What do you think?
Rate this book
Count Crowley #2
Count Crowley Volume 2: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter
Jerri Bartman never imagined herself dressed up like a ghoul, hosting the late-night creature feature in her small hometown of Beloit, Missouri. Of course, she never imagined that she might be an alcoholic... or the fact that monsters are real.
Not only are these the sobering facts, but Jerri seems to be the only person capable of battling the growing threat of zombies, werewolves, and vampires spinning fake news into the world. Reluctantly embracing her mission as a monster hunter, Jerri will have to swallow her pride, lace up her combat boots, and figure out the real way to slay the stalking creatures of the night.
Collects Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter issues #1-#4.
Not only are these the sobering facts, but Jerri seems to be the only person capable of battling the growing threat of zombies, werewolves, and vampires spinning fake news into the world. Reluctantly embracing her mission as a monster hunter, Jerri will have to swallow her pride, lace up her combat boots, and figure out the real way to slay the stalking creatures of the night.
Collects Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter issues #1-#4.
104 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 14, 2023
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
December 12, 2022
Count Crowley Volume 2: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter.
This continues to be an interesting enough story to hold my attention as Jerri tries to figure out how to be the late-night host of schlocky horror flicks, a real-life monster hunter, and a clean & sober member of society.
It's a weird concept but it works.
Jerri's Vincent Price persona doesn't figure into the story much, other than to be the catalyst that propelled her into the supernatural world and the backdrop of the beginning and ending of each issue. A sexist old man in a nursing home is her only contact when it comes to understanding why and how she ended up being chosen to take over the very real title of Count Crowley via a very fake tv show.
This feels like a bridge volume that introduces some deeper storylines for future issues without feeling like a bridge volume. This probably won't be for everyone but I'm here for it.
Good stuff!
Recommended for fans of monster comics.
I received a review copy from Edelweiss and the publisher.
This continues to be an interesting enough story to hold my attention as Jerri tries to figure out how to be the late-night host of schlocky horror flicks, a real-life monster hunter, and a clean & sober member of society.
It's a weird concept but it works.
Jerri's Vincent Price persona doesn't figure into the story much, other than to be the catalyst that propelled her into the supernatural world and the backdrop of the beginning and ending of each issue. A sexist old man in a nursing home is her only contact when it comes to understanding why and how she ended up being chosen to take over the very real title of Count Crowley via a very fake tv show.
This feels like a bridge volume that introduces some deeper storylines for future issues without feeling like a bridge volume. This probably won't be for everyone but I'm here for it.
Good stuff!
Recommended for fans of monster comics.
I received a review copy from Edelweiss and the publisher.
April 18, 2023
I really enjoyed volume 1 of this series, and so here we have volume the second, which was frustratingly okay. I really missed the connection with Jerri's hosting job.
This is literally more of the same, which is fine by me. I'd certainly read a third volume, possibly a fourth, oh hell even a fifth.
(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
This is literally more of the same, which is fine by me. I'd certainly read a third volume, possibly a fourth, oh hell even a fifth.
(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)
July 26, 2023
A great continuation, I hope we get lots more of these!
May 15, 2025
The chaos continues. More camp, great lore, awesome characters, and a story that keeps moving forward in really satisfying and unexpected ways.
February 17, 2026
This series is just getting better as it goes on, but what a way to end this one. I'll have to be on the lookout for volume 3. Don't forget to read David Dastmalchian's afterword.
December 28, 2022
We all know the story about the chosen one (yep, dropping Buffy and Potter reference here). But, how about someone who doesn't know that they're the chosen one?
Or, better yet are so messed up that the last thing they thought they would ever become is a monster hunter? That describes Jerri Bartman who is an alcoholic and lost her job (see series one). She had to take a job as a weekend movie horror host , a "gift" from her brother. This series picks up on those story points from the first.
Jerri still again ends up involved with monsters, this time werewolves and vampires. The prior Count Crowley movie host is still around being pissy about a woman replacing him. And, Jerri is still working on her personal issues.
Unlike Jenny Zero here the four issue limit is not hindering the tale.
Or, better yet are so messed up that the last thing they thought they would ever become is a monster hunter? That describes Jerri Bartman who is an alcoholic and lost her job (see series one). She had to take a job as a weekend movie horror host , a "gift" from her brother. This series picks up on those story points from the first.
Jerri still again ends up involved with monsters, this time werewolves and vampires. The prior Count Crowley movie host is still around being pissy about a woman replacing him. And, Jerri is still working on her personal issues.
Unlike Jenny Zero here the four issue limit is not hindering the tale.
April 18, 2024
In "Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter" the plot thickens, the schlock deepens, a new "Big Bad" emerges from the shadows and Jerri continues to fight for sobriety and against misogyny as she begins to uncover a heinous plot that threatens her life and her family's TV station. This is a nice follow on volume from the first one. This series has a lot of potential and it is really encouraging that it survived the challenges of the Covid-19 era. I have high hopes and expectations for the third volume which should be out later this year.
