Review: Scott Snyder and JOCK's Wytches #1

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Review: Scott Snyder and JOCK's Wytches #1
By Andy Frisk
October 27, 2014 - 00:11

Image Comics
Writer(s): Scott Snyder
Penciller(s): JOCK
Inker(s): JOCK
Colourist(s): Matt Hollingsworth
Letterer(s): Clem Robins

The best authors seemingly never run out of great material, and Scott Snyder is no exception. Since he broke into the industry with The Human Torch 70th Anniversary Special, he's gone on to not only make Batman the comic book as interesting as Nolan made Batman the movies, his American Vampire and Severed series have helped redefine the horror genre in sequential art. With Wytches, Snyder continues this tradition of powerful storytelling.

What's Happening: Young Sail is starting school in a new location, but her dark secret has followed her. The victim of a particularly cruel bully, an unfortunate soul named Annie, whose abuse nearly takes an incredibly horrific turn (sexual mixed with cyber bullying), is taken by something in the woods before her final attempt at degridating Sail can be completed. Something powerful, something ancient, something unforgiving...something that will be revealed to be the truth behind the myth...the wytches. Supernatural beings aren't real though right? So Sail's classmates can't help but wonder if she killed Annie that fateful day in the woods. Is Annie really dead though or something worse?

The Writing: Scott Snyder is a master of the lost art of psychological horror. Yes, there is some gore and "things that go bump in the night" here in Wytches #1, but it is the horrific build up to the cusp of the act of perversity that Annie is commanding of Sail where the real horror lies. Snyder paces Wytches #1 with Hitchcockian prowess. The levels of psychological terror here are just dying to be peeled back like the rind of a succulent orange, revealing depth and meaning that will keep attentive readers not only engaged but engorged from the start.

The Artwork: There's little new methods of praise that can be employed to enliven the conversation concerning artist JOCK's brilliance. JOCK takes the horror and dread to a new level here in Wytches though. The heavy atmosphere he conjures with colorist Matt Hollingsworth meshes as intricately with Snyder's script as it does perfectly.

The Verdict: One of the most hyped books of the Fall of 2014, Wytches #1 lives up to it's promise and more. This is a must read. Period.

Rating: 10/10