“… luck always runs out, whereas your wellspring of stupidity seems boundless.”
Courtney and her Uncle Aloysius take a vacation together through Eastern Europe where the young girl finds more trouble than if she’d stayed at home.
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TITLE:
COURTNEY CRUMRIN’S MONSTROUS HOLIDAY
WRITER:
by Ted Naifeh
ARTISTS:
by Ted Naifeh
SERIES:
Courtney Crumrin’s Monstrous Holiday Mini-series #1-2
PUBLISHER:
Oni Press
CHARACTERS:
Courtney Crumrin, A girl in middle school who discovers she could be a witch.
Uncle Aloysius Crumrin, A mysterious old man who turns out to be a lot more than he seems.
Professor Alexi Markovic, A learned holy man who lives near a settlement by the forest.
Magda Markovic, The professor’s daughter
Petru, A powerful man in the community who is attracted to Magda.
Jan, The werewolf smitten by Magda.
Wolfgang, The mysterious boy who attracts Courtney’s eye.
Wolfgang’s Mother, An acquaintance of Aloysius’.
GENRE:
Graphic Novel (collection), Horror, Dark Humor,
DESCRIPTORS:
Witches, Werewolves, Warlocks, Vampires, Faith, Curses, Teenage Kids, Magic, Relationships, Love, Revenge,
SUMMARY:
Courtney and her Uncle Aloysius are taking a vacation, to get away from it all. First they go to visit a man of faith and learning in Romania.
There Courtney, once again, gets caught up in a love triangle that has nothing to do with herself. The professor’s daughter Madga may be in love with the gypsy Jan who is a werewolf. Jan is smitten by her. Unfortunately Petru, who is the local lord, wants her for his wife and thanks to Madga’s father, he is betrothed to her.
Courtney once again interferes. She learns a lot about werewolves and the cowardice of the heart. Will she be able to stop an emanate slaughter or will the lovers betray her as well as their own hearts?
Then its off to Germany where Courtney goes sight-seeing while Uncle Aloysius attends to some other business.
While attending a tour of Castle Krumrhein, she meets an attractive, mysterious boy named Wolfgang. He meets up with her again and takes her to see his mother, but she has a guest — Courtney’s Aloysius — so they spy instead.
By the end of the story, Courtney finds herself drawn toward Wolfgang even against her Uncle’s wishes. Will this be the one thing that permanently damages their relationship?
APPEAL:
I enjoyed this collection. Courtney as a pre-teen curmudgeon was fun to read. Her relationship with her Uncle Aloysius is strained again to the breaking point and we find out more about his motivations.
Courtney and Uncle Aloysius are the most well-rounded characters but some of the supporting cast are getting better definition than in previous stories. Since the stories are about Courtney, she gets the most character development but Aloysius gets more development too. We often get Courtney’s 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.
Both storylines are charming and intriguing. Courtney is a resourceful little girl although she doesn’t always succeed and still needs rescuing. She is inexperienced and resents that. She is also listening far too much to her heart this time and not enough to her uncle.
This mini-series is not narrated by the goblin Butterworth and it felt odd not see him at all. I missed his snarky comments.
NOTES:
This graphic novel combines both Courtney Crumrin And The Fire Thief’s Tale and Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere.
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