October 31, 2023
Was I going to buy the follow up graphic novel to 'Count Crowley Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter'? Absolutely.
Will I rave about it as much as I did in my review , here?
But of course!
The collected issues 1-4 of Count Crowley's second outing, this time she has progressed to 'Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter', are available from all good graphic novel suppliers, published by Dark Horse Comics.
A certain amount of acceptance accompanies our heroine's journey from addict to entering recovery, from journalist to tv show figurehead and monster killer. It's a transition, for sure, accompanied with an understanding that there is a lack of knowledge handed down with this title, which is rubbed in her face by both Rich Barnes-the first Count Crowley-and the monsters themselves.
They are re-writing the rules to the vintage cult horror films on which many of us are weaned, so not only does she, in a sense, have to unlearn what is readily assumed as cultural certainties, such as how to kill a vampire, she has to learn to trust which is next to impossible when she doesn't trust herself to keep to the straight and narrow on a daily basis.
As she negotiates her way through the reality she lives in in 1980's America, there is a neat parallel between then and now regarding the dissemination of knowledge, and 'fake news', a concept with which we are all too sadly familiar these days.
It circles back around to trust, in a pre-internet reality where the people who read, and control the visual media , control what they want the majority of the country to believe in. And for the small tv station which is run by Jerri's brother, the stakes are pretty high as a corporate takeover by a much larger company with a vested interest in Count Crowley , is circling...
Jerri is having to learn on the job, using her journalistic instincts to pick apart a narrative which she has been thrust into, which, to all intents and purposes , looks like a folie a deux between her and previous Count, Rich, who is now ensconced in the type of old people's facilities which have locked doors. For their protection and your own..
The rules of the game are something she is not privy to, as she is not Appointed like Rich and his still missing partner, but here we get some back story filled in on how Rich came to know about werewolves during his time in Germany , during World War 2.
On top of this, she is still attending AA meetings, ably supported by her cat whose judgy looks and paw skills removes temptation when she is weak. A four legged furry support system who provides her with a semblance of reality in someone to come home to whilst she transitions.
It's also deeply funny, which intensifies how moving the narrative is-Jerri is responsible for keeping herself and others safe from monsters which she knows are real, whilst there are those who hide behind the mask of a human face, all the while paradoxically, she masks up in order to present monsters which hark back to a simpler time.
The deep and redolent colour work is sublime, it makes the fabric look stroke able, the blood appear sticky, you know exactly how it would stick to your shoes, and the monsters have this sickly, subhuman glow . The shadows highlight the details in Jerri's face, making her feel like a ghost walking through her own nightmare, whilst her stance is so physically present that she grounds herself in both the boxes of the comic and the reader's subconscious. She kicks and screams off the page, in her retro wardrobe that has neat twists. For example, she wears , I think, a replica of Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket, and her leather and denim look not only reflects the time it is set in, it creates a costume of sorts that presents her as the monster hunter she is growing into.
All this rambling is to say that this is a book created in love, with passion and an eye for detail you don't always come across. It is a love letter to retro horror with a very modern feel, the quality of the book that you hold in your hand instantly tells you this is something to get excited about, something to shout about .
The monsters, and the guides/narrators which introduce each chapter are again, retro fitted to be like those characters which introduced the EC Comics of the fifties, but with a style which shows it is an homage, not a parody or flagrant copy. I was genuinely excited by the way in which traditional tropes were both incorporated into, and then taken further, by the shapes of the beasts as they strode through the pages. The confluence between story, art, colour and ink is truly magical when it all comes together as it does here, each complementing the other seamlessly.
The over arching story about Rich's missing partner, the mysterious letters to monsters alerting them to the danger of Count Crowley, and the society who appoint hunters to protect society at large, are taken a bit further in this collection, but there is still room to grow in this burgeoning world.
And that gives me hope, as well as the fact that Volume 3 is already available to pre-order, that this series will run and run...
Will I rave about it as much as I did in my review , here?
But of course!
The collected issues 1-4 of Count Crowley's second outing, this time she has progressed to 'Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter', are available from all good graphic novel suppliers, published by Dark Horse Comics.
A certain amount of acceptance accompanies our heroine's journey from addict to entering recovery, from journalist to tv show figurehead and monster killer. It's a transition, for sure, accompanied with an understanding that there is a lack of knowledge handed down with this title, which is rubbed in her face by both Rich Barnes-the first Count Crowley-and the monsters themselves.
They are re-writing the rules to the vintage cult horror films on which many of us are weaned, so not only does she, in a sense, have to unlearn what is readily assumed as cultural certainties, such as how to kill a vampire, she has to learn to trust which is next to impossible when she doesn't trust herself to keep to the straight and narrow on a daily basis.
