Thursday 9 August 2012

Witches: The Gathering (2004)

Now this just screams Doctor Strange. Creepy, old and tacky ... in a Liberace sort of way.

Following on from Gotham City Sirens, here is another book featuring a trio of female lead characters. This collected mini-series from Marvel was written by Brian Patrick Walsh - about whom I know nothing. The art was by Mike Deodata Jr. and Will Conrad. Mike Deodata Jr. is a Brazilian artist the bulk of whose work has appeared on Marvel. Will Conrad is also a Brazilian artist - who like Mike works under an anglicised pseudonym.

Andy Kale is tricked in opening a lost ancient book and so releasing a creature called Hellphyr who sets about attacking all mystics and magical practitioners - draining them of their life force. An acutely sensitive Doctor Strange assembles three young witches (Topaz, Jennifer Kale and Satana) who are charged with working together to defeat the creature and recovering the tome of Zherad-Na - that can only be opened and closed by a member of the Kale family. While Doctor Strange is in a weakened state he must also deal with an opportunistic attack from Lilith.

I didn't really expect to enjoy this one from the BFF babelicious cover but thought I would give it a go as I found it cheap in a second-hand book shop and as it also featured Doctor Strange - who is one of my favourite Marvel characters. Well the story didn't really disappoint in the low expectations stakes. It was entertaining enough without being spectacular or particularly original - girls get thrown together, girls train and fall out, girls have acrimonious split before coming together and saving the day. It was worth the price I paid for the art alone which I really liked - Doctor Strange's cape was particularly artily drawn having a seeming life of its own in the panels in which he featured. So worth a look if you can borrow it from a library or get it cheap like I did.

First published on RevolutionSF on Monday May 02, 2011

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