'Witchy', despite its silly and corny title, is one of the more mature modern witch graphic novels out there. It certainly is one the most obscure - I hadn't heard of it until I saw it on my Amazon recommendations after I put 'The Okay Witch' in the basket.
It turned out to be a rare, misty, smokey, diamond in the rough.
Thank you and bless you, Ariel Slamet Ries and Lion Forge comics. You need more attention.
'Witchy' contains allusions to Hayao Miyazaki films (notably 'Princess Mononoke', 'Spirited Away', and 'Kiki's Delivery Service'), 'Harry Potter', 'Steven Universe', 'Avatar: The Last Airbender', and any other cartoon, anime, and fantasy comic that I'm sure I've missed. Its characters' demeanours, arcs, interactions and dynamics remind me, bizarrely, of 'Hey Arnold!'. 'Witchy' is a mixture of many familiar ingredients, but it never comes across as derivative: it can stand on its own feet, and ride on its own magical wind. It stands out entirely on its own.
Like its protagonist.
Nyneve is a young below-average witch who is more scholarly than practical in her magical abilities. She lives in a rich, bold, magic-filled world, in the kingdom of Hyalin, where everyone is Asian and women and female relationships rule in a figurative sense - oh, and where everyone's power is dependent on their hair length. Short hair isn't considered special, but hair that is deemed too long is officially pronounced dangerous by the kingdom's superiors and the Witch Guard. A witch with very long hair is perceived as a threat, and is executed in a witch burning. Cutting hair is equal heresy, punishable by death.
The Witch Guard is appraised in the highest regard and respect in Hyalin, and joining its ranks, becoming a soldier and directing magic using a wand or "scope", is the greatest honour of any witch.
Nyneve is strongly opposed to this regime. She desperately doesn't want to be enlisted. Not least because the Witch Guard killed her father years ago because he had long hair. The peace in Hyalin is a lie and a smokescreen, made to hide the real threat - the corrupt ones in charge of it.
Nyneve is not your average fantasy heroine. She is not some wide-eyed, naive schoolgirl, an optimist who makes friends easily. She is cynical, sullen, moody, self-absorbed, somewhat self-pitying, well educated and informed at the start of her story, and she is content to be alone. She is not entirely "misunderstood", and her dark secret - what makes her "special" and "different" - could seriously get her killed in her society. Whenever she is told she is special, meant in a positive light, she knows it's false, and from a place of ill intent; in reality, she is disposable to her people.
Nyneve can come across as uncaring and selfish, which some readers might have a problem with, who don't like female protagonists to be flawed, but she isn't emotionless. She is dealing with the tragedy of her past - the loss of her father in a violent, sickening and meaningless practice, when she was a child - in her own way. For all she's a closed-off outcast, she warms up to and makes more than one friend in the first chapter of the comic. Plus, her passion - the only thing that makes her smile (not sneer or smirk) - is books! Who can hate her?
So what if Nyneve is not your average "chosen one", even a reluctant one? It's refreshing. And so are the other characters, one of whom is trans (I won't out them to anyone who hasn't read 'Witchy'). We have Nyneve's home-and-potion-maker mother, Veda, whom she is close to; Batu the muscular boy with a soft heart of gold; Prill the rich and talented "mean girl" who turns out to have much more depth than how she first appears, and who is the best kind of tsundere (in fact she may be my favourite character); Banana the raven (that's the name he gives); and many others I won't reveal due to spoilers. Each are brave in individual ways.
In 'Witchy', nothing is in black and white, and no one can easily be divided into good/bad, and hero/villain. Characters are not as they seem on introduction. Featured are moral greyness and opaque, rosy rainbow goodness.
There is so much to recommend 'Witchy': Asian cultural references, ravens, wands, martial arts, Studio Ghibli influences, seamlessly woven and understated LBGTQ themes, corrupt government and hierarchy themes, a genderless tree witch. I could go on and on. Its only downsides in my opinion are the slow burn beginning, and the cliffhanger ending - towards the promise of a "real" beginning of the hero's journey. This is saved by the last few pages which highlight characters who have been absent for too long.
'Witchy' is a criminally underrated YA-and-older witch comic. It is dark, yet warm and enchanting at the same time. There is something slightly unsettling and complicated underlying its world and atmosphere, like a hidden nightshade poison deep within a heart's core - and that makes it all the more believable and like our own world. Give it a chance and it will reward you by means you perhaps won't realise at first.
Shuddering and breathtaking, with a melodious note of hope in the distance. 'Witchy' is worth being on every witch fan's bookshelf.
Final Score: 4/5
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