|
COURTNEY CRUMRIN & THE NIGHT THINGS #4
Highly Recommended (9/10)
|
Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Ted Naifeh
Editor: James Lucas Jones
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
Some friends and I have a philosophy, and I don't think it's a rare one. Basically, we feel that about 80 per cent of the population are morons. I mean, somebody has to be renting those direct-to-video action flicks, right? And those of us in the other 20 per cent, we have our moments of idiocy as well. That notion -- and the natural human desire to connect with others -- is at the heart of this story. Naifeh brings this superb limited series to a satifying close, and fortunately, he leaves the door open for future visits with Courtney Crumrim and her family.
Courtney is disappointed to learn her great-great uncle Aloysius is headed out of town for a couple of weeks, and her frustration with the adults and kids around her leads her into a deep funk. Her misery grows into physical malaise, forcing her to miss school, but no one else seems to have missed her. In fact, Courtney discovers that in her absence, she's become one of the most popular people at school.
Naifeh's dark, twisted art certainly suits the melancholy, depressed tone of this story. His simple Courtney design allows for a surprisingly wide range of feeling, as well as a good deal of subtlety. I love how the architecture of the Crumrim abode seems to be devoid of straight lines, as though it has grown up and around those who live within. It conveys a sense of vertigo, and it reinforces the title character's confusion and fear, which grow as the plot progresses.
Courtney's greatest strength is her perceptiveness. She can see through everyone around her. The kids at school are all about what they own and what they look like, while the adults -- with their empty-headed social engagements and desperate exercise regimens -- are pretty much following the same agenda. When the only individual of substance in her life -- Aloysius -- is removed, she quickly loses sight of the fact that those around her are leading the empty lives, not her. Naifeh pulls off some nice characterization here, showing us Courtney's vulnerable more clearly than ever before.
If this book has a flaw, it's that Courtney takes way too long to realize something is really wrong, in a supernatural way. Obviously, the reader clues in on it quickly, but then again, the fact that Courtney's out of loop at first -- innocent, really -- is appealing. It makes for a nice balance in her usually assertive, smart-ass character.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
