Courtney Crumrin is back, and I couldn't be happier about it. Ted Naifeh's story about a young girl who gets mixed up in magic and goblins and all that type of thing speaks to the outsider, but it also has heart to go along with the humor and the darker elements of the story. Naifeh seems to be taking a page from the first Courtney miniseries here, going back to the single issue stories that defined the first mini instead of one over-arcing story that was the pattern for the second, and this first story is terrific, a new angle on Courtney but one that is absolutely true to her character. As with so many of the Courtney stories, it contains supernatural elements, but it's about universal truths of growing up, in this case the way that childhood friendships tend to change, even when we don't want them to.
Because the very premise of Courtney Crumrin was predicated on her moving to a new place, we haven't really seen her old life before. This issue has a lot more information on where Courtney came from, and indeed features one of the deeper glances we've gotten at her parents. It's fascinating stuff, not just because it builds more on the foundation of Courtney's character but because it's an interesting jutxaposition to show her coming back to her old neighborhood with some new tricks, and a certain new maturity, up her sleeve.
The tricks are certainly fun. Courtney using magic to trip up a couple basketball court bullies is entertaining, and there's a nice twist at the end that reveals more magic lurking in Courtney's old stomping grounds. But the selling point of this issue is seeing Courtney with a real friend, rather than just playing the outcast or fitting in with a shadowy group of mystics. Naifeh does a great job of showing a friendship that has sort of faded with distance, but you can still see the strength of that friendship that used to exist. It's a softer side of Courtney than we're used to seeing, for the most part, but it's also something anyone can relate to. We've all outgrown childhood friends at one time or another, and then seen them again at some point and realized that we just couldn't reconnect in the same way.
It was also a lot of fun to see Courtney interacting with her old neighborhood. Her freedom to walk around at night, and just the sense that she had gotten bigger than the neighborhood, that she didn't have anything to fear from it anymore, showed off just how much she has changed in the last two miniseries. In addition, though they're still mostly background characters for Courtney, I loved getting more of a glimpse of the person who is Courtney's dad rather than just the persona she sees, as he confesses to a little guilt about not being able to provide for her the way he'd like. He's not just the shallow hipster that Naifeh (and Courtney) portrayed him as in the first miniseries, and I find myself wanting to see more of him now.
Courtney Crumrin is one of my absolute favorite series from Oni Press, and this third go-round looks like it will be as strong as the rest of them. Naifeh's art is always impressive, but he's a great writer as well, a consummate storyteller with a great concept and good characters.
