After a sci-fi interlude as the consort of Emperor Hulkling, Billy Kaplan aka Wiccan aka the Demiurge is back in supernatural fantasy mode for his first solo series Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1. Wyatt Kennedy, Andy Pereira, and Bryan Valenza put one of the Marvel Universe’s alpha couples through some strange, difficult situations to restore balance to the Marvel Universe. This is definitely the “in sickness and in health” part of the traditional marriage vows, but with an extra helping of monsters from Slavic folklore, and it’s nice to see Hulkling and Wiccan work through their problems in a mature way instead of having relationship drama for the sake of drama.
Especially in its introduction and conclusion, Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1 has major fairy tales starting with the fonts and caption style that Ariana Maher uses for a one page recap of Billy Kaplan’s life and lore up to this point. Even though there’s plenty of light couple’s trip banter and adorable peasant girls that have crushes on the 100% unavailable protagonist, Kennedy and Pereira are taking a big swing at making Kaplan a supernatural player in the Marvel Universe up there with Dr. Strange, Dr. Doom (RIP, I think. I only read the Runaways tie-ins of One World Under Doom.), and of course, his mother, Scarlet Witch.
The issue’s kind of/sort of antagonist and the elevated language of some of the captions sets up Wiccan as a kind of epic hero, and the aforementioned little girl echoes that by asking him if he’s a knight. (Of course, he’s not, he’s a good witch!) Andy Pereira and Valenza match this energy in some of the visuals like a panel drawn from the POV of a creepy house with gabled windows.
Speaking of the art, Pereira has solid storytelling instincts from screenshot-worthy reaction shots of Hulkling and Wiccan reacting to their unfamiliar surroundings to fast and furious, knife-life panel layouts showing Wiccan in action against his first monster. There is a little bit of manga in Andy Pereira’s line work with big sound effects and rapid speed lines showing the frantic surprise of the combat as well as Wiccan’s development from just a kid who mouths spells to a skilled melee fighter. Bryan Valenza’s bright, flat colors are the finishing touch on these fight scenes, and he goes moodier and more atmospheric for the slower scenes like when Wiccan and Hulkling explore a suspicious house. Sometimes Wiccan is Goth, sometimes it’s a superhero, and this shift in tones keeps it from getting boring.
Wiccan: Witches’ Road #1 is a fun, surprisingly flirty launch issue that goes deep into the fantasy rabbit hole that is all just a big metaphor for Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman picking up the pieces of their life together after a cosmic crisis. This kind of a setting is a no-brainer for Wiccan, and I respect Wyatt Kennedy and Andy Pereira’s use of figures from Slavic folklore and mythology instead of supervillains to create conflict and mystery. This book has some of the same DNA as Kieron Gillen’s Journey into Mystery and Steve Orlando’s Scarlet Witch while putting its own unique spin on the fantasy-meets-superhero genre thanks to having a cute, loving couple at the heart of it. I hope the subsequent issues in this series have the same real talk and flashy magic.
Story: Wyatt Kennedy Art: Andy Pereira
Colors: Bryan Valenza Letters: Ariana Maher
Story: 8.2 Art: 7.7 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
Marvel Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
