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Graphic Novel Review: The Westwood Witches by El Torres, art by Abel Garcia

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The Westwood Witches by El Torres, art by Abel Garcia

Amigo Comics, 2015

ISBN: 9788416074761

Available: print, comiXology ebook

The Westwood Witches opens with a man running for his life. His pursuers, a coven of witches, punish him for his lack of neighborly respect. After they are finished with him, they use his near-dead body as a means to summon Baphomet.

The perspective then changes to a man sitting at his laptop displeased at what he as just written. Jack Kurtzberg, a successful author of a witch romance bestseller, hates his work. He’s on contract to write a sequel to his first book, but his writer’s block is preventing him from continuing, and the bills are piling up. After the untimely death of his brother, Jack and his wife, Susan, move to Jack’s childhood New England town. He soon discovers there is more to his friendly neighbors than meets the eye. The wives are particularly interested in what he is writing, especially when it comes to the history and mythology of the witches. When Jack discovers the truth about Westwood, after a Witches’ Sabbath gone wrong, he also solves a mystery from his childhood that affects the entire town.

El Torres expertly weaves a story of a struggling writer coming to terms with the death of his brother, the unraveling of the neighborhood, belief, and how the witches connect with the rest of Jack’s story. Garcia’s art lends the appropriate macabre, dark atmosphere. This is a must for readers who like some edge to their witches. Highly recommended.

This volume reprints issues 1-4.

Contains: blood, gore, nudity, sexual content

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

 

Posted on February 9, 2018 by , Reply

Book Review: Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, art by Declan Shalvey

Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, art by Declan Shalvey

Image Comics, 2015

ISBN: 9781632154798

Available:  Paperback, Kindle edition, and comiXology ebook

Injection centers around five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal, and the consequences they must face after inflicting The Injection on the planet. Years earlier, Maria Kilbride founded the Cross Culture-Contamination Unit (CCCU), funded through a partnership between the British government and an up-and-coming company. She hand-selected the members of this new unit: computer geek Brigid Roth; Vivek Headland, a logician and ethicist; folklore expert Robin Morel; and Simeon Winters, a strategist and double agent for the Foreign Office. Fast-forward to the time after The Injection: everyone has established new lives and secured new employment allowing them to track progress on The Injection. The supernatural encroaches more quickly as the days pass, threatening humanity’s time on Earth. The former members of the CCCU must come together to investigate a case of a possessed laboratory and a mysterious disappearance.

This first volume is slow to start, but it definitely picks up. As with Ellis’ previous work, he gives very little away until he’s ready to hit you with something. When he does, it’s intense. I wouldn’t recommend picking up the first volume unless you are a die-hard Ellis fan and are willing to continue with his storytelling regarding this story. I’m not going to give anything in the subsequent volumes, but I would recommend giving this a chance.

Volume 1 collects issues #1-5.

Contains blood, gore, and nudity

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on November 21, 2017 by , Reply

Book Review: Buffy: The High School Years: Parental Parasite by Kel McDonald, art by Yishan Li

Buffy: The High School Years: Parental Parasite by Kel McDonald, art by Yishan Li

Dark Horse Comics, 2017

ISBN: 9781506703046

Available: print, Kindle, and comiXology ebook

Into every generation, a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one.

So begins the story of Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, and Xander chasing down a demon who possesses adults, driving them to only take care of it. The demon takes the form of an adorable young child, but it as we all know with demons in the Buffy-verse, it is anything but. At the same time, Buffy and her mother are struggling with their own mother-daughter relationship. Joyce wants to spend more time with Buffy, but the Slayer heeds the never-ending call to protect Sunnydale. However, when Joyce becomes hypnotized by the child demon, Buffy faces a new kind of battle—one to save her mother from the clutches of evil. Can Buffy and Scoobies defeat the demon before it kills Joyce?

This book is set during season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the third installment of the Buffy the High School Years series. The artwork is great and very manga-ish. This is definitely a good supplemental YA title if you’re introducing your kids to the Buffy-verse. The relationship between Buffy and Joyce is depicted as strained, but they clearly love each other. Buffy’s devotion to her Slayer responsibilities is obsessive, which I seem to remember her desire to protect overrode her need for education or familial duties to her mother in the television series. Frankly, it made me want to revisit the series. Admittedly it has been quite some time since I’ve seen it. Pick this one up if you want to explore content set in the early years of the Slayer! You won’t be disappointed. Highly recommended for die-hard Buffy fans and newbies alike.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

 

Posted on November 3, 2017 by , Reply
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