Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu
"Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu" is the fourth graphic novel in Jill Thompson's beloved Scary Godmother series, following the adventures of a kind witch who ensures Halloween festivities go smoothly. In this installment, Scary Godmother becomes ill with the Boo Flu, prompting her young friend Hannah to step in and take on the daunting responsibilities of preparing for Halloween. As Hannah struggles with the numerous tasks, including carving pumpkins and creating decorations, she is initially overwhelmed but ultimately finds support from a vampire family who assists her. The narrative emphasizes themes of friendship, perseverance, and the true spirit of Halloween, suggesting that the celebration transcends mere decorations and activities.
The artwork features vibrant colors and a whimsical style, appealing to a juvenile audience and enhancing the story's light-heartedness. Thompson’s approach encourages readers to challenge their preconceptions about characters, revealing that even monsters can be friendly and helpful. Overall, "Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu" conveys uplifting messages about camaraderie and the importance of maintaining a positive attitude, making it a suitable read for children and families alike.
Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu
AUTHOR: Thompson, Jill
ARTIST: Jill Thompson (illustrator)
FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2000
PUBLISHER: Sirius Entertainment
Publication History
Jill Thompson’s Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu is the fourth graphic novel installment of the Scary Godmother story. Thompson released the first of the series, Scary Godmother, in 1997. She published Scary Godmother: Revenge of Jimmy in 1998 and Scary Godmother: The Mystery Date in 1999. Thompson also crafted some single-issue and miniseries comics to complement the four anchoring novels of the series.
Plot
While preparing for Halloween, Scary Godmother falls ill with the Boo Flu. The Scary Godmother’s monster cronies begin to worry. Hannah informs them that she can fulfill Scary Godmother’s duties and that all Halloween festivities can proceed as planned. Before long, Hannah becomes overwhelmed by the number of tasks she must complete. She must build scarecrows, create cobwebs, sew monsters together, spread dry leaves on the streets, vacuum the fur of Halloween cats, oversee the howling of wolves, and carve pumpkins (this task finally unnerves her, since so many pumpkins need to be carved). Dejected, Hannah cries because she will be unable to complete the Scary Godmother’s job. Her tears awaken a vampire family who come to her aid. Using their teeth, the vampires help carve the pumpkins.
Meanwhile, the doctor (Professor Toad) administers medicine to Scary Godmother, who makes a full and quick recovery by morning. The first light sends the vampire family back into hiding. Hannah realizes that she still has many tasks to complete and fears that Halloween will not be celebrated because of her. Scary Godmother finds Hannah and reminds her that celebrating Halloween comes from the spirit within, not just from carved pumpkins or seeing goblins and ghouls. This provides Hannah with some peace, and she spends her Halloween evening sleeping, recovering from her hard work the night before.
Characters
•Hannah, the protagonist, is a young girl befriended by the Scary Godmother. She is helpful and kind and works hard to make Halloween a success.
•Scary Godmother is a witch who oversees the success of Halloween. She has a group of friends who help her complete this task.
•Mr. Pettibone is a friendly skeleton and a close friend of Scary Godmother.
•Bug-a-Boo is a kind monster who is also a close friend of Scary Godmother.
•Orson, a vampire, brings his wife and son to help Hannah carve pumpkins for Halloween.
Artistic Style
The four main works in the Scary Godmother canon were published as large hardcover books, typically with no more than three panels per page. Most pages, however, are splash pages lush with color. Thompson relays her story primarily through narrative outside the panel frame, though she also incorporates speech bubbles throughout her work. The narrative and speech bubbles combine to provide readers with a work that rhymes, an especially useful technique when writing for a juvenile audience. The cadence of the narrative instills an air of fun and light-heartedness.
Thompson’s rich illustrations fully depict the scenes described in the accompanying (and brief) text. These visuals are crucial to her juvenile audience who may be unable to read the text for themselves. Including large, detailed panels allows young readers to comprehend and enjoy the story. Thompson depicts Scary Godmother as a tall, thin woman in typical witch garb, though her bright red hair and purple and green wardrobe convey playfulness instead of fear. Hannah always appears cherubic, with dark brown curls and a round, full face. She typically wears a pink shirt and purple leggings; the healthy use of purple in both Hannah and Scary Godmother’s wardrobe creates a visual link between the characters.
Thompson typically infuses a wealth of bright colors in her panels, juxtaposing a rainbow with Halloween, a day typically associated with darkness. While some of Thompson’s illustrations rely on gray or black, Hannah still shines brilliantly. For example, when Hannah visits a pack of storm clouds, the clouds and the night sky are illustrated in shades of gray, but Hannah is adorned in bright colors. This technique also instills feelings of hope and fun in readers who may otherwise find reading about Halloween frightening.
Thompson utilizes different techniques that culminate in her unique artistic style. For example, the final page of Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu shows Hannah, arms behind her back and eyes closed, extinguishing the candle inside a jack-o’-lantern. Wafts of smoke drift lazily up the page. This final illustration does not appear in a traditional panel as all other illustrations in the text do; instead, white space surrounds the image. The artistic choice not to include borders around this illustration creates a feeling of openness rather than finality. Since Scary Godmother is one of Thompson’s most popular works (with sequels both in graphic novel and single-issue-comic form), perhaps the avoidance of a defined panel reminds readers that another Scary Godmother story is to come.
