Customer Reviews

Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 1: Courtney Crumrin & The Night Things (Courtney Crumrin Tales)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Courtney Crumrin can be compared to Harry Potter, but it's not really the same thing. Read this if your into the more gothic parts of magic and also have a sense of humor. The only thing I want to complain about is that the book is too short - I read it from cover to cover and immediately wanted to read the next book.

This all-ages comic is relatively good. While it is not going to revolutionalise gothic-esque comic genre, it is better than Lenore and most others of its counterparts.

While the manga-style art is just lovely, particularly the frames when Courtney enters the non-human/faery world, the plot is a little meandering and quite weak and basic at times. While I have not read the follow-up works, which may include this element, I would have like to see Courtney explore her own magic a little more. Additionally, there was minimal interaction between Courtney and her grandfather, and yet we are meant to imagine that they had become close allies.

I did however feel that the character of Courtney was quite interesting and completely identifiable. Similarly, the parental characters were suitably ghastly and disinterested.

This is a short but cute enough read. If only there were more comics examining the same topic of magic and childhood isolation, just slightly more adult and fleshed out.

Courtney Crumrin has just moved to a new school, into her creepy old uncle's house. Her story starts with the typical new-girl-in-school blues, but escalates quickly with the realization that there are REAL goblins about, not just her disinterested, shallow parents and her predatory schoolmates.

I especially love this sequence:

"She knew she wasn't going to be miss popularity, but thus far, a full three weeks after her arrival, she still had no friends at all...
"At least, none who hadn't been eaten."

The illustrations are complex and interesting, and Courtney herself grows and develops. The overall feel reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... not in a derivative way, but in the way it so deftly wove real world cruelty and otherworldly cruelty and the everyday - and the power of one young woman to take charge despite all that.

I enjoyed it, and I think it might be a very good choice for older reluctant readers who find a page of text intimidating but who need a complexity of story not found in books for younger readers.

The first volume in the Courtney Crumrin series introducing us to her and setting the stage for the epic, dark fantasy stories to come. More than some goth-emo wanking, this story goes back to the old legends of Faries and magic to spin a story of a young alienated girl's journey of self-discovery and adventure. More refeshing and much to Ted's credit, Courtney is no Mary Sue who cake walks through all dangers and is loved by all without and who can do no wrong. She is flawed and snotty like any other kid, mostly unpopular, and she winds up getting into more trouble than she solves while attempting to use the magic spells she discovers in the musty old books found in her Uncle's study. Needless to say, her uncle winds up having to bail her out a couple of times, and she goes away a bit more humble for the experiance. Courtney in turn befriends her uncle and helps him on his road to a kind of redemption. Ted's artwork is engaging, original and evocative without being derivative, dark without being overwhelming, and sweet without succumbing to being execessively saccharin.

Ted Naifeh, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (Oni, 2002)

A fun little tale about a girl whose parents drag her out to the very odd suburbs so the family can take care of ailing Uncle Aloysius, who doesn't seem to need taking care of at all. Courtney comes of age, and discovers her powers as a sorceress, under the tutelage of Uncle Al, coming up with inventive, and sometimes quite nasty, ways of fitting in at her new school. Very amusing stuff, this, and exceptionally dark (one wonders how much of this rubbed off on Holly Black; the more recent Spiderwick Chronicles bear more than a passing resemblance). Some rather odd typos (which one doesn't expect in hand-lettered work, to be sure) and a couple of non sequiturs that made me wonder if I was missing a page, but greatly enjoyable nonetheless. ***

Courtney Crumrin can be compared to Harry Potter, but it's not really the same thing. this book is a whiz bang awesome book

Courtney and her parents have just moved to the rich suburbs to live with Courtney's uncle in his eerie old house. Things are not going well for Courtney. She can't make friends, her teachers hate her, and there are monsters in her room. When she mentions she can't sleep to her uncle, she finds out about his dabbling in witchcraft and tries out some of the spells on her own.

I first heard about Courtney Crumrin from USA Today's PopCandy. I wanted to read more graphic novels and love dark and scary, so thought this would be for me. Courtney lives in a grim world where kids go missing and no one cares. Courtney is a take-charge girl who doesn't let her fears stop her. Her uncle is a great character doing his own thing, but the other secondary characters are one-dimensional. Especially Courtney's parents, who only care about money and influence. Courtney is drawn in a very plain style, different from the others, and seems like an animated doll. Her flat affect and harsh way of dealing with her rivals makes it hard for me to identify or sympathize with her. The ghouls and monsters are scary and ruthless.