As she negotiates her way through the reality she lives in in 1980's America, there is a neat parallel between then and now regarding the dissemination of knowledge, and 'fake news', a concept with which we are all too sadly familiar these days.
It circles back around to trust, in a pre-internet reality where the people who read, and control the visual media , control what they want the majority of the country to believe in. And for the small tv station which is run by Jerri's brother, the stakes are pretty high as a corporate takeover by a much larger company with a vested interest in Count Crowley , is circling...
Jerri is having to learn on the job, using her journalistic instincts to pick apart a narrative which she has been thrust into, which, to all intents and purposes , looks like a folie a deux between her and previous Count, Rich, who is now ensconced in the type of old people's facilities which have locked doors. For their protection and your own..
The rules of the game are something she is not privy to, as she is not Appointed like Rich and his still missing partner, but here we get some back story filled in on how Rich came to know about werewolves during his time in Germany , during World War 2.
On top of this, she is still attending AA meetings, ably supported by her cat whose judgy looks and paw skills removes temptation when she is weak. A four legged furry support system who provides her with a semblance of reality in someone to come home to whilst she transitions.
It's also deeply funny, which intensifies how moving the narrative is-Jerri is responsible for keeping herself and others safe from monsters which she knows are real, whilst there are those who hide behind the mask of a human face, all the while paradoxically, she masks up in order to present monsters which hark back to a simpler time.
The deep and redolent colour work is sublime, it makes the fabric look stroke able, the blood appear sticky, you know exactly how it would stick to your shoes, and the monsters have this sickly, subhuman glow . The shadows highlight the details in Jerri's face, making her feel like a ghost walking through her own nightmare, whilst her stance is so physically present that she grounds herself in both the boxes of the comic and the reader's subconscious. She kicks and screams off the page, in her retro wardrobe that has neat twists. For example, she wears , I think, a replica of Michael Jackson's Thriller jacket, and her leather and denim look not only reflects the time it is set in, it creates a costume of sorts that presents her as the monster hunter she is growing into.
All this rambling is to say that this is a book created in love, with passion and an eye for detail you don't always come across. It is a love letter to retro horror with a very modern feel, the quality of the book that you hold in your hand instantly tells you this is something to get excited about, something to shout about .
The monsters, and the guides/narrators which introduce each chapter are again, retro fitted to be like those characters which introduced the EC Comics of the fifties, but with a style which shows it is an homage, not a parody or flagrant copy. I was genuinely excited by the way in which traditional tropes were both incorporated into, and then taken further, by the shapes of the beasts as they strode through the pages. The confluence between story, art, colour and ink is truly magical when it all comes together as it does here, each complementing the other seamlessly.
The over arching story about Rich's missing partner, the mysterious letters to monsters alerting them to the danger of Count Crowley, and the society who appoint hunters to protect society at large, are taken a bit further in this collection, but there is still room to grow in this burgeoning world.
And that gives me hope, as well as the fact that Volume 3 is already available to pre-order, that this series will run and run...
February 7, 2023
It’s still the ‘80s, Jerri’s still Count Crowley, the local TV host of bad horror movies, and she’s still battling monsters and attending AA. This time she goes another round with the werewolf from the first book and also a vamp from the big city. Ooo…k.
The team behind the first Count Crowley book reunite for a second volume in the series and, while I’m glad the title’s carrying on, Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter’s definitely not as good as the first - unfortunately, it’s pretty boring.
Jerri looks for info on how to fight the monsters and then goes through the motions once the monsters show up. There’s more sassiness with Freis, the old gent in the nursing home who knows all about monster hunting, and there’s more AA talk. There’s little new stuff here that builds on the first volume and it never really held my attention the entire time.
Lukas Ketner’s art is still spectacular, with the brilliant Lauren Affe on colours. I especially liked the WW2 flashback but really the whole comic looks fantastic thanks to these two.
I like the concept - that Jerri isn’t just battling fantastical monsters like vamps, etc. but also everyday monsters like addiction - and the art team is faultless. But writer David Dastmalchian needs to do something more than just the same old same old in the next book to make this series worth following. As it is, Count Crowley, Volume 2: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter is an underwhelming sequel to the decent first book.
The team behind the first Count Crowley book reunite for a second volume in the series and, while I’m glad the title’s carrying on, Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter’s definitely not as good as the first - unfortunately, it’s pretty boring.
Jerri looks for info on how to fight the monsters and then goes through the motions once the monsters show up. There’s more sassiness with Freis, the old gent in the nursing home who knows all about monster hunting, and there’s more AA talk. There’s little new stuff here that builds on the first volume and it never really held my attention the entire time.
