Here is the latest in our year-long look at one cool comic (whether it be a self-contained work, an ongoing comic or a run on a long-running title that featured multiple creative teams on it over the years) a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here's the archive of the comics posted so far!

Today we look at the first volume of Ted Naifeh's Courtney Crumrin series, Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things!

Enjoy!

I've already featured Naifeh's Polly and the Pirates story, and Crumrin is a lot like that in the sense that it stars a young girl and it is well-written and well-drawn (and it is all ages while not speaking down to kids), but Crumrin is a GOOD deal darker than Polly.

The story is about a young girl who goes to live with her oblivious money and status-obssessed parents in the mansion of their uncle (whose great-uncle he is is up to debate - he might even be Courtney's Great-Great-Great-Great Uncle!).









As you can see, the mansion has a great deal of spooky stuff going on.

Courtney has trouble making friends in school...



When running away from the bullies, her dumb friend follows her and GETS EATEN BY A GOBLIN!!!



Yeah, this is definitely a lot darker than you might expect.

Courtney eventually discovers that her Uncle is a great magician, and she swiped a few spells to get revenge on the goblin...





The series is quite well-told, with nice artwork and a strong sense of character-building with Courtney. Check out this sequence from a later issue...







Good stuff - telling a fantastical story but having real life issues be the heart of the tale. Well done by Naifeh.

Oni, I believe, has the trade paperback of this in print.