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A review by unladylike
Wonder Woman & Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour by James Tynion IV
4.0
4.5 stars
James Tynion IV has been steadily impressing me more and more with his writing, in such a short period of time, and he's really hit his stride in this team book. While Wonder Woman is the main hero, we get a group of some of my favorite, underused DC characters facing off against Hecate, who pre-dates all other pantheons and mythologies apparently, in order to save all magic. Not so long ago, Marvel had Dr. Strange go through an epic fight against magic-killers. Jason Aaron did a fine job writing that story, but I found it nowhere near as exciting as this book. The Witching Hour puts into play a few characters I hadn't heard of but now want to see more of - particularly Manitou Dawn, who wreaks havoc like no one's business under the near-omnipotent control of Hecate. Her presence throughout the story should call attention to the glaring narrowness of deities represented in this story. We pretty much just see Greek and Egyptian pantheons depicted, but even they serve a very minor role overall. And to be fair, Tynion (thankfully) doesn't waste any time giving *any* of the protagonists a back-story. Instead, he does what I strongly prefer in comic book writing, by giving readers some damn credit to figure things out when we need to.
Tynion does such a fantastic job of making this a self-contained story, that you wouldn't miss any important beats even if you've never read Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, or Wonder Woman. At least I don't think you would, but it's hard to say since I *have* read a great deal of all those comics.
Some of the page layouts are among the best in any DC title I've seen in recent years, so kudos to the whole creative team for designing pages full of well-placed word boxes that call to mind J.H. Williams III's amazing work on Promethea - which is *another* book all about the history and future of magic, and the embodiment of Story in the form of a Woman.
I had an inkling that this was going to tie in to Scott Snyder's Dark Days event, and it does set up some pieces for that, but in a much better way than any other title, including the ones Snyder plotted deliberately towards that purpose! Fuck all that Nth Metal nonsense - this story makes brilliant use of things that have been in DC canon for a while, such as John Constantine's lung cancer (from Garth Ennis's run, which influenced the first film adaptation) and the relationship between the Green (since Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing in the mid-80s) and the Red and the Rot (which I believe were conceived by Tynion's tailcoat-ridable teacher, Scott Snyder, along with Jeff Lemire via Animal Man). Hecate even makes some pointed references to Wonder Woman's origin story.
Neil Gaiman was likely the first one to really introduce me to the original trinity of sorts - the three faces of the Fates - Maiden, Mother, Crone, who serve many important roles throughout history, and work together to weave the longest yarns. Since I saw them toying with various individuals, but also bound to certain old rules, I've been fascinated with the idea that Everything is Story. The Witching Hour is a real page-turner, and even its more "purple" prose serves appropriately to engage us on multiple levels with the very nature of story-telling at its best.
James Tynion IV has been steadily impressing me more and more with his writing, in such a short period of time, and he's really hit his stride in this team book. While Wonder Woman is the main hero, we get a group of some of my favorite, underused DC characters facing off against Hecate, who pre-dates all other pantheons and mythologies apparently, in order to save all magic. Not so long ago, Marvel had Dr. Strange go through an epic fight against magic-killers. Jason Aaron did a fine job writing that story, but I found it nowhere near as exciting as this book. The Witching Hour puts into play a few characters I hadn't heard of but now want to see more of - particularly Manitou Dawn, who wreaks havoc like no one's business under the near-omnipotent control of Hecate. Her presence throughout the story should call attention to the glaring narrowness of deities represented in this story. We pretty much just see Greek and Egyptian pantheons depicted, but even they serve a very minor role overall. And to be fair, Tynion (thankfully) doesn't waste any time giving *any* of the protagonists a back-story. Instead, he does what I strongly prefer in comic book writing, by giving readers some damn credit to figure things out when we need to.
Tynion does such a fantastic job of making this a self-contained story, that you wouldn't miss any important beats even if you've never read Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, or Wonder Woman. At least I don't think you would, but it's hard to say since I *have* read a great deal of all those comics.
Some of the page layouts are among the best in any DC title I've seen in recent years, so kudos to the whole creative team for designing pages full of well-placed word boxes that call to mind J.H. Williams III's amazing work on Promethea - which is *another* book all about the history and future of magic, and the embodiment of Story in the form of a Woman.
I had an inkling that this was going to tie in to Scott Snyder's Dark Days event, and it does set up some pieces for that, but in a much better way than any other title, including the ones Snyder plotted deliberately towards that purpose! Fuck all that Nth Metal nonsense - this story makes brilliant use of things that have been in DC canon for a while, such as John Constantine's lung cancer (from Garth Ennis's run, which influenced the first film adaptation) and the relationship between the Green (since Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing in the mid-80s) and the Red and the Rot (which I believe were conceived by Tynion's tailcoat-ridable teacher, Scott Snyder, along with Jeff Lemire via Animal Man). Hecate even makes some pointed references to Wonder Woman's origin story.
Neil Gaiman was likely the first one to really introduce me to the original trinity of sorts - the three faces of the Fates - Maiden, Mother, Crone, who serve many important roles throughout history, and work together to weave the longest yarns. Since I saw them toying with various individuals, but also bound to certain old rules, I've been fascinated with the idea that Everything is Story. The Witching Hour is a real page-turner, and even its more "purple" prose serves appropriately to engage us on multiple levels with the very nature of story-telling at its best.