Lukas Ketner’s art is still spectacular, with the brilliant Lauren Affe on colours. I especially liked the WW2 flashback but really the whole comic looks fantastic thanks to these two.
I like the concept - that Jerri isn’t just battling fantastical monsters like vamps, etc. but also everyday monsters like addiction - and the art team is faultless. But writer David Dastmalchian needs to do something more than just the same old same old in the next book to make this series worth following. As it is, Count Crowley, Volume 2: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter is an underwhelming sequel to the decent first book.
July 29, 2024
This book is so great. As I said for volume 1, usually actor-written comics are thinly disguised Mary Sue self-inserts and are terrible. Dastmalchian completely avoids that by making the main characters as different from him as possible. On top of that there’s plenty of humor, lots of action, and cool worldbuilding all contained in a well-paced story that hums right along.
The art by Lukas Ketner is absolutely terrific. He captures 1983 perfectly, and his style is a blend of the kind of thing you’d see in Mad Magazine and EC Comics.
I was tickled by the fake ad page in the back.
Larger pic so you can see the details: https://ibb.co/3MvsTth
The art by Lukas Ketner is absolutely terrific. He captures 1983 perfectly, and his style is a blend of the kind of thing you’d see in Mad Magazine and EC Comics.
I was tickled by the fake ad page in the back.
Larger pic so you can see the details: https://ibb.co/3MvsTth
April 2, 2023
Okay, this one isn’t actually my fault—it’s our library system’s fault. For some reason they listed this as book one. When it’s clearly a sequel from the very beginning. So I was waiting, hoping it would be revealed as a narrative trick or something, but no…this was legitimately book two and read like one.
Maybe I should have done more research...
Anyway, as for the book itself, it was…kinda sorta entertaining. The art was bright and fun and reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt. The story didn’t particularly engage. Oh well, at any rate, it was quick.
Maybe I should have done more research...
Anyway, as for the book itself, it was…kinda sorta entertaining. The art was bright and fun and reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt. The story didn’t particularly engage. Oh well, at any rate, it was quick.
March 14, 2023
This story did not interest me nearly as much as the first volume. The ending is predictable. All the characters are boring except for the main character Jerri.
Also, what is with all the smoking. I get that it is the early 1980s, but there is a lot of smoking scenes, especially of the old man. I found it distasteful.
The art is a nice mix between cartoony and traditional comic books styles and dark shadows.
Also, what is with all the smoking. I get that it is the early 1980s, but there is a lot of smoking scenes, especially of the old man. I found it distasteful.
The art is a nice mix between cartoony and traditional comic books styles and dark shadows.
October 14, 2023
Jerri's role as Count Crowley, her 1980s TV station's midnight-movie host, is a hit. Trouble is, her life is now a horror movie as she's become the local Slayer (comes with the hosting gig). The previous host is a fount of information but doesn't think a woman can hunt monsters. Plus Jerri's dealing with being a recovering alcoholic.
This could have moved faster but it works.
This could have moved faster but it works.
Read
September 2, 2025After how much the opening volume packed in, this does feel a bit like a collection of fight scenes interspersed with AA meetings. Which, yes, have a thematic relevance, as Jerri tries to find a way to cure a werewolf she can't accept is fully a monster – but aren't nearly as fun or novel as her monster movie hosting gig, which seemed key to the premise, but is barely glimpsed here.
May 6, 2023
It's got it all :Great art, wonderful flawed human characters you can root for, horror and humor. The world building is deeper and fresh here too. I had such a good time and I can't wait for volume 3.
June 11, 2023
A tribute to old EC Comics or Tales From the Crypt. Jerri is an alcoholic struggling to stay sober while hosting a tv show, fighting monsters, and trying to learn the secrets to fight the monsters from an old man who thinks women shouldn't be allowed to know that knowledge.
October 29, 2024
This series continues to suck me in with its characters and world-building. First werewolves and zombies, now vampires, Dastmalchian and Ketner continue to build out their own fresh take on the horror genre.
April 1, 2023
Solid if not superior second volume. Really enjoying this series.
May 12, 2023
I’m so sad about Steven! I thought they were going to be friends & work together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 5, 2023
This series is so much fun!
December 8, 2023
I didn't enjoy this as much as the first volume but it was still fun!
May 4, 2024
Amazingly well written.
June 20, 2024
This collection of comics is so metal!! I love it all it’s one great big Monster mash.
August 5, 2024
I continue to absolutely love this story. I really like this style so much. The story is fun, interesting, a bit spooky, and also has great emotional ties. I can't wait for the next one.
August 20, 2024
THEY JUST KILLED HIM??? BRO??? 😭😭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2024
This is like a story made specifically for me.
January 4, 2025
I dont mind these, they’re simple, short and know better then to take this series to seriously. Just campy nonsense.
January 21, 2025
I’m enjoying this monster romp.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews