I am the father of four girls. As a conscientious dad, I believe it’s important for them to develop their own independent likes and tastes. However, as a dad, I don’t really believe anything I just said, because I also wanted my girls to grow up loving spooky, weird, and dark stories. This leads me to my recommendation: the Courtney Crumrin comics, written and illustrated by Ted Naifeh, compiled into seven volumes, and available through Oni Press. Each is only about 150 pages long and perfect for middle school readers and up. Put simply: it’s a gateway drug for all things creepy. Feed it to your children.

The heart of the whole series is the first three volumes: Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things, Courtney Crumrin and the Coven of Mystics, and Courtney Crumrin in the Twilight Kingdom. The rest are either preludes, adjacent tales, or one off stories, but also very enjoyable.

The story revolves around the unpopular and weird Courtney Crumrin. Her parents are forced to move in with her rich grandfather Aloysius, who is something of a town pariah. The enormous home is nearly as creepy and weird as her grandfather, who we soon learn is a warlock in league with a powerful group of magic users known as The Coven.

With her grandfather’s help, Courtney learns she too can wield magic. Before long, she is drawn into an adventure involving goblins, talking cats, the Coven, and a place called the Twilight Kingdom. She learns the world is quite a bit scarier than she ever realized, but also to harness a power that’s always been within her and to use it to find her own way in the world.

The art is gorgeous. The tale is great. Most importantly, kids need more spooky!

Written by Andrew

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