Themes
Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu incorporates numerous positive and uplifting themes, well suited for Thompson’s intended juvenile audience. Some of the most prominent themes include friendship, challenging expectations, perseverance, and spirit.
Without hesitation, Hannah offers to serve as Scary Godmother’s substitute so that Halloween celebrations can occur uninterrupted. Though she is young and unaware of the depth of Scary Godmother’s responsibilities, Hannah happily takes on the role of bringing Halloween to people everywhere because she is a good friend. The job might be scary and difficult, but as a dedicated friend, Hannah does what she must to offer assistance to Scary Godmother, who has always been a good friend to Hannah. Thompson reminds her young readers that sometimes people must take chances and do extra work to help those they care about, as Hannah does for Scary Godmother. Similarly, when Hannah thinks she will never be able to complete the duty of carving myriad pumpkins for Halloween, Orson the vampire appears with his family to help Hannah complete her task. Though no evidence exists that Hannah and Orson know each other well, his choice to help her emphasizes the theme of friendship and friendliness.
The theme of challenging expectations also resounds in Thompson’s work. Transported into a fantastic world focused on celebrating Halloween, readers must examine their preconceptions about the characters, namely Scary Godmother, the monsters, and Hannah. Scary Godmother is actually anything but scary; she is a kind witch who works hard to make sure everyone can enjoy Halloween. Her friends, a bevy of monsters, including a talking skeleton, are also kind and supportive. This depiction provides a stark contrast to what most juvenile readers would associate with monsters. The monsters in Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu only wish to do good. Readers must also examine their expectations about Hannah, a child. Perhaps they assume her incapable of helping Scary Godmother because of her age and stature; on the contrary, Hannah accomplishes much in a short amount of time. Thompson implicitly reminds readers that appearances can be deceiving. The importance of learning about a person and their character remains one of Thompson’s strongest messages to her young readers.
Another important theme in Scary Godmother: The Boo Flu is perseverance. When Hannah offers to serve in Scary Godmother’s place, she finds herself with a daunting list of activities to complete. Hannah has no one to assist her. She keeps a positive attitude but, in a few instances, feels downtrodden and doubts her abilities to successfully complete her mission. Thompson reminds her young readers to work hard and persevere, even in difficult times. Hannah continues to work diligently and her mentor, Scary Godmother, both acknowledges and celebrates her commitment to the cause of bringing Halloween to everyone. Though Hannah was unable to complete every job, she was still successful in bringing the spirit of Halloween to all.
The concept of spirit is important in Thompson’s work. Hannah fears that Halloween will not be celebrated by everyone since she was unable to finish all of the tasks the Scary Godmother usually completes to guarantee a lively and exciting celebration. Comforting the young girl, Scary Godmother explains to Hannah that enjoying Halloween does not depend solely on the presence of monsters, bats, howling wolves, screeching owls, and jack-o’-lanterns. What matters most, Scary Godmother confides, is people feeling the spirit of Halloween. This knowledge comforts Hanna and allows her to spend Halloween relaxing, rather than worrying. Scary Godmother’s message to Hannah also encourages Thompson’s readers to remember that attitude and feelings hold greater value than material objects.
Impact
Celebrated as a leading woman creator in the comics industry, Thompson has produced works for many leading publishers in the field, including Sirius Entertainment, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics. Her Scary Godmother series remains appreciated by diverse audiences and has spawned several film adaptations. The animation in these films drew critical attention and was compared by some critics to the distinctive style of Tim Burton’s films. Thompson also wrote a play based on the Scary Godmother series, which was performed in 2001 in Chicago for several months.
Films
Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular. Directed by Ezekiel Norton and Michael Donovan. Mainframe Entertainment, 2003. This film adaptation, released in Canada, follows the story of Hannah Marie. Her cousin Jimmy teases and tries to frighten her, and Scary Godmother rescues Hannah Marie and takes her on an adventure.
Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy. Directed by Ezekiel Norton and Terry Klassen. Mainframe Entertainment, 2005. This film adaptation builds on the existing Scary Godmother canon and includes the same cast from the first Scary Godmother film.
Further Reading
Thompson, Jill. Scary Godmother (1997).
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Scary Godmother: Mystery Date (1999).
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Scary Godmother: Revenge of Jimmy (1998).
Bibliography
Moltenbray, Karen. “Witches’ Brew: Mainframe Entertainment Mixes Up a Wide Range of Graphic Styles to Create a Unique Look for Scary Godmother.” Computer Graphics World 26, no. 10 (October, 2003).
Thompson, Jill. “Interview: Jill Thompson Talks Scary Godmother, Beasts of Burden, and More.” MTV Geek, March 7, 2011. http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/03/07/interview-jill-thompson-talks-scary-godmother-beasts-of-burden-and-more.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Jill Thompson Interview.” Westfield Comics, June, 2001. http://westfieldcomics.com/wow/low/low‗int‗050.html.