Krista Reviews: Ted Naifeh's - "Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things"

Presenting the initial Courtney Crumrin miniseries in a new digest-sized format. Courtney’s parents have dragged her out to a high-to-do suburb to live with her creepy Great Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. She’s not only the new kid in school, but she also discovers strange things lurking under her bed.

Paperback, 128 pages

Published May 28th 2003 by Oni Press

ISBN  1929998600 (ISBN13: 9781929998609)

I loved this story! Courtney’s courageous, smart and has a lot of spunk. If you’re looking for something that’s got a little bit of a creep factor, but enjoyable even for younger readers, I recommend this one.

This story opens up with Courtney and her parents moving to a posh part of town to live with their Uncle Aloysius. In the opening pages Aloysius is described to us by a gremlin creature, Butterworm, who is peeking through the windows. He tells us about the creatures and experiments that he has seen going on inside, and that moving into this particular house was probably not the best thing for Courtney and her parents.

From the first night Courtney has problems sleeping. She keeps seeing shadows and movements in the dark, and is, in no time, exploring the house – rooms that she was explicitly told not to go into by her Uncle.

She eventually discovers books in the library that are written in different languages. Picking one out, she begins to interpret some spells that may get the kids at school to like her more and stop beating her up for her money.

It works.

She takes on bullies, loved-spelled boys, Gremlins, changelings that smoke, drink whiskey and then try to auction off human children in the Goblin Market. From talking cats to dangerous creatures in the night, Courtney takes them all on, and barely breaks a sweat.

A classmate goes missing, baby’s are stolen, Courtney practices magic, and a doppleganger tries to take over her life. I really enjoyed all the adventures that Courtney goes through. Not only does she roll with the punches, in the end she saves the day. I cannot wait to read more of Courtney’s stories.