Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things



Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things is an independent comic book series written and illustrated by Ted Naifeh.

Courtney is an odd little girl who doesn't quite fit in. When she and her parents have to move to her uncle's old mansion, she must adjust to a whole new school in a neighborhood she isn't entirely comfortable with; however, things quickly take a turn for the better, as she meets the strange and interesting individuals that live in and around her uncle's house. --

This comic provides examples of the following tropes:

 * Action Girl: Courtney isn't going to let being small and a preteen get in the way of saving the day.
 * Adults Are Useless: played straight with Courtney's parents, averted with Uncle Aloysius and Calpurnia Crisp.
 * Affably Evil: Tommy Rawhead. Butterworm could also be considered as such.
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: Courtney's first crush.
 * Alpha Bitch: A girl in Courtney's new school who wears Princess Curls and starts out the year by extorting Courtney's allowance money from her.
 * Blake in Courtney Crumrin and the Twilight Kingdom counts as a male version.
 * And Now You Must Marry Me:  is under a curse until she marries someone she has absolutely no interest in.
 * Aristocrats Are Evil: if not really evil, the Dreadful Duchess is completely alien to human morality.
 * Badass Longcoat: Aloysius.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: when Courtney tries to become popular in her school by using a Charm spell.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: The Twilight King is, differences in morality issues aside, one of the nicest of the Night Things. But do not kill one of his subjects.
 * Black Magician Girl: Courtney herself.
 * Cats Are Mean: somewhat subverted; most cats Courtney meets are actually helpful, but they are somewhat arrogant to other species.
 * Cats Are Snarkers: All of them.
 * Cats Have Nine Lives.
 * Changeling Tale: Several.
 * Courtney babysits a child who is switched for a changeling.
 * A doppelganger of unknown origin tries to take over Courtney's life and erase her from existence.
 * Skarrow was also originally a human who was raised in the Twilight Kingdom.
 * The end of Courtney Crumrin and the Twilight Kingdom suggests that.
 * Children Are Innocent: Subverted all over the place.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Aloysius will do what it takes to win, regardless of whether or not it's the most impressive thing he could do.
 * Coming of Age Story
 * Corrupt Hick: the Marshall
 * Dark Is Not Evil: The Night Things aren't necessarily evil, even if they don't think and behave as humans do. Applies to magic users as well.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Aloysius Crumrin and Calpurnia Crisp.
 * The Fair Folk
 * Fantastic Racism: The Night Things are widely misunderstood and hated by warlocks and witches
 * Gentleman Wizard: Uncle Aloysius.
 * Growing Up Sucks: Played with. Courtney was never very innocent and is more perceptive than most adults, but she is realizing how complicated being an adult really is.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Skarrow used to be a boy but was turned into a Night Thing by the Dreadful Duchess. later, we see that she made onother one, probably the baby Courtney was previously baby-sitting.
 * Haunted House: Courtney's friend is living in one.
 * Humans Are Special: even if Human activity drove him and his subjects underground, the Twilight King is not willing to retaliate and acknowledges human mastery of the surface world.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Butterworm, among others.
 * I Just Want to Have Friends: Despite being a snarky loner, Courtney does occasionally wonder if something is wrong with her and not the world.
 * I See Dead People: Courtney can see ghosts as a consequence of being magical.
 * It Gets Easier: Not quite yet, but Courtney shows surprisingly little remorse over her most morally repugnant actions.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses: Aloysius, especially in light of hints that he was as idealistic as Courtney when younger.
 * Kids Are Cruel
 * Kid with the Leash: Courtney has Butterworm under her orders thanks to a magic ritual.
 * Kung Fu Wizard: Turns out Aloysius is quite a skilled fighter on top of being a warlock.
 * Land of Faerie: The Twilight Kingdom
 * Lemony Narrator: When Butterworm isn't narrating.
 * Little Miss Snarker / The Snark Knight: Snark gets Courtney through life, sometimes more successfully than others. Part of being very young, though, means that she's secretly very idealistic and her snark results from very little being up to her standards.
 * Lovecraft Country: Hillsborough and the neighboring woods.
 * Mentor Archetype: Aloysius Crumrin, and later Ms. Calpurnia Crisp
 * The Magocracy: The Coven of Mystics.
 * Magical Land: the Twilight Kingdom
 * Major Injury Underreaction: Tommy's response to being told his body was burned and the ashes thrown into a pit? "I've had worse."
 * The Masquerade: the Coven to the rest of Hillsborough.
 * Muggles: Courtney's parents, and most of Hillsborough inhabitants.
 * Mysterious Past: We still only know so much about Aloysius Crumrin and his bad history with the Coven of Mystics.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Courtney herself is becoming one.
 * Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Butterworm makes the opening and closing narration in a casual and even cheerful way (again, it's Butterworm...)
 * The Noseless
 * Obfuscating Disability: Aloysius is perfectly sound physically and mentally and doesn't need Courtney's parents to take care of him. He just tolerates them because they make his house less menacing and noteworthy.
 * Old Dark House: The Crumrin place is infamous as this. Turns out the neighbors are right, but it's not anything like they think it is.
 * Old Master: Aloysius Crumrin looks like a frail old man, but, when needed, he can behead "The Worst Goblin That Ever Was" in one move.
 * Our Goblins Are Different: every single goblin is different from one another.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: They're more Italian/bird influenced, for one.
 * Our Werewolves Are Different: They're also Gypsies.
 * Parental Neglect: Courtney's parents don't do a very good job of taking care of her. Not out of spite they just aren't very good at giving her the emotional attention she needs.
 * Rage Against the Mentor: Courtney temporarily shuns her uncle.
 * Again in Monster Holiday, after
 * Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Averted. Courtney almost always wears a dress.
 * Retired Badass: Tobermory, and Aloysius Crumrin
 * Running Gag: "Oh, bugger."
 * The Scapegoat: Skarrow.
 * Socially Awkward Hero
 * Sword Cane: Aloysius has one.
 * Talking Animal: cats can speak. They just don't bother to.
 * Things That Go Bump in the Night.
 * Upperclass Twit: Courtney's parents. Or at least this is what they aspire to be, which is probably even sadder.
 * Weaksauce Weakness: One issue deals with a monster immune to curses famed for killing magic-users. What can defeat such a fearsome creature?... Turns out normal weapons work just fine.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: the Marshall's successor and former assistant.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: When Courtney and her uncle are on holiday in Europe, Courtney finds herself drawn to the company of a young vampire and starts to find the idea of dying with him to be appealing, since she's tired of everyone she knows dying or leaving her. When her uncle discovers that the vampire has been drinking her blood, he is confused as to how a vampire could get the better of his niece, who is plenty proficient in the use of magic. The owner of the hotel they are staying at promptly tells him off for failing to consider the fact that Courtney is a young girl who had to grow up fast and was thus vulnerable in ways that he was ignoring.
 * Courtney gets this herself a couple of times, related to her possibly excessive revenge against . She even wonders herself if it was really justified or if she had less extreme options.
 * When She Smiles: Courtney almost never does this. So when she does, she really means it.
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: most Night Things don't know the very concept of lying (even if they can hide a truth), and are genuinely baffled when Humans don't keep their word.
 * Wizarding School.