“Har Har Sure thing. Always happy teh help wee juicy morsels . . . >ehem< mortals"
Courtney Crumrin gets dragged into helping out some kids when a black magic spell they cast doesn’t fade away.
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TITLE:
COURTNEY CRUMRIN IN THE TWILIGHT KINGDOM
WRITER:
by Ted Naifeh
ARTISTS:
by Ted Naifeh
SERIES:
Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom 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 Templeton, The new marshal and one who suspects Courtney of foul play.
Malcolm, A friend Courtney left behind when her parents moved.
The kids from Radley Hall, The children of the witches and warlocks of Hillsborough.
Blake, The oldest of the kids from Radley Hall.
Joey, Blake’s younger brother, also from Radley Hall.
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.
Butterbug, Butterworm’s younger brother who slobbers . . . a lot.
GENRE:
Graphic Novel (collection), Horror, Dark Humor,
DESCRIPTORS:
Witches, Goblins, Warlocks, Teachers, Curses, Teenage Kids, Night Things, Yuppies, Magic, Friends, Revenge,
SUMMARY:
Courtney’s parents return to the old neighborhood to try and sell their condo before the debt they owe completely overwhelms them. Courtney takes the opportunity to visit her old friend Malcolm. But he has changed in the year she’s been gone. He has a pair of new friends, troublemakers who are older than he is and he can’t see the danger he’s in . . . but Courtney can.
In the next story Courtney has to attend Saturday class at Radley Hall, where the children of the town’s witches and warlocks attend school. Of course, Ms. Crisp herself is teaching. Courtney sees all the same vanities and failings in these kids as she sees in the human kids in town. Nothing changes.
However, when Courtney interrupts an attempt by Blake to cast a black magic speel on his young brother, to prove himself to the other kids, she tries to stop it and save the group from a big mistake. She gets rebuffed. Angry, she leaves but she is haunted by the spectre of herself that she sees in Blake.
“Wow! It’s like Disneyland meets Lord of the Rings”
Unfortunately, Blake’s spell works all too well and he turns Joey into a night thing. In desperation they all turn to Courtney, hoping she can break the spell. She can’t. There is no counter spell. There is, however, something than can life the curse . . . but it can only be found in the orchard of the Twilight King’s castle . . . which means a return trip to the dangerous Goblin Town for Courtney and her new companions.
APPEAL:
I enjoyed this collection. Courtney as a pre-teen curmudgeon was fun to read. Her relationship with her Uncle Aloysius is strained to the breaking point and he hardly appears in this collection.
Except for Courtney, Uncle Aloysius, Blake 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 avoiding the worst risks but this time she has to deal with another little risk taking warlock names Blake.
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 get a very brief two panel snarky comment filled cameo while the rest of the epilogue plays without him.
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