Nightschool (comics)

Did You Know?

• All four volumes of Nightschool were re-released in 2020 as two collections in anticipation of Chmakova's new book, The Weirn Books: Be Wary of the Silent Woods.
• Sarah Treveney intended to remedy the vampires' inability to be photographed by substituting drawn portraits for pictures in the yearbook.

Plot

The series is set at the Nightschool, a building that functions as an ordinary high school by day but transforms at sundown into a safe institution for Weirns, vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural beings. The main character, Alex, is a teenage Weirn who does not initially attend the school for an unknown reason and appears linked to a mysterious prophecy. After her sister takes the post of night keeper at the school and goes missing, Alex enrolls as a new student to investigate her disappearance.

Characters

Alexius 'Alex' Treveney is a Weirn who lives with her older sister Sarah and her astral, which appears as a guardian. She is homeschooled by Sarah but largely left to her own devices. Alex demonstrates advanced skill with her astral, transforming it into wings during a test, leading a teacher to declare her ability 'university level, at least. She sometimes says or does things and forgets them, such as stealing time from three hunters with no memory of the act.

Alex is devoted to her sister but bitter about something that prevents her from working with other students. Her white hair is the result of a curse: when she was younger, her best friend died, and the friend's mother cursed Alex at the funeral with the Neren Hex, causing her hair to turn white. The curse also makes anything Alex says she 'likes' or 'loves' explode. The mother was arrested before she could reverse the curse.

Alex is one of the Sohrem. She later learns that Sarah and Rochelle have disappeared, and after finding them, Eron reveals it was a trap and introduces them to Mr. Roi's old companions.

Beings

A Weirn is a witch with strong magic who has a bound demon familiar called an astral. This astral looks like a floating mask surrounded by black and white smoke. Astrals are loyal but not very smart, though they can be trained for delicate tasks. They protect their Weirn fiercely and have great strength and shapeshifting abilities, but the latter needs training. Touching another’s astral is taboo, and Weirns can hide their astrals to look human. Alex’s astral likes cookies. Vampires, called “nozzies” by Hunters, drink blood and eventually become rippers that attack without control. Vampires cannot be photographed, so the Nightschool has no yearbook. Shifters are night people who turn into animals and heal very fast.

Reception

Critics positively reviewed the first chapter in Yen Plus as 'very ambitious' and a promising start, though one questioned Chmakova's ability to maintain the schedule. Mangalife's Joy Kim praised the racially diverse characters but found them underdeveloped compared to the protagonist, noting the second volume improved over the first. Ed Sizemore recommended the book for its art alone. About.com listed Nightschool as the Best New Original English Manga of 2009.