Scary Godmother: delightful, spooky graphic storybook for kids

Jill Thompson's beloved Scary Godmother stories are collected in a new delightful volume from Dark Horse. They relate the adventures of little Hannah Marie, a big-eyed, adorable moppet, and her friends from the "other side" — the Scary Godmother, and all the monsters, skeletons and vampires and such she keeps company with. Hannah Marie meets them all when her rotten cousin Jimmy sends her into a spooky house on Hallowe'en in a cruel prank that backfires on him. Hannah Marie makes fast friends with all the ghoulies and haints, and in a series of short, comical adventures, she rescues Hallowe'en, helps crash a haunted tea party, and sets up the Scary Godmother with half the monsters in spook-land.

These are just the right length to read as bedtime stories, and they're full of clever rhymes that make for great read-aloud material. The monsters are decidedly the good guys, and their capers are totally harmless and often hilarious. Better than that is Thompson's wonderful artwork — super-saturated, crazy-angled monsters and creeps and kids that are gonzo and charming at the same time. It's some of the most fun kids' stuff I've seen in a long time, and it's going to be Poesy's bedtime story tonight — she'll love it.

I haven't seen the animated special adapted from the books, but Thompson's included some of the art from the series and it's quite wonderful

Scary Godmother