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3.65 AVERAGE
3.65 AVERAGE
This is a reprint of my review at http://www.comicpow.com/2015/12/02/wytches-parenting-fears-made-manifest/
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I read Wytches back in September before Baltimore Comic-Con because I wanted to be able to talk to Scott Snyder about how it was a personal meditation on what it means to be a parent. Snyder being as popular as he is, I was unable to get a solo interview with him this time, but I did get to ask a question about Wytches during his panel.
During the panel we learned that fatherhood has been on Scott Snyder’s mind quite a bit recently. His recent Batman arcs have explored that relationship between Bruce and Alfred. He also mentioned that he doesn’t do Bruce and Damien stories because it’s too real for him with a son around Damien’s age. I’ve also been thinking about fatherhood quite a bit. When I Wytches I had a 3 year old. But I knew my wife was pregnant with twins. Part of the reason this article is late is because they were born early and part of it is because I knew they were coming so I was trying to jam in every activity I knew would have to leave behind for a while when they arrived.
In Wytches (at least this first arc) Scott Snyder explores one of the great tensions of fatherhood: when to push and when to shelter. I know I still have many such moments ahead, but in the first three years I’ve already had to deal with this quite a bit. What many parents discover is that to allow your children to grow is to afford them the chance at getting hurt. When your child first learns how to walk, you have to give them the chance to fall. They also need to feel the confidence of the adults around them in order to feel confident enough to strike out and attempt to do new things. At the same time, many parents don’t want hurt to come to their children – hence the tension. Additionally, there are times when the parent needs to push the child because they need to reach a new milestone – in the early years this can include forcing them off the bottle or to go into empty rooms.
Wytches #4 - Ferris Wheel
Wytches #4 – Ferris Wheel
When are we pushing too hard? When are we refusing to see what’s before our eyes? Well, Scott Snyder certainly provides a pretty concrete example when Sailor’s father asks her to climb a Ferris Wheel, putting her life in danger to force her to deal with her fears. Of course, he’s got a few of his own issues – he’s up there drunk, after all.
But in the back half of this first arc we find out that it’s also about a darker part of parenting – living through our children. Of course, this being the dark mind of Scott Snyder (who also brought us American Vampire and some pretty dark stuff on his Black Mirror run on Detective Comics Vol 1), this is where the titular wytches come in. Many of us either purposely or subconsciously like to judge those parents so obviously living through their kids whether they are actors or beauty pageant kids. But, really, it’s a pretty basic parenting instinct that we all fall prey to in one way or another. Some parents try to give their kids what they didn’t have. Others try to make them mini-mes. And we all get something out of parenting, even if that’s not our primary reason for becoming a parent. It’s just that these are usually ephemeral things like love, respect, and pride. But Snyder posits a world where pledging a child nets you your deepest desires. And the truly addicted justify their actions saying they can just have another as though children were interchangeable like LEGOs. To be honest, who wouldn’t at least be tempted (although we can all nurse the thought that we wouldn’t succumb to the temptation) to pledge a child to evade death? It’s easy for me, at a relatively healthy 30ish to say it’s impossible, but what if I were nearer to death? Or what if I were facing an untimely death via cancer?
With Wytches, Snyder is forcing those of us who are parents to look into the mirror and see our darkest selves. To think about how even the best of intentions can go horribly awry when it comes to raising children. You don’t have to be a parent to enjoy it, but it will affect you most deeply if you are.
Before I go, let me just say that Jock continues to be the pro when it comes to bringing the terrifying images in Snyder’s mind to life.
I love discussion and welcome it whereever you happen to read this article – whether on Comic POW!, Goodreads, or whereever else it is syndicated.
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I read Wytches back in September before Baltimore Comic-Con because I wanted to be able to talk to Scott Snyder about how it was a personal meditation on what it means to be a parent. Snyder being as popular as he is, I was unable to get a solo interview with him this time, but I did get to ask a question about Wytches during his panel.
During the panel we learned that fatherhood has been on Scott Snyder’s mind quite a bit recently. His recent Batman arcs have explored that relationship between Bruce and Alfred. He also mentioned that he doesn’t do Bruce and Damien stories because it’s too real for him with a son around Damien’s age. I’ve also been thinking about fatherhood quite a bit. When I Wytches I had a 3 year old. But I knew my wife was pregnant with twins. Part of the reason this article is late is because they were born early and part of it is because I knew they were coming so I was trying to jam in every activity I knew would have to leave behind for a while when they arrived.
In Wytches (at least this first arc) Scott Snyder explores one of the great tensions of fatherhood: when to push and when to shelter. I know I still have many such moments ahead, but in the first three years I’ve already had to deal with this quite a bit. What many parents discover is that to allow your children to grow is to afford them the chance at getting hurt. When your child first learns how to walk, you have to give them the chance to fall. They also need to feel the confidence of the adults around them in order to feel confident enough to strike out and attempt to do new things. At the same time, many parents don’t want hurt to come to their children – hence the tension. Additionally, there are times when the parent needs to push the child because they need to reach a new milestone – in the early years this can include forcing them off the bottle or to go into empty rooms.
Wytches #4 - Ferris Wheel
Wytches #4 – Ferris Wheel
When are we pushing too hard? When are we refusing to see what’s before our eyes? Well, Scott Snyder certainly provides a pretty concrete example when Sailor’s father asks her to climb a Ferris Wheel, putting her life in danger to force her to deal with her fears. Of course, he’s got a few of his own issues – he’s up there drunk, after all.
