By Svetlana Fedotov
Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m a little late getting on the Wytches train. Somehow, among all the comics and graphic novels that grace my table and despite all the hype (I even wrote an article about a Wytches movie adaption), this particularly nasty little read managed to slip right by me. Well, better than late never, I suppose. Released October 8, Wytches has been blowing up the comic scene with its original horror story of dark magic and malevolent forces. Of course, it helps that it’s penned by one of the most talented writers in the industry, Scott Snyder, and with Image at the helm, he’s free to go as ape-shit on it as he likes. To put it in perspective, this is the man who tore off the Joker’s face in Batman: Death of the Family, forever altering the unfathomable madness of the Clown Prince of Crime. Yeah, it’s that good.
Wytches centers around a family called the Rooks, particularly the daughter of the father, mother, child combo, Sailor Rooks. Having just left their previous town after an incident involving young Sky, the family attempts to start over in the mom’s homestead. Of course, life is never that easy, as strange things start happening almost as soon as they arrive, such as a deer crashing into their living room and vomiting up blood and some spooky motherfucker crawling out of the woods. As Sailor aims to escape her past, she is quickly reminded of it when she attempts to befriend another girl. As it turns out, something quite strange happened to Sailor, something involving a bully, the woods, and an ancient power intent on protecting her and this particular oddity has followed her home. I could tell you more, but I would hate to ruin the surprise.
To make a long story short, this comic is awesome. Granted, I might be biased as I am a slave to anything with the Snyder stamp on it, but I’m pretty sure that it’s still really awesome. First off, the concept of having witches as animalistic creatures is a great idea. He does to witches what 30 Days of Night did for vampires; takes away all the sex and glitter and leaves behind a wild monster in the woods. It makes witches scary again, who, by the way, haven’t been scary since that Nancy chick from The Craft. Though it does make me wonder if there will be any backlash from the Wiccan/Pagan community, but since I’m definitely not in the position to speak on behalf of creative freedom versus religion, I’m just going to glide right over that issue.
Also, the characters are fantastically fleshed out, even for a first issue. We are immediately treated to a real family who does quirky family things together. Despite the horror elements, Snyder doesn’t ignore the need to create actual people with actual obstacles, giving the mom a wheelchair (with a hint of a gruesome back story) and the dad a job as a comic book author. Everyone has a very natural existence and their interactions with each other plays on that kind of self-awareness, which makes the scary parts even more terrifying. You can root all you want for them to come out unscathed, but you know bad things are on their way.
The art by Jock is just the cherry on top of an already delicious sundae. He adds a great tint of macabre to the pages with his streaked shadows and angular faces, yet still manages to maintain the finer points of comic layout that I’m such a stickler for. I’m especially digging the designs of the witches themselves as Jock digs deep into the lore of mountain folk and wild children to create a very original look.
With Wytches already flying of shelves faster than a bat out of a witch’s crotch, this comic is set to set a new standard in horror.