#BookReview ‘Redlands’ Vol 1 by Jordie Bellaire and ‘Wytches’ Vol 1 by Scott Snyder

About Redlands…

‘Redlands’ was published in e-book and paperback editions in 2018 by Image Comics.

A mysterious and bloodthirsty matriarchal force runs the town of Redlands, Florida, and in order to stay on top sacrifices must be made. Someone is intent on removing these women from the top of the food chain, and he’s ready to unleash their darkest secret but has seriously underestimated the lengths the townspeople will go to protect the new order of things.

Inspired by the strange complexities of real world politics and crime, the characters of Redlands play victim and villain, attempting to understand themselves and others, through murder, magic and mayhem.

I thought to myself, it is nearly midnight, I don’t really want to jump into a new book, I’ll grab a couple of graphic novels which I can start and finish before going to sleep…..

Big mistake. HUGE mistake.

The above books were both in my to-read pile, I had read Scott Snyder’s ‘American Vampire’ and Jordie Bellaire was new to me, but then again, I never considered myself a wuss until last night…

Both books are ostensibly about witches.

‘Redlands’ by Jordie Bellaire,is about a town that tried to hang three women, they not only escaped the noose, they burnt the town to the ground then proceeded to run it. The illustrations are lush and beautiful, a sample of which are shown below;

They are hyper real and beautifully layered, the art and lettering are as extraordinary as the writing and story are fierce.

But this is gory and nasty as hell, these are no ‘Hocus Pocus‘ witches, they are the real deal. I cannot wait to see the direction that Book 2 goes in!

(This volume from Image Comics collects Redlands issues 1-6)

About Jordie Bellaire…

Jordie Bellaire is an American comic book colorist and writter who lives in Ireland and works for DC, Marvel, Valiant, and Image comic book publishers. She has colored Pretty Deadly, The Manhattan Projects, Moon Knight, The Vision, Magneto, Nowhere Men, Hawkeye, Batman, among other titles. As a writer, her most famous works are Redlands and the reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
Bellaire is credited with starting the “Comics are for everybody” initiative to make the comic book community more inclusive and compassionate

Links-https://www.jordiebellaire.com/

About Wytches (Volume 1)

Everything you thought you knew about witches is wrong. They are much darker, and they are much more horrifying. Wytches takes the mythology of witches to a far creepier, bone-chilling place than readers have dared venture before. When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they’re hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. Watching from the trees. Ancient…and hungry.

As if that wasn’t enough, I read Vol 1 of the Scott Snyder led ‘Wytches’. Holy crap. This finished me off and between the two books I got very little sleep (not complaining, it has been a long time since I was as affected by books as this!).

In ‘‘Wytches‘‘ the art contrasts to ‘Redlands’ by being very dark, very blue based as opposed to the red layering of Jordie Bellaire.

You look at the pages and the details , especially in the woodland scenes, form themselves into faces and things-the longer you look until you aren’t sure that you could be imagining things;

Here, Sailor Rook and her family (mum, wheelchair bound healthcare worker and dad, writer) have relocated to get a fresh start following Sailor’s involvement in the disappearance/murder of her schoolmate.

The woods are creepy as hell, there is unease and menace around every corner and you remain unsure as to whether Sailor is imagining these creatures who are coming to eat her or if her life really is in danger. The town they are in was built on bargaining and bloodshed, these witches are like nothing I have ever seen yet entirely different from the ones in ‘Redlands’.

I genuinely hope that anyone reading this might consider reading these-they are for mature readers but the experience is so worth it.

I am hopeful that the stories will continue in future volumes for both books.

About Scott Snyder…

Scott Snyder is the Eisner and Harvey Award winning writer on DC Comics Batman, Swamp Thing, and his original series for Vertigo, ‘American Vampire’.

He is also the author of the short story collection, ‘Voodoo Heart’, published by the Dial Press in 2006. The paperback version was published in the summer of 2007.

Twitter @ssnyder1835