Mini Reviews: Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things & Hereville

Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (Special Edition) by Ted Naifeh.
Page count: 110 pages
Publisher: Oni Press
Release Date: April 11, 2012
Who I'd Recommend it To: People who like creepy YA graphic novels.
Rating: ★★★


From Goodreads: 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.


                                                                               


Review:
(Recieved the ARC version. Thanks, Oni Press.)


Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things is about a girl who moves to a wealthy suburb with her parents to live with her creepy Uncle Aloysius in his spooky old house. While there, she realizes  she can do magic and discovers some strange things living in the house.


I really liked the main character Courtney, who was seriously bad ass and didn't put up with anyone's crap. She was really brave, sassy and witty -- a great main character. If I was her, waking up to find scary monsters on the end of my bed or have them follow me in the woods, I definitely wouldn't be brave enough to investigate. 


Like I expected this book to be, it was creep-tastic. I really liked all the different monsters and goblins -- especially one involving a baby (if you've read the book, you know what I'm on about). The dialogue was really funny, also.The artwork is also fantastic and spot on, but I think I would've enjoyed them more if most of them weren't in black-and-white. (The version I had started off with colour, then quarter of the way through it was black & white) I didn't really care for much of the supporting characters, with the exception of her Uncle and the weird creatures. I think the parents were sometimes overdone and annoying. 


This book, even though I liked it,  surprisingly didn't wow me. Although I found it interesting, creeptastic and very entertaining, it honestly didn't leave me thinking about it at all. It didn't have a lasting impression on me.

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meterorite by Barry Deutsch

Page count:  130 pages

Publisher: ABRAMS

Release Date: November 1, 2012

Who I'd Recommend it To: Young fans of graphic novels.

Rating:  ★★ 1/2

From Amazon: 

Welcome to Hereville, home of the first-ever wisecracking, adventure-loving, sword-wielding Orthodox Jewish heroine. A delightful mix of fantasy, adventure, cultural traditions, and preteen commotion, this fun, quirky graphic novel series will captivate middle-school readers with its exciting visuals and entertaining new heroine.

Mirka is back, and she’s still the only sword-brandishing, monster-fighting Orthodox Jewish girl in town. Or so she thinks. When a misguided troll aims a meteor at the witch’s house, the witch grabs hold of the closest thing possible to transform the flying, flaming rock—and that would be Mirka’s hair. The meteor is changed, all right: it’s now Mirka’s identical twin.

Doppelganger Mirka, vowing to be a better version of the real girl, sets out to charm all of Hereville, including Mirka’s own family. Our heroine challenges the meteor girl to a three-part contest . . . and the loser will be banished from Hereville forever!

                                                                                                                       

Review: 

(Recieved ARC version. Thanks to ABRAMS.)

Going into this I didn't actually realize there was a first one, but I seemed to understand it fully without reading its predecessor. Despite my initial confusion, I did quite like this one. Mirka is an interesting main character and her adventure was a joy to read about. The dialogue was very funny and the artwork was pretty good, although I didn't like some of the facial expressions sometimes. Although I did enjoy this book at times, I couldn't get through it fully, but that may be because the target audience is probably younger than me and because the artwork wasn't finished yet. I couldn't even tell who was who by the end of it.