'The Okay Witch' is adorable and fun. It is an all-ages standalone (...for now) comic that pays homage to 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', 'Bewitched', and anything of the nostalgic witchy zeitgeist.
It is a love letter to witch fans, like myself. Except that it is far from traditional, conservative, safe, and white and blonde and male gazey. 'The Okay Witch' attempts to be the very opposite: it deconstructs what we know about witches and witchcraft in mainstream culture; how, like feminism, they have been tainted and rebuilt on lies told by the patriarchy from across the centuries. To keep things exactly as they are, for as long as is humanly possible. Nothing genuinely challenging, insightful or meaningful.
Because of white men's fear of female power, sharing and equality. Of no longer being dominant in society.
'The Okay Witch' is cartoony and pure of heart, but its themes of family, and the dangers of a lack of progress in a backwards (and backwoods) community in the 21st century concerning race and gender, are very serious, severe and important. The family connections are the caring, beating heart of the comic.
Thirteen-year-old Moth Hush is a POC awkward social outcast. She starts off friendless, which is logically inconceivable since she's lovable, charming, and one hundred percent relatable. She is a fan of witches and witch media, even before she finds out she is a witch herself! The problem clearly lies in her school and town, Founder's Bluff, Massachusetts - anyone who is different is hated and bullied. Moth and her mother Calendula are pretty much the only nonwhite people in town. Its only claim to fame is its witch hunts in the 17th century, led by an evil, misogynistic and xenophobic man whose male decedents rule Founder's Bluff to this day.
Founder's Bluff. Its very name reveals too much.
Moth deserves to live in a better world...
I grew to love her relationship with her secretive, tragic mother. 'The Okay Witch' has such well developed, defined, and three-dimensional female characters. The matriarchy versus the patriarchy motif in the graphic novel is unassuming, yet direct and unmistakable.
I just adore Moth and the other characters, and the story and themes!
There's a talking fat black cat (every witch story needs one), a secret diary/portal, witch hunt history, a magic goddess's world that's a sanctuary for witches, LBGTQ content on the side that's nonetheless welcome and touching, and a male character, Charlie; Moth's new friend who's ordinary but, similar to Moth, is stronger than he thinks, and he won't live up to his family's toxic legacy.
"This is what it means to be a [Spoiler]. These are the great men of history...We made [Founder's Bluff] great. Even when they got in the way."
Hmm...see any current political undertones in this line?
'The Okay Witch' - Absolutely charming, sweet, magical, heartfelt, exciting, suspenseful, relevant, woke, and even heartbreaking. The worldbuilding, the magic system itself and the ways spells are cast, are simplified and uncomplicated - the only real "childlike" element in the book - but I don't mind. It is as bewitching in subtext as it is on the surface level. The ending of this emotional journey is lovely and satisfying. I cannot recommend it enough for everyone, and I mean everyone.
Change is possible, as are unity, and understanding and listening to "the Other". There are people who want change and are desperate for it. The patriarchy can be broken - it's deadliness, fragility, staleness and pointlessness are only too obvious - if we try. And keep trying. For as long as it takes.
Hooray for modern witch comics!
Final Score: 5/5
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