be his successor — that cat must haunt and capture the will–the-wisp. The cats go on the haunt with Courtney in cat form but she finds a different night thing — one being hunted by Hector.
The wich madam Harken is cursed and refuses to tell who did it to her. All blame falls on her minion, Skarrow — the same creature Courtney ran into and protected on her night out as a cat. Skarrow is now living at the Crumrin residence, under protection. The witches of the community storm Aloysius’ house seeking the creature and he calls for a meeting of the Coven of Mystics. There he argues for understanding and moving carefully — but to Courtney’s disappointment, witches don’t listen any better than humans do.
Trying to help Skarrow, Courtney travels back to the underworld to get the material for a dangerous necromantic potion — one which will allow her to resurrect Tommy Rawhead and find out once and for all who is behind all the mischief that has claimed so many lives and may just cost Skarrow and Courtney their lives as well.
APPEAL:
I enjoyed this collection. Courtney as a pre-teen curmudgeon was fun to read. Her relationship with her Uncle Aloysius continues to evolve through this collection.
Except for Courtney, Uncle Aloysius and a couple of the night things, the characters are fairly stock characters with little depth. This serves the humor aspect very well — as when Courtney’s parents act like fools, we don’t pity them. Since the stories are about Courtney, she gets the most character development. We often get her take on life through her fairly uncensored mouth. However, what is really telling is her actions. Through this collection we see some character development that reflects real change from the Courtney of the last collection.
Courtney is still taking risks — turning into a cat to attend a cat meeting, trying to protect her Uncle, casting a dangerous necromantic spell — but this time she is equal to the risks.
The storyline are both charming and intriguing. Courtney is a resourceful little girl although she doesn’t always succeed and still gets rescued once.
The mini-series is framed by a page introducing the goblin Butterworth, who makes snarky comments in the intro but serves as a fairly impartial narrator throughout the stories only to finish up with a page where he wraps up the stories and suggests Courtney’s actions have not gone unnoticed
READALIKES:
Besides Courtney Crumrin and The Coven of Mystics, there are other collections in this series written and illustrated by Ted Naifeh.
You could try Courtney Crumrin and The Night Things
Popularity: 4% [?]
