Witchy by Ariel Ries, is a still ongoing webcomic that started way back in 2014.
Today I was lucky to be able to read the graphic novel that is being released by Lion Forge Press.
What I received was 273 pages of gorgeous art, gender conversations, resistance fighting against a corrupt government, and a girl who is stronger than she thinks.
Witchy is about Nyneve, a witch who lost her father to Burners and ever since has been hiding her abilities, scared for her life. In a world where the longer your hair is, the more power you have, she keeps a glamour constantly going to keep the length of her hair hidden. A social outcast in school, Nyneve has always done what she could to be completely unremarkable and when it all falls down around her, she doesn’t know where to go. On the run she stumbles upon a faction of resistance fighters and learns that maybe everything she knew wasn’t the whole truth.
Witchy is a ridiculously timely story to read. It’s themes of corrupt governing bodies, gender, and youth, Witchy is topical to the current climate in ways a lot of other comics are not. I liked the story immediately and found it mirroring our political and social climate in interesting ways, and even beyond that discernment, the story feels eerily familiar. More than once (more than twice, or four of six times) I noticed how it reminds me of Harry Potter. I know that name has some connotations right now, but to me, this writer clearly was inspired at least by the stories.
If I was recommending this to someone, I’d call it a better written, more diverse, sorta Asian-inspired Harry Potter. That of course would be the basest version of the story, but it would hold up. There are many ways I find this story better than Potter, but that isn’t the actual selling point. The actual selling point is that you feel this story. You feel Nyneve’s fear and the angst and the indecision. You feel the fist of a Witch Guard that is slowly taking complete control of Hyalin. You feel it. That is how Ariel Ries hooks you.
I hadn’t heard of the webcomic before this review opportunity landed on my plate, but now, now I won’t be able to wit for the next volume to come out, I’ll be heading right to the website to catch up where the book leaves off.
*Witchy was nominated for the 2015 Ignatz for Outstanding Online Comic, the 2016 DINKy for Outstanding Web Comic, and the Danish “Pingprisen” for Best Online Series in 2017 and 2018.
