Wytches, Vol. 1

i love Snyder's work! His AMERICAN Vampire is one of the best comics I've ever read--and I've read a lot of comics. Also, his batman, drawn by the ultra talented Greg Capullo, is brilliant too. So, I figured I'd give this new project a try, and, newsflash, it's awesome! It's original, scary tale, delivered with brilliant story telling and Jock's great, really unique art. Image is at the forefront of horror comics, and Snyder is writing some of the best on the market! This is the 1st volume, the epic begins here, and the reader can just pick up this volume and it's off to the races, it's a self contained universe with all new charachters. The story is smart, dark, and fun,neither twist and turns and jaw dropping moments that keep you turning the page. Jock's art is beautiful, although a bit non-standard (it's a bit different than Kirby's clean lines of yore), and may be a new style to some readers. but I love it. It fits the mood of the book well, and conveys both a sense of movement and dread flawlessly. Ultimately, this is a top notch first volume of a story I hope to see stick around for along time to come! A great first print of the first volume, perfect for readers of all ages, especially those a bit more mature (maybe, say, 15-1,015). The story may be a bit much for a 9 year old. If you loved Joe Horne's Locke and Key, Williamson's Ghosted, or American Vampires, like Horror, or like comics, but what toothy something different than Superheroes throwing down for their city- here is a great book you can't pass up! Plus, Sail is one tough young lady, and a great protagonist, in all to often male dominated art form! Plus, her beautiful relationship with her comic artist dad feels genuine and it's remarkable. The supernatural stuff is all fresh and creative, presenting a take on the dark magic phenomenon as unique and new as something out of Lovecraft, King, or Crowley (his novels really aren't half bad; just steer clear of his grimoires dear reader). Enjoy! A horror book like no other...a total must read!

You want to talk excellent comics? No, scratch that. You want to talk excellent books? WYTCHES is it. My daughter and I both read comics, but the stuff we read is vastly different. I read stuff like GREEN LANTERN and JUSTICE LEAGUE while my daughter’s favorites are REGULAR SHOW and ADVENTURE TIME. But last year when, on a whim, I bought the first issue of Scott Snyder’s WYTCHES, I knew as soon as I read that I had to pass it along. My daughter read it and loved it and every month would ask if the new WYTCHES had come out yet. And she always stole it from me and read it before I got to it. WYTCHES is the story of the Rooks family, Charlie, Lucy, and their daughter Sailor. They’ve just moved to a new town to escape some rather unpleasant talk about their daughter. Sailor was being bullied by a girl named Annie who actually drew a gun on Sailor one day. It was also the last thing Annie ever did because she was snatched and dragged into a hole in a nearby tree, her body bent and broken, before disappearing. Sailor tried to tell people what she saw, but after being pistol whipped by the bully, her explanation of the events was taken as fantasy. However, talk around town was that Sailor had killed the girl and disposed of her body. So the Rookses left town. Now, in their new town, the gossip has followed them. Unfortunately, that’s not the only thing. When Sailor comes up missing next, Charlie goes on a mad search, desperately trying to track down his daughter, with little to no help from anyone else. Even his wife Lucy asks him one afternoon, “Who’s Sailor?” WYTCHES is an incredible story of one father’s love and devotion to his daughter, which is undoubtedly why the story connected so well with my daughter and I. We’re thick as thieves, she and I, and this book was the perfect thing for us to read together. Snyder puts so much of himself as a parent into this book, it helps the book to straddle a very strange line between horror and heartbreak, especially the events of the last issue (this collected edition contains issues #1-6), which I won’t spoil here, but I will say had my heart in my throat both times (I read first the individual issues, and now the collected edition). And if I ever brave the book again, I expect it’ll have the same effect then, that’s how powerful Snyder’s writing is. And the entire tone of the story is only complimented by the art, provided by Jock (alias of the Scottish-born Mark Simpson) who combines a series of ink drawings and watercolor and acrylic backgrounds to give WYTCHES and surreal and dreamlike quality, with lots of shadows and dark colors. Snyder tells a great story, but it wouldn’t be half as effective without the mood Jock establishes with his colors. This is what a horror comic should look like. But the art aside, what I love most about this book is the heart Snyder puts into it. The relationship between Charlie and Sailor is beautifully written and is the core of what makes this book so effective. Despite the horror aspects and the trials they go through as a family, this book can stand as a testament to the love Snyder has for his own kids. And that’s the most any parent who’s also a writer can hope for. I can’t wait for volume 2.

Nice artwork and decent story. Loved how visceral the Wytches are. Wish there was more.

The first volume of this graphic novel will turn the majority of the lore that you know about witches on its head. Or make that wytches – as they are referred to here. Sailor Rooks has been cursed, or rather “pledged” to the wytches of Litchfield, New Hampshire. Once you are pledged they will mark you, and they will come for you, and they will take you. We follow the story of Sailor and her family as they discover what this means and fight to survive. We quickly learn that the Rooks family has experienced a number of unfortunate traumas before even moving to Litchfield. They are deeply sympathetic characters. This is especially the case for our two major protagonists, 13 year old Sailor and her guilt ridden father, Charlie. One of the most intense fears is the terror that a parent feels when their child is endangered, and that is heavily prevalent in this story. As I read Wytches, it felt reminiscent of the transformation and reinvention that Steve Niles’ 30 Days of Night series provided for vampires and their lore. He made them feral and frightening again. These wytches are not seductive temptresses but vicious animals. What we learn of the wytches creates a powerful and exciting new mythos, ranging from how pledging works to where the wytches reside. There are still cauldrons used to cook children and create magic but that is where the fairy tale nature of witches ends. Their special blend of magic creates a web of intrigue, as it is based on offering great rewards to the humans in league with them. Thus, we have betrayals and some surprising twists. The art perfectly completes the powerful story. The feral nature of the wytches is captured magnificently as is the pain and emotion of our lead characters. The coloring is also noteworthy and pretty unique, with every panel speckled with colors over the actual drawing. It’s an atmospheric technique that adds additional quality to the story. The book wraps up with a gripping conclusion and I can’t wait for the next volume. If you’re not really into graphic novels, this could be the book that could change your mind and get you hooked.

This book is simply fantastic. The mythology is well thought out and the art is great. Truly a frightening tale. The 3 page intro hooks you in an inescapable way. I keep buying new copies because I've lent it out so many times.

The hype for this book may have set it up to disappoint. After all, MTV News called it, "The most terrifying comic you've ever read" and USA Today said, "Dark and brutal, Wytches are like nothing horror fans have ever seen." I'm a Scott Snyder fan. I enjoy his work on Batman, love American Vampire, and hold his short story collection, Voodoo Heart, in the highest regard (seriously - read it). But, to be frank, the blurbs on the Wytches back cover exercised such hyperbole that it created impossible expectations. Is this a good book? Yeah, it's okay. To be honest, it's not great, nor is it the scariest thing I've ever read. Personally, I didn't even find it all that original. For me, the best part were Snyder's notes at the end explaining the idea's origination. The idea is that Wytches are a primal force of nature, inexplicably advanced horrors that wear no clothes and incessantly click their teeth. They live underground, eat people, and come out through trees. People can sacrifice other people to gain power from these monsters, though it's never remotely explained how or by what means this "advanced" technology unfolds. In the end, this story is about a troubled teenager hunted by these creatures and her troubled father's attempts to save her. I generally love Jock's artwork. Though his angles and layouts are not groundbreaking, they are always pleasing to the eye, dynamic, and they progress the story well from panel to panel, page to page. Matt Hollingsworth's colors were a controversial aspect of the book for me. On the one hand, I've never seen coloring like his. At the core of each panel, you have traditional coloring. However, each panel or complete page is overlaid with splotches of colors. I can only describe it as sort of a "trippy" lens flare. I love the concept, the daring, and the originality of this method, but I can't say I love its practical application. It proved really distracting from the overall tone and story. I appreciate Image Comics because the publisher is willing to try out titles like Wytches, and I hope they continue to do so. And, had I not read the overzealous blurbs before reading the book, I could have formulated a different opinion. As it stands, though, Wytches is an entertaining read that, for me, did not live up to its hype.

I will include SPOILER material. If this is an issue, please skip the review. The first thing I want to add is a note on Wytches 0. This was available to hype the release of Wytches, and it really did make an impact. Wytches 0 is in the back of the book, relegated to the area behind all the newsletter articles and the process pieces, and I almost missed it on the first go. That is sad, too, because I like some of the panels and the short piece really sold me on the book, which, considering the amount of hype and how much I hate hype, says a lot. Wytches 0 is basically about a family visit gone wrong, wherein a brother pledges something unthinkable in order to gain a boon. The way it is told and illustrated, with some items seen through fingers stretched over a face, is awesome and I encourage you to check it out, possibly first, because I like the way it fits as a pre-pre-storyline. Wytches revolves around the Rooks family moving to Litchfield, New Hampshire, and what is waiting for them in the woods just beyond the town. The story revolves around the family's past and the reason they move there, as well as the present and their wants for the future. It is a good horror story, too, and it has an interesting art style behind it that is something overwhelming in the 'getting to know you' portions, but that is awesome when you get into the horror aspects. The artwork (specifically how the colors are added in) took me some time to really appreciate, too, but I find that rereading the story has really cremated this as a way to remove a person from comfort and to make even the familiar seem less so. Now, it did get a tad too much hype in my opinion due to Scott Snyder's association with the project, and that hurt it in a way because a lot of people had monstrous expectations. I recall reading about how people thought it would be this beyond creative, beyond bold, and beyond scary, and that did not leave any room for the reality, which was a good horror story dealing with some rather creepy sorts. The graphic novel here includes all of the articles from the back of each comic, plus the 'process' pieces that detail every one of the art to color items. It has a page of unused promotional art and a page of original art that shows how this was developed, plus the original inks. This is average item filler in the back, and 0 - mentioned at the beginning - adds a lot to that.

Scott Synder’s scripting is very strong but the plot ultimately goes exactly where one would expect it to go. The earthy and ritual darkness is felt, particularly in the art, although the modern comic coloring actually does feel too slick for the atmosphere of the book. The uses of splotching does add some needed texture and the art is very enjoyable. Wytches has an interesting, if not entirely original, conceit and maintains it in this first arc. The titular Wytches are a force of nature: naked, bestial and constantly click their teeth. They live underground, eat people, and come out through trees. People can sacrifice other people to gain power from these monsters, although the mechanism of the powers gained is not clear in this art. I suspect that this still lacks surprise beyond its conceit, and even its twists are the kinds of twist that I saw telegraphed from the moment I figured out the exact conceit. This does not make it not enjoyable, but it does mean that the art is more innovative than the story, which is upsetting given how strong Synder can be.

Some ideas are cool, but it feel like a giant cliche - especially in the underground scenes, the development and some dialogues The finale shine in its own light after a good idea - but the humanity in it ruined it, bringing it to another cliche, this time of a battle. Should have ended in the mother decided way - that would have been innovative and took care of the other flaws. Such a wasted opportunity...

Me lo compré tras leer toda la andadura de Snyder y Capullo en Batman porque tenía ganas de más del guionista y no salí decepcionado. Desde el primer momento, todo tiene un ambiente muy misterioso y sabes que no va a acabar bien, pero a medida que avanzan los números (los 6) todo va poniéndose más intenso. Lo tiene todo para que adapten la historia a una película, ojalá sea así algún día. Al final te deja con ganas de más, pero no insatisfecho. Ojalá Snyder continúe con Wytches, porque puede salir algo grandísimo de aquí.

