The Witching Hour #1

The Witching Hour series from Vertigo traces back to DC origins and is a place to foster some interesting talent for shorter stories. Kelly Sue DeConnick kicks off the book, who is followed by lots of new talent in the industry. The stellar cover by Jenny Frison will hopefully lead to most making a purchase on the book, and lead others to some new talent in this industry that is so difficult to break into. Nine different stories are crammed into seventy pages at the steep price of $7.99 may turn some people off towards the anthology. Hopefully, Vertigo will be more careful on the price points of books like this. There are not enough proven names to make this issue an instant buy for most casual fans of the publisher. The more hardcore amongst us should definitely be here for new art by master storytellers in the industry like Cliff Chiang and Mark Buckingham. Here’s to another Vertigo anthology.

 

Steve Beach kicks off the comic with a touching story that features a complex part of one mans life in a previous generation. Had he been alive in modern times, the protagonist of this story would have been a happy individual. It is more than refreshing to kick off an anthology with a story with great art and writing by Steve Beach. The pencils would only work in a smaller context such as this first one.

 

Lauren Beukes does a great job setting up a proper world with distinctive ideas and subtle narration within the span eight pages. Gerhard Human properly sets up the distinctive visual ideas set in motion by the writing. While the story does not quite match the sentimentality of the first, it does a great job setting up proper stories and characters. The Witching Hour is off to a great start.

 

Mars To Stay written by Brett Lewis and art by Cliff Chiang, is a breathtaking character study that has no problem reaching towards dark overtones. One of the major problems with a show like Lost is that the characters were not desperate or excessively sleeping with each other. This story dives head first into the disturbing psyche of the red headed protagonist. The best of the series by a landslide this far.

 

Emily Carroll and Annie Mok deliver a story that is stylistically beautiful, but incredibly to follow. Through my seven years reading comic books there was one page that I had no idea how to read sequentially. The writing was completely sacrificed by the insane artwork. Which makes this story possibly one of the best looking in the anthology, but also the weakest narrative thus far.

 

Kelly Sue DeConnick and Ming Doyle deliver a very fun tale that twists expectations into knots after reading them. This story is built around a post credits reveal that most readers will not see coming. The background of the saga was extremely well fleshed out, giving readers nice context to distract them from the endgame. Ming Doyle adds to the fun by staying on her a-game and delivering some great pencils. The artist takes advantage and gives readers the full extent of her potential. Colors also make the smaller moments counts in the script.

Fellow Travelers bites off more than it can chew and starts to take a dip in quality with the writing of Matthew Sturges. The script simply has too much going on for it’s own good. Shawn Mcmanus gives some okay pencils, that seem slightly dull when in comparison to some of the other stories in the anthology. The art or writing is by no means bad in this chapter, it is just the case of two talented creators not taking advantage of their format.

 

Ales Kot breaks the form of his story and breaks some new ground in the writing. Morgan Jeske gives some creepy pencils that are reminiscent of Nick Pitarra with a more biting edge on them. The genre conventions that many would expect from this series are broken down completely giving way to some interesting ideas. While the art and form begins to take over this story, the narrative was still enjoyable and distinctive. This story is still far from the best in the collection.

 

Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham, and Victor Santos give us a Dead Boy Detectives preview for the new ongoing launching over at Vertigo soon. The story captured a nice tone between the morose and cheerful. Yet, the art with layouts and finishes lost it’s humanity and started to feel hollow. It looked something a strange version of pencils that Buckingham could have put together. Hopefully the further adventures of these characters will entice me more than this installment did.

 

Rise from Mariah Huehner and Tula Lotay has such beautiful art and colors that the artist added in herself. Which is why the writing in the story is disappointing. Readers are given a standard tale about a ghost with no interesting ideas or backstory. There is a character seeking vengeance, and a neurotic human being haunting the pages of the story.

This is a really solid anthology series for the publisher, even if the most exciting stuff happened towards the beginning of the book.