When WitchBlood first came out in March of 2021, I was super stoked. The art was epic and the storyline seemed right up my alley. I think I only read the first and second issues back then, and I mostly remember being underwhelmed. But now that it’s done, I wanted to give it a fair shot, so here is my review of the full 10 issue run of WitchBlood by writer Matthew Ermen and artist Lisa Sterle. A fantasy/horror comic from Vault Comics, WitchBlood is chock full of witches, vampires and sarcasm.
The general plot is a pack of vampires, drawn as southern bikers, hunting down the most powerful source of magic out there; witch’s blood. To find it, they track Yonna and the rest of her scattered coven. It’s not high art here, but it is effective. It’s loud, brash and funny. There’s a pretty good bit of gore, thanks to the vampires, but it’s not too much considering.
The issues are set up as chapters, so you start out with Chapter 1; You’ll Have to Go Sideways. Here you meet our titular character, Yonna and her familiar Bhu. In the first chapter you also meet Paxton, a vampire with delusions of grandeur and Atlacoya, a Hex Hunter, who turns out to be important later on. I think the reason I was unimpressed right away might have been the exaggerated southernness going on, or it could be that I was worried about all flash and no substance, but this time around, I’ve found I was wrong with my earlier assessment.
The following chapters are:
2 – Burning for You
3 – The Darkness in the Sheds of Town
4 -This Magic Moment
5 – The Waters of Sargasso
6 – Showdown
7 – Stairway to Heaven
8 – Hunger Child Blues
9 – Paint it Black and
10 – Faster Always.
Throughout 10 chapters we meet The Mighty General Amaya who is hiding out and pretending to be a crystal reader, and Liana, a green witch who hides her power behind a small town life. It seems to be a theme in this story. Everyone is hiding part of who they are behind the front they show the world. Most especially, Yonna. Along the way a whole bunch of crazy fun characters show up. There’s a eye ball stealing witch, a woman in red whose loyalty is divided and oh by the way, we can’t forget about the female vampire who dresses as a dominatrix and rides a giant flipping bat!
Overall, this comic delivers in a way I’d not have seen if I didn’t give it a second chance. The art is… chef’s kiss. Lisa Sterle is beyond talented. I love the character designs and I love the way each issue has the equivalent of a tarot card in the beginning. The one nitpicky thing I gotta say, is the end is bittersweet which is nice, but a bit anticlimactic. This is clearly not the end but the end for now, and I almsot wish I had known that gong in. Either way, I’m real glad I gave this series a second look. And if you like irreverent horror and snarky fantasy, you might enjoy WitchBlood too!
