Wytches #3

by Kalem Lalonde on December 20, 2014

Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Jock

Scott Snyder’s first Image series has had a great start. The first two issues being among two of my favourites this year, providing and extremely haunting vision on monsters who lie in the woods. Last month, we were given a slow and haunting issue that really raised the stakes of this story in its end. The issue’s individual pacing was incredible, giving us very quiet and eerie scenes that all led-in to its chaotic and intriguing end. I felt like the overall story was ready to pick up some steam and give us a little insight into the wytches in the trees and the ties Sailor has to them, This issue, unfortunately doesn’t accelerate the plot-progression, it even slows it down. We’re given further developments into the bond between the Rooks’ family and some information regarding the wytches but without any significant developments, Wytches #3 falls short of its predecessors.

I like Charlie and Sailor very much. They are compelling leads with a close relationship that adds warmth to an otherwise cold comic. Seeing them bond has certainly been a great part of this comic but I think Snyder may be sidelining too many important aspect of the book in favor of these two. Charlie’s wife has been neglected thus far which disappoints me because I can tell that she’s a strong character. Snyder shows hints of her depth but never elaborates on it wasting the potential for us to care about the Rooks’ family in its entirety. She also had a very strange and jarring moment at the end of the comic that bewildered me, which was coincidentally a similar problem I had with Wytches #2. Maybe Snyder has something up his sleeve with this character but for now, she can be quite underwhelming.

Jock returns on art duties with his crisp line-work and frightening rendition of Snyder’s script. His art is a great compliment to the writing and has been since issue #1. I do have issues with the art, however but that has nothing to do with Jock but with colorist Matt Hollingsworth. He uses splash paint to add light circles on every single panel and while I thought this was interesting last issue, it was excessive here. The color paint is so intense on certain pages that it renders their contents incomprehensible. I was extremely distracted by this unique technique and felt that it was a detraction from my overall enjoyment of the issue.

Wytches #3 slows things down for this series. Good character work with Charlie and the regular eerie atmosphere definitely make this comic an enjoyable read, however it is my least favourite outing for Wytches thus far. Snyder is holding back on the mythology exposition, creating a good sense of mystery but the plot is lacking in comparison to the writing’s other amazing aspects. I have faith in this series and considering the cliffhanger here, we may start to get more notable events in the coming issues. Overall, a good (not great) read. 

Our Score:

7/10

A Look Inside