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Loyal Collector Times readers may remember that in Spring or Summer
2002, I discovered an entertaining comic called "Courtney Crumrin and the
Night Things", but alas, it was only a 4 part mini-series! My spirits were
lifted when the last issue promised that Ted Naifeh would bring us more of
Courtney's adventures. Ever since then, I've been keeping my eyes out for
the forthcoming new series, and this month I was lucky enough to get the
last copy of the first issue of "Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of
Mystics" . . . yippy!
Ah, I love Courtney. You see, the Harry Potter books don't appeal much to
me. Sure, I love the ol' "magic happenings here on Earth" type of story as
much as anyone. I'll even admit to enjoying the occasional "misfit child
turns out to be long-lost royalty/half faerie/a wizard" story. But, when I
watched the Harry Potter movie (yes, I'm one of the few literate people in
the world who hasn't read the books), I was struck by something very
annoying. Harry is nice. He has friends. His friends are nice. They're
happy -- happy young kids who want to do well at school, be wizards, and stop the
bad guys. Everybody who isn't evil just can't help but like those nice young
students.
Pheh. Give me a break! Now, Courtney Crumrin is more my kind of girl.
She's very cynical and sarcastic for a girl her age (what's her age? I'm
still not sure. I'm guessing 10 or so). She doesn't have any friends. Her
teachers don't like her. And she likes it that way. Why bother being friends
with your peers, when your peers all suck? Strange old wizard uncles and
goblins are much more interesting. Some days I wish I had an eccentric
uncle who lived in a creepy old mansion. Some cynical misfits get all the
luck!
As our new story unfolds, Courtney has settled in pretty well at her new
home in Hillsborough. For most kids, settling in well would mean doing
well at school, having half a dozen or so friends, and knowing some good
places to hang out with them. For Courtney, it means have ensorcelled a
classmate to turn in her homework, knowing the path through the woods,
and having access to her uncle's library of occult books. Courtney now
considers herself to be a fairly good witch . . . In fact, she's quite proud of
it. Clearly, there's nothing she can't handle! In her own opinion, at least.
Well, fate can't resist a set-up like that, so along comes trouble.
Courtney's new teacher Miss Crisp is a witch herself, and sees through the enchanted
homework, Someone summons up an eeeeevil night thing by the name of
Tommy Rawhead*, and worse yet, the committee of warlocks wants uncle
Aloysius to deal with it. What will Courtney do? How will she keep her
frail old uncle from being devoured by the worst goblin there ever was?
Well, you'll have to pick the comic up to discover the answers to THAT!
All in all, Coven of Mystics promises to be at least as good a series as
Night Things, perhaps with more action and a little more horror. It's a must
read for those who enjoy things with a Gothic flavor, but who don't take
themselves seriously.
*As a fan of faerie lore, I couldn't help but dig out my copy of Katherine
Briggs' "Encyclopedia of Fairies", and look up Tommy Rawhead. Surprise,
there he was, hiding under the entry Rawhead-and-Bloody-Bones (I guess
his friends call him Tommy . . .), where he's described as 'The name of a
spectre, mentioned to fright children', and a 'water-demon haunting old
marl-pits or deep ponds to drag children down into their depths'. Here's a
wonderful description of him, courtesy of Ruth Tongue's "County
Folklore":
"If you were heroic enough to peep through a crack you would
get a glimpse of the dreadful crouching creature, with blood running down
his face, seated waiting on a pile of raw bones that had belonged to
children who told lies or said bad words. If you peeped through the keyhole at him
he got you anyway."
Yikes, the things people would tell their kids to make them behave! Well,
Ted Naifeh draws Tommy Rawbones all creepy and crouching and blood-
running-down-his-face, a perfect reproduction of a nasty bogeyman.
This concludes your faerie lore lesson for the day :)
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