Si bien compré este libro por verlo recomendado en una lista y por la opinión favorable de Stephen King,en mi opinión es una excelente historia de terror tanto en argumento como en dibujo. Los comics no suelen tener el evocador poder de los cuentos de terror en la literatura, no es lo mismo ver dibujado un miedo que imaginárselo, pero este título deja un grato sabor a quienes gustamos del genero y buscamos novedades a los clásicos ya conocidos

Synopsis: A horror story, but looking deeper this story is actually centered around a father-daughter relationship that is pushed to the limit by the 'wytches' who haunt their family. Although the hype around this book sells it as a very scary graphic novel, as most people who have read it agree, it's not that scary. This, however, does not stop it from being brilliant! The artwork is amazing, although I personally thought it could do with a few less layers. The story crosses between the past and the 'present' very smoothly and really aids the story. I loved that both the daughter and father characters were fully explored and given real personalities, the dad being devoted but with a past full of mistakes, made him very real with a good duality. The daughter character 'Sail' I found quite irritating, but then I guess this will lead her to have more character development (hopefully) in later issues. Also the name 'Sail' really bugged me for some reason, but that's just a personal dislike. The addition of the authors letters to the reader at the end really made this graphic novel a 5/5 for me!

Die Zustände, die der Klappentext verspricht, sind zu Beginn der Lektüre bereits eingetreten. Durch Rückblenden erfährt der Leser und Betrachter dieses Werks, wie es zur aktuellen Situation gekommen ist und was genau die Familie in ihre Krise gestürzt hat. Sie hat nicht nur mit den Gerüchten um die Tochter Sailor zu kämpfen, sondern auch mit Unfallfolgen, die die Mutter an den Rollstuhl gefesselt haben. Papa Rock sah daher keinen anderen Ausweg, als irgendwo anders einen Neuanfang zu wagen. Ziemlich schnell ist jedoch klar, dass die Vergangenheit nicht ruht und zudem etwas Anderes, Unheimliches hinter Sailor her ist. Die Geschichte selbst wird sehr menschlich und intensiv erzählt. Ziemlich schnell kann man sich mit den Charakteren verbunden fühlen und deren Handlungsweisen nachvollziehen. Daher treffen so einige Dinge, die im Lauf der Story passieren, den Leser sehr direkt und schockierend. Die Rückblenden sind nicht störend, sehr ehrlich und runden das Gesamtbild ab, so dass ich hier nichts auszusetzen hatte. Neben dem Horror, den die Wytches-Wesen verbreiten liegt das wahre Schlimme dieser Geschichte in den Wünschen und narzistischen Verhaltensweisen, in Sehnsüchten und den Taten, die diese befriedigen sollen. Es ist wirklich teilweise sehr hart, was manche Charaktere tun und was sie bereit sind zu opfern. Zum Ende hin sind mir daher auch etwas feuchte Augen gekommen, auch wenn die Entwicklung nicht unvorhersehbar war. Der Zeichenstil lag mir, war recht realistisch und doch rebellisch. Etwas störend empfand ich das teilweise “verkleckste” Bild, das bestimmt ein graphisches Stilmittel darstellt, jedoch kenne ich mich hierfür zu wenig in diesem Bereich aus, als dass ich dies bewerten könnte. Mich persönlich hat dies eben teilweise gestört, was der Geschichte aber keinen Abbruch tat. Im Fazit kann ich diese Graphic Novel, die von mir auf Englisch gelesen wurde, die nächsten Monat jedoch auch auf Deutsch erscheinen wird, jedem Horrorfan der alten Schule empfehlen, der Wert auf Geschichte mit Hintergrund, aber auch auf gepflegten Grusel steht und der von Charakteren schockiert werden möchte. Da dieser Band mit “Volume 1” betitelt wurde, hoffe ich sehr auf weitere Bände, die ich mir dann definitiv auch genehmigen werde. Für mich ein wirklicher Lesegenuss, ich bin begeistert!