Witchman Book 1
Created by Rachel Young
There are comics out there that you may never see even if you are looking. Often behind those comics are artists and writers doing something that they love. These small independent books are more than just comics they are someone’s dreams becoming reality. Rachel Young is the creator of Witchman and she strikes me as one of those artists, a true dreamer.
Witchman is typically the kind of comic that I dismiss upon pure precedent. At first glance it is filled with all the stuff that I hate. There is the dark magical forest, and of course the elves, and a baby that needs to be protected, and so on. Of course the “first glance” approach is a terrible way to judge a book for review. I like to be a good comic book reviewer, so I read the book. Guess what I discovered? Witchman is not your run of the mill Tolkien rip-off. It is a funny tongue and cheek spin on the standard superhero comic with a little Dungeons and Dragons mixed in. For instance the main character has a traditional comic book secret identity, but instead of being a mutant his powers are magical. He of course has super villains to deal with, but they mythical monsters instead of mad scientists. In a recent interview with Hero Spy Rachel Young described the leading man this way “The title character is something of an unlikely hero, who didn’t exactly sign up for the job, but finds himself getting tangled up in a mission to destroy seven goblin creatures representing ancient evils. Meanwhile, he’s making friends with ghosts, demons and fairies. So it’s cool because it’s a genre crossover story that has a little something for everybody.”
Young’s artwork has a very animated quality. I noticed that her artwork progressively improves throughout the book, which means it goes from really good to really really good. She seemed to have a much better sense of the characters as she went. There is no doubt in my mind that book two will take Young’s style to the next level.
All and all I enjoyed Witchman. I laughed, I cried, the artwork was great, and I was delightfully entertained. I completely recommend this book. Witchman is good wholesome fun.
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