Scary Godmother, by Jill Thompson

I have been a fan of the Scary Godmother for some time now.  I loved the cartoons on television, and was bound a determined to find some of Jill Thompson's books of the same name.  It was hard, however, as they seemed to be out of print.  Thanks to Dark Horse Books' release of all of the stories bound together in one GORGeous hardcover edition, I was able to go to my local independent comic shop and pick up this coffee table worthy book.

Found inside are 5 quintessential Scary Godmother stories: "The Scary Godmother", "The Revenge of Jimmy", "The Mystery Date", "The Boo Flu", and "Tea for Orson".  Readers will quickly get acquainted with life on the Fright Side as well as the main characters of The Scary Godmother, Hannah Marie, Jimmy, Skully Pettibone and the rest.  Told with panels, but with straight lines of text as well, Scary Godmother truly blends the lines between graphic novel, illustrated novel and picture book.

The big sell of this collection is, of course, Thompson's art.  She is an accomplished illustrator who has worked on everything from Sandman to Wonder Woman .  Her spooky palette of orange, black, purple, and green will appeal not only to the youngest tweens, but to burgeoning goths as well.  My personal favourite panels are in silhouette with orange background and show such scenes are Scary Godmother swooping down the stairs with Hannah Marie, or a macabre parade of monsters heading over to Scary Godmother's place to find out who she fancies. 

Do yourself a favor and pick this one up!