But in the back half of this first arc we find out that it’s also about a darker part of parenting – living through our children. Of course, this being the dark mind of Scott Snyder (who also brought us American Vampire and some pretty dark stuff on his Black Mirror run on Detective Comics Vol 1), this is where the titular wytches come in. Many of us either purposely or subconsciously like to judge those parents so obviously living through their kids whether they are actors or beauty pageant kids. But, really, it’s a pretty basic parenting instinct that we all fall prey to in one way or another. Some parents try to give their kids what they didn’t have. Others try to make them mini-mes. And we all get something out of parenting, even if that’s not our primary reason for becoming a parent. It’s just that these are usually ephemeral things like love, respect, and pride. But Snyder posits a world where pledging a child nets you your deepest desires. And the truly addicted justify their actions saying they can just have another as though children were interchangeable like LEGOs. To be honest, who wouldn’t at least be tempted (although we can all nurse the thought that we wouldn’t succumb to the temptation) to pledge a child to evade death? It’s easy for me, at a relatively healthy 30ish to say it’s impossible, but what if I were nearer to death? Or what if I were facing an untimely death via cancer?
With Wytches, Snyder is forcing those of us who are parents to look into the mirror and see our darkest selves. To think about how even the best of intentions can go horribly awry when it comes to raising children. You don’t have to be a parent to enjoy it, but it will affect you most deeply if you are.
Before I go, let me just say that Jock continues to be the pro when it comes to bringing the terrifying images in Snyder’s mind to life.
I love discussion and welcome it whereever you happen to read this article – whether on Comic POW!, Goodreads, or whereever else it is syndicated.
The graphic novel was sometimes hard to follow for me, but overall still an interesting read with a lot of great illustrations. The additional material added by the author at the end really gave it all a more personal touch and made me like it even more.
Wow, so much more than a horror comic. I think this is a great example of a horror comic that really delivers in terms of the scary stuff, but also delivers in terms of asking readers to contemplate heavier issues. Snyder uses the horror genre to explore real life issues - strained family relationships, depression and anxiety, our responsibility to other human beings vs. our own self-preservation. All of these themes are seamlessly interwoven into a complex plot that flashes back and forth between past and present. Characters are often two-faced, which means readers are guessing about the outcome until the very end. The action is super fast-paced, and the monsters are great. There's a satisfying arc that's completed by the end of this book (which I appreciated), but it's clear that Sailor still has a long way to go before she's free of the wytches.
I recommend reading all of Snyder's essays at the end. They're fantastic because he takes a closer look at why people are drawn to the horror genre, and connects this affinity to people who struggle with depression and anxiety.
I recommend reading all of Snyder's essays at the end. They're fantastic because he takes a closer look at why people are drawn to the horror genre, and connects this affinity to people who struggle with depression and anxiety.
Terribly cliché, similar experience to watching a poorly written netflix exploitation series.
I loved pretty much everything about this, including the nightmares I had because I read it right before bed. The artwork is wonderful, and I loved the throughline about anxiety and parenthood and family. Some of the mythology was a little confused/confusing, but really I don't care -- I still loved this. I'm hoping for more Wytches in the near future.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was a bit dark, but very interesting. I enjoyed both the story and the artwork in this.
They said it was gonna be scarier than it was. Actually it wasn’t scary. The art was nice. And the story is good. Just no fear factor.
Came in my Image Comics Humble Bundle. I've been wanting to read this for a while because of all the hype it's received, but honestly I've been putting off buying it because I wasn't sure I'd like it. The premise sounded interesting enough (Wytches are creatures that eat people that have been pledged to them in exchange for favors, I buy it), but I wasn't sure the art style etc was going to be my cup of tea.
So, I was right. And so so wrong.
I didn't love the art style, really. It reminded me a little of Locke & Key in the way the characters were drawn and the dark color palette, and it had these paint splatter and texture effects that gave the whole thing a dream-like quality that I understood the reasoning for but didn't really love. The story was interesting, too, and not really that different from what I expected slash not usually something I'd like. But for some reason I was SO INTO THIS.
I think a lot of it was the writing. Scott Snyder is an extremely engaging writer-- his dialogue is good, the pacing is excellent, the cutaways-- just loved a whole lot of this. And the characters were fantastically drawn, too, especially the father, very realistic, very whole. And it was scary as hell, but also sad and sort of melancholy. Besides being a straight-up horror, it was also a rumination on family and being a parent, and what it takes to be selfless and self-sacrificing, and the evil of humanity in the face of possible gains. Just. Good. Really good. Highly recommend it. I'm definitely going to be continuing this series.
So, I was right. And so so wrong.
I didn't love the art style, really. It reminded me a little of Locke & Key in the way the characters were drawn and the dark color palette, and it had these paint splatter and texture effects that gave the whole thing a dream-like quality that I understood the reasoning for but didn't really love. The story was interesting, too, and not really that different from what I expected slash not usually something I'd like. But for some reason I was SO INTO THIS.
I think a lot of it was the writing. Scott Snyder is an extremely engaging writer-- his dialogue is good, the pacing is excellent, the cutaways-- just loved a whole lot of this. And the characters were fantastically drawn, too, especially the father, very realistic, very whole. And it was scary as hell, but also sad and sort of melancholy. Besides being a straight-up horror, it was also a rumination on family and being a parent, and what it takes to be selfless and self-sacrificing, and the evil of humanity in the face of possible gains. Just. Good. Really good. Highly recommend it. I'm definitely going to be continuing this series.