Glister Butterworth lives a strange life. There’s a ghost in her teapot and a troll under the nearest bridge; her house takes regular holidays in foreign parts, and her bedroom shifts around when she’s not looking. But Glister takes it all in her stride. Her life in Chillblain Hall, near the village of Gravehunger Moss, Whixleyshire, may be chaotic and weird, but it’s never, ever boring.

I can’t praise Glister enough; it’s so funny, so charming, so fresh, and so individual that I want to buy truckloads of copies of it and hand them out to strangers, just to make them smile. Andi Watson has a deft touch with both humour and the serious side of life, and the sprightly, fairy-tale feel of Glister doesn’t obscure his quietly resonant insights into life’s difficulties. For all that she lives in a haunted sentient house near the borders of Faerieland, Glister feels like a real girl, and she deals with the bizarreness of her life in a refreshingly no-nonsense manner. Delightful from beginning to end.

Violence: None.

Sexualised Violence: None.

Gender: Issue #1 deals with a historical issue relating to sexism in a surprising and clever way, without being clunky or preachy. In general, the presence and importance of independent female characters is taken for granted.

The Bechdel-Wallace Test:

Minorities: None; perhaps explained by the fact that Glister is set in a magical version of pre-decimal-currency rural England, which was a very white place indeed.

Parents may wish to be aware: Issue #3, “Glister and the Faerie Host”, deals very frankly with the loss of Glister’s mother. Young children, or the recently bereaved, may find this upsetting.

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