Do you remember that brief time in the nineties when Melissa Joan Hart was the Queen of teen? With her fashion forward outfits and sharp take on teen/tween issues, she became an unofficial icon of young girls in ugly overalls everywhere, taking her unique brand of YOU-nique across the after-school TV plateau spanning from Clarissa Explains it All to Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Unfortunately, I’m not here to praise the wonders that is Her Royal Majesty Queen Hart, but instead to explore the in-and-outs of that magic, boy-obsessed wonder girl that is Sabrina. While Hart may have revived her for the nineties kids market, Sabrina has a long history in TV, print media, and, most importantly, comic books.
Sabrina was the brainchild of writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, first debuting in an October 1962 Archie off-shoot comic called Archie’s Madhouse #22. The Madhouse series primarily focused on nonsensical one-shots of the Riverdale gang, yet by issue #19 it had all but dropped them in favor of monster/space stories and one-off characters doomed to never come back again. Unless of course, that one-off character became popular. Sabrina, much like every other character, was intended to live and die in the pages of Madhouse, but something about her clumsy, witchy ways and endless wardrobe of clothes really spoke to the audience. As readers demanded more of her, she became a regular addition to the Madhouse crew before making her transition into one comiof Archie Comics’ biggest characters, allowing her to flesh out her background.
Sabrina’s premise is that she is a witch born to a wizard father and a mortal mother, making her half-witch, and she lives with her witchy aunts Hilda and Zelda Spellman (who, contrary to belief, were actually quite ugly) in the town of Greendale. The women also lived with a cat named Salem who was once a human but was transformed into a cat as punishment for world domination. While attempting to be a normal teenager, Sabrina also has to train in magical duties, which early on, were primarily to serve as a jinx to the town of Greendale. Unluckily, she seems to lack the skills required to be a real jinx and more often than not, ends up either zapping herself or *gasp* helping others! But, with undying support from her aunts and a determination to become a real witch, she tries and tries again, which would be way easier if it wasn’t for all the cute boys and dances to distract her!
Clearly, Sabrina was a relatively uncomplicated character, which worked in her favor as her popularity grew. After her run on Madhouse and a brief stint on Archie’s TV Laugh-Out, Sabrina got her own series in 1971 that ran for 77 issues and ended in 1983. A second comic series came out in 1995 following the success of the live action show, and incorporated a lot of elements from the TV series. That series ran for two years, topping off at 32 issues. A third comic series was later launched based on 2000’s Sabrina the Animated Series; this rebooted the series, making our our young witch an even younger 12 year old! By the 38th issue of said work, she was returned to her usual high school setting and in #57, ended up undergoing a manga makeover which lasted until the series end at issue #104.
Sabrina’s most recent (though currently on hiatus) incarnation is entitled the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a dark reimagining of Sabrina’s powers and the witches as a whole. A TV show based on this comic is currently in the works and is rumored to be released later this year via Netflix. Having read the comic myself, I can assure you that if the show is true to the source material, shit’s gonna get real dark, real fast.
So, after several decades of shows, cartoons, comics, and more merch than you can shake a wand at, are the Sabrina comics worth the read? Well, having read a couple of the series myself, I can say: yeah, kind of. In attempt to grab hold of the nostalgia market, Archie Comics had recently reprinted a collection of original Sabrina comics (which, being a fan of old horror, I HAD to pick up) and I can say, it’s okay. It’s definitely not scary, which of course I expected, and the jokes are cheesy as all hell, but there’s a certain charm to it that’s hard to miss. Sabrina is a unique character and embraces her love for mischief and all things creepy and crawly, something that wasn’t common in the female archetype of Archie Comics at the time. She frequently messes up and is a true wild child, making her perfect for those of us that are less than perfect ourselves, unlike those Bettys and Veronicas out there. The original comic was fun and I couldn’t help but root for Sabrina to succeed.
As stated, I’ve also picked up the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and I highly, HIGHLY, recommend it not only for Sabrina fans, but anyone who’s into occult horror. This comic is amazing! I don’t want to give anything away but let’s just say that Sabrina’s powers come from somewhere a lot darker than we thought. It’s a huge bummer that the series ended up on a hiatus at issue eight despite the positive reception, and this reviewer hopes that the Netflix show will help relaunch the series.
All in all, Sabrina may not have ever been as big as Archie or Jughead, but she has definitely left a much more permanent and irreplaceable impression than anyone else from the Archie Comics line. Her can-do attitude, solidified with Queen Hart’s special brand of girl power, has made her a female icon and carried her well past any expectations her original creators had. Hopefully this is still the beginning for the little witch that could. Here’s to another 50 years of the old gal, may she forever reign!