I love these two prickly, dangerous kindred spirits, but I’d forgotten much of the sadness in these stories and the difficulties Courtney and Uncle A have in showing each other how much they care. I liked the hard reminder Uncle A got in this one that Courtney is still a child and needs him to be her adult, no matter how capable and tough she is. ( )

Volume Four: Monstrous Holiday was a very different turn in the Crumrin series. We experience Courtney reverting back to her old ways of depression and loneliness like in the first volume. The only difference being, now she knows magic and can use it. I really enjoyed this volume. It is a little darker than the first three, since Courtney is depressed, but it also grows the character depth of both Courtney and Uncle A. I love Ted Naifeh and these books. Courtney is a fun little girl who stands up for her beliefs but is also vulnerable and needs some taking-care-of. Uncle A is still mysterious but not as much as in Volume 1 and you are learning more and more about him as the series progresses.

I love the full color in these, it really adds to the details but also to the macabre feeling of it all. I really cannot get enough of these volumes and truly recommend them for people that enjoy comics and graphic novels like Bear, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, and Lenore. ( )

I don’t know why my comic store can’t seem to get all of these in, but this volume has Courtney touring Europe with her uncle, trying to get away from the pain of home and only finding pain elsewhere. There’s a werewolf story and a vampire story, and if you think they end happily, then this is probably your first Courtney Crumrin. Enjoyable, if bitter enough that it needs leavening with some other story’s happy ending. ( )

Courtney Crumrin - precocious cynic and young would-be witch - returns in this, the fourth volume of her adventures, which follows the story of her European travels with her Great-Uncle Aloysius. Unlike the previous three volumes, which each contained four "chapters" (originally single issues of the comic), Courtney Crumrin's Monstrous Holiday includes just two, which appear to have been published previously, as Courtney Crumrin and the Fire Thief's Tale and Courtney Crumrin and the Prince of Nowhere. In the first tale, Courtney and Uncle Alysius find themselves in Romania, where Courtney becomes mixed up in a love triangle involving a Romany werewolf, the daughter of Uncle Aloysius' friend, Father Alexi Markovic, and a powerful local authority. In the second, uncle and niece - now barely speaking - visit Castle Krumrhein in Germany, and find themselves entangled with a vampire mother and son.

I continue to find this series immensely engaging, and am impressed by the fact that its creator, Ted Naifeh, never takes the "easy" way, with his stories. Things rarely seem to end well, in Courtney's world, and these two tales are no exception! Love doesn't conquer all - although Courtney refuses to just give in, as "Uncle A" has - and romance can't compensate for being drained of blood by the undead. I particularly liked the discussion of magic, in the first tale, with its comparison of religious (Christian) magic and the magic used by Courtney and Uncle Alysius; and was fascinated by the glimpse into the Crumrin family's history, offered in the second. If there were subsequent adventures, I would definitely read them!

Sadly, the only other Crumrin story is Courtney Crumrin Tales: A Portrait of the Wizard as a Young Man, which gives Uncle Aloysius' history, and looks to be difficult to obtain. I'll have to hope they reprint it, at some point! ( )

Somewhat loosing interest in these ones. Turns out this book includes one of the other books (Prince of Nowhere) which I find intensely annoying. Also being bugged a bit by Courtney's attitude; I thought she was going to be all spunky and interesting, but instead she just whines a lot. ( )