SEASON OF THE WITCH #1-2
Written by Jai Nitz and Drawn by Kevin Sharpe
Published by Image Comics

Poor Jessica Suddreth. The fourteen-year old high school freshman has everything a girl her age could have working against her. She scrawny, makes poor grades, has inattentive parents, and is the target of the meanest kids in her class. The only thing that gives her a moment’s peace is flying her kite from the roof of her apartment building. But her life takes a sudden and dramatic turn when she is magically transported to a world of magic and placed in a position to follow other legendary girl warriors like Dorothy, Alice, and Wendy. Now, she will be trained as a “Spell Sword,” and sent off to overthrow the terrible tyrant King Elian. If, that is, she can master her craft, and her wildly varying teenage girl emotions.

SEASON is a surprisingly effective and entertaining entry into the genre, and Jessica makes for a very appealing heroine. Nitz does an excellent job of setting up how miserable her existence is in the real world, which allows you to accept Jessica’s decision to stick around in a magical world where she has some power and control over existence with no qualms. Anyone who knows kids realizes that the one thing they crave most is autonomy over their lives. Plus, while the magical world allows Jessica to live as her ideal self (which is taller, stronger, and bustier), Sharpe’s art never feels like it’s exploiting that fact. There are no horrific fan-service shots to titillate the reader, making the book friendly to the audience considered to be Jessica’s peers: young girls.

Nitz also pushes his story along with some alacrity; there’s no decompression at work, just straight storytelling pushing things forward. Along with the fine story work, extra credit goes to Sharpe for some really terrific artwork; his style works just as well in depicting the real world as it does when Jessica crosses over. His stuff is clean, detailed, and effective in interpreting Nitz’ script. SEASON OF THE WITCH is good fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.

/Mason