The version I have has color in the first few pages with the rest in black and white. I prefer the black and white panels. The way Courtney is drawn seems to fit in better. In the colored pages, I liked the blues that were used to color the house. It made it even more creepy.

In the end, I couldn't warm up to Courtney or her world. I found I prefer less casual violence in my comics.

This is for older teens who like grim fairy tales.

Courtney Crumrin, Vol. 1: Courtney Crumrin & The Night Things (Courtney Crumrin Tales) The artwork is stellar and the characterization of Courtney Crumrin kept me laughing throughout the book.
The story is really three small sub plots combined into one gothic style graphic novel. To begin, Courtney is uprooted and relocated into her old Uncle's house. He is a spooky old man with an even spookier house. Courtney has an attitude the size of Alaska. She's fun to read about but I wouldn't want a friend like her. The story progresses as she starts school with a bunch of well to do brats, she just doesn't fit in. The other parts of the book are quick to read and quite funny at times. The artwork is fantastic. I received an ARC from NetGalley and only the first chapter or so was in color, but the color was perfect. Pure Gothic. Dark and spooky just like the book itself. I'm not a big fan of graphic novels but this book looked like fun. I'm glad I read it, I enjoyed the character, she has just the right amount of sassy wit. I particularly enjoyed reading about her spooky old Uncle A.

I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley.com. It was a really excellent graphic novel filled with mystery, some creepy things, and magic. After reading it I want to go out and read all of the other books in the series.

Courtney Crumrin is forced to move into her great-uncle's old creepy house with her parents (who are broke and need a place to live). To say that Courtney doesn't fit in in this prestigious town and preppy school is an understatement. Then one night Courtney sees something in her room and she finds that her uncle's house holds more mysteries and more magic than she had ever imagined. Now if COurtney could just stay out of trouble for a while and not cause any magical mischief that would be great...

Courtney is tough, sassy, and very much her own girl. She doesn't take crap from anyone and doesn't try to blend in. She reminded me a lot of the girl, Mandy, from the cartoon Grim and Evil. I loved her. She tries so hard to make her own path but still finds herself feeling a bit lonely and scared at times. The camaraderie she develops with her great-uncle is sweet, especially since her parents are so absent (both mentally and physically throughout the story). There are a lot of great characters in this story but Courtney and her great-uncle are the highlights.

This graphic novel contains three sub-stories. One is about what happens when Courtney tries out a spell to make everyone like her. The second is about what happens when Courtney goes to babysit for some neighbors and finds out their baby has been replaced with a goblin of sorts. The third tells about when something mimics Courtney and tries to take over her place in everyone's life.

The illustrations are wonderful. It is always easy to follow and easy to tell what is going on. Only the first part was in full color (probably because it is an advanced copy) but the part that was in color was excellent! The colors are lush and dark and perfectly match the tone of the story.

This is a great graphic novel for all ages. Some parts might be a bit scary for younger kids, most of it is just kind of creepy and not really scary.

Overall I absolutely loved this book! Now I want to go out and read all of the COurtney Crumrin books :-) Courtney is a fun character and the combination of magic/magical creatures/creepy house is creative and fun. This is a graphic novel that is beautifully drawn and I think people of all ages will really enjoy it. I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more of these books in the future. If you like the Locke and Key series, but want something that is kid-friendly this would be a great series to read.

Courtney Crumrin is being force to move to a more upscale suburb by her slightly opportunistic and always oblivious parents to live with her Uncle Aloysius. Thing is, though, Courtney isn't your average mall kid, the new house is no modern day McMansion, and Uncle Aloysius is definitely not your typical crusty old coot - good thing, too, because when things start getting really weird (and they quickly do) Uncle Aloysius may be the only one standing between Courtney and disaster.

Courtney Crumrin is a modern Gothic fairy tale, more Grimm than Disney. It combines amazing graphics with a darkly humourous but highly entertaining coming-of-age tale - think Neil Gaiman's Coraline meets the kids from 90210 in a yuppie conclave where the parents are so self-absorbed that no one would notice if a human baby was swapped with a goblin.

Although I suspect that this graphic novel is aimed at kids 12 and up, there's plenty here to appeal to the slightly dark child in all of us.