I’d read the third issue of this series, even wrote it up at some point. Night Things is cute. Naifeh’s art, which I remember really liking, is near impossible to appreciate in this digest-sized collection, but it still manages to create a mood.
The collection is separated into four chapters (the original four issues), but that’s a bit of a mistake on the publisher’s part. The stories are separate and besides the first one, could come in any order. There are no ongoing, developing character relationships. Courtney becomes friends with her scary old uncle in the first story and, though the relationship sort of develops, it’s all too fleeting to really matter. Night Things works, for the most part, because Naifeh creates a fun protagonist--who describes herself as, intentionally, “rude, bad-tempered,” who doesn’t “like people.” He plops her into a supporting cast filled with young Republicans (and old Republicans), all of whom we hope Courtney will feed to demons. Naifeh even promises us such a scene at the end of the first story, but never delivers.
The collection opens with a foreword by, apparently, Courtney’s namesake, who points out that children are more than capable of handling dark stories. Well, Night Things isn’t really dark. It’s got icky things, but it’s not really dark. Naifeh’s got another two Crumrin collections (and just sold her to the movies, though I’m sure the whole kid-getting-eaten thing will be gone), and I’d like to think he develops the character relationships... but, from what I could tell, the development has already happened off-panel, severely cheating the reader.
Still, Night Things is a good enough read. It’s whole just isn’t as strong as its parts.
