More Weight: A Salem Story

by Ben Wickey

“Every word is an accusation…and every whisper kills.” This staggering graphic novel explores the infamous Salem witch trials and the long shadows they cast more than 300 years later. 1692 is a year of terror. In Salem, Massachusetts, Giles and Martha Corey are forced to confront their troubled past when accusations of witchcraft plunge their community into a violent moral panic. Based upon true events, and set in three centuries, More Weight is a unique inquiry into the Salem witchcraft tragedy and the misunderstood city now synonymous with it.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Comics, Fiction, Witches, Historical, American History

532 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2025

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There are consequences to the fictions that we tell."

This was a sometimes fascinating look at the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, a dark time in America's past when government and religious leaders chose to believe the hysterical screechings of some "distracted" teenage girls rather than the solemn vows of innocence by respected townsfolk, most of them women.

The book is exhaustively researched, and exhaustively told. It probably could have been edited down to under 300 pages (I would not have missed the Hawthorne/Longfellow ramblings), but this massive tome is one man's vision, and I respect the publisher's choice to bring it to fruition.

The artwork is superb.



More Weight seems a well-timed reminder to seek out truth, and do whatever it takes to make sure our country remains a democracy, not a theocracy.

Thanks to Top Shelf and NetGalley for the ARC, though my review is of the published paperback.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a worthwhile history of the Salem witch trials buried in these 534 pages, but the effort required to dig it out is simply too great. This is obviously a passion project, but it is one in need of a draconian editor.

I got bogged down 150 pages into the story, lost in the giant cast of poorly introduced characters. And not only are we dealing with the events of 1690, but there are alternating fantasy chapters set in the 1860s that imagine a long, miserable, and convoluted conversation between Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as they take a walking tour of Salem. Were I editor, these tedious intrusions would never have seen the light of day.

After setting the work aside for several weeks, I dived back in one lazy weekend afternoon and forced myself over the course of way too many hours to trudge through another 300 pages. I almost found myself intrigued at times as the story of Giles Corey finally took on a form I could decipher, but the author kept fighting me with a barrage of words and fantasy sequences.

And once I made it to the end of the narrative, there were still two challenges. The “Outro” — the author’s diatribe against the exploitative consumerism of modern-day Salem, a veritable “Witch City” amusement park — while interesting at times, is overburdened with purple prose and an ever-growing deluge of words that increasingly cause the captions to bulge further and further into the space meant for the illustrations. It was disheartening to turn the page and realize that my eyestrain was only going to get worse and Wickey’s tone more strident. And then there are the more than fifty pages of Author’s Notes, which of course are footnoted because how else can it be made more ridiculous?!?!?! I tried wading into this sea of text, but gave up after a page or three of sources, quotes, rationalizations, and asides.

The influence of Alan Moore’s From Hell seems to be all over this work — starting with his blurb on the front cover to the in-depth annotation. Moore’s study of Jack the Ripper has never broken into my mental top ten of his best works, often for similar reasons outlined above for this book, but he has a gift for putting together words and scenes that Wickey is still a long way from achieving but is at least moving toward — perhaps more quickly with some editorial assistance.


Disclosure: I received access to a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.com.

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of, More Weight: A Salem Story, by Ben Wickey, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a long graphic novel on a dark part of American history, the Salem Witch trials. I thought this was a good read, but it was way too long of a read.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to get to read this book, I've always been fascinated by Salem and the brutality of the Witch Trials. Unfortunately, the art was about the only thing I enjoyed about this book...
This is a chuncky book, sitting at over 500 pages. There are plenty of big books out there that make every page worth it, but this book just felt bloated and was a chore to read in some places. I was reading it on an iPad and there were still times when I had to zoom waaaaaaaay in just to be able to read a single frame of text. The layout really suffered from how much the artist tried to cram onto each page. And there were times when the text wasn't legible at all. I'm not sure if this was an artistic decision, but I did see that at the end of the book there is about 30 pages of text which I surmise to be the typed out illegible handwriting found throughout the book. That would have upset me if I had been reading a print version of this graphic novel let alone if someone were trying to read the digital version.
There are parts of the novel where it is just walls of words, which defeats the idea of a graphic novel to me. A graphic novel should rely on the pictures to do most of the exposition of the story. It seems like this should have just been a novel, not a graphic novel.
Most of the story is set in 1692, during the witch trials. But sometimes we would jump forward to 1800, and I really could have done without this storyline. It did not add anything but more pages to read.
Thank you to NetGalley, IDW Publishing, and Top Shelf Publishing for giving me the chance to read this book. I wish I had postive things to say about it.

[Peacegal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is a natural pick for the Halloween season, but be prepared for a very dense read.

The illustrations are a solid 5 stars, but I agree with the others who said it could use some judicious editing. The time shifts, the ghostly interludes, and the author's thoughts on the modern-day commercialization of Salem, Mass., not to mention the sheer wordiness of the text, may become tedious and confusing for readers.

[Sisi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this graphic novel to be a dense read. The illustrations are beautiful, and the book was visually enjoyable, but overall, it felt like the narrative was trying to accomplish too many things at once, which made the story feel blotchy and unfocused. I also found the repetition a bit excessive. While I understand that repetition can shape how a story is perceived, here it ended up dragging the pacing and gradually pulled me out of it. Sadly, by the end, I was more disinterested than anything.

That being said, if you're interested in a historically grouded tale, this graphic novel could very much be worth picking up !

[Katrina G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Special thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review

It's clear there was a lot of love and research that went into making this story. The art is wonderful, and while the style was similar for each person, I had no trouble telling one character apart from another. When we think of Salem today, we often get caught up in the Hocus Pocus of it all and just think "Fall! Spooky Season! Witches!" that we often forget this was a truly dark time that had truly innocent victims. Stories like this give those victims a voice, and serve as a reminder that there were real people behind the stories that we know.

When it comes to the Salem Witch Trials, I am very familiar with names like Sarah Goode, Tituba, and Abigail Williams. And while I recognize the Coreys' name as people who were accused, I really didn't now much about Giles and and Martha (outside of what the Crucible showed me), and I don't even really know why. Retellings that I have found just don't focus on them for some reason. I found this story to be educational, riveting, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real rating: 4.5 stars. This is a heavy read (no pun intended lol). Wickey covers everything Salem- from the 1692 Witch Trials, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and how it became the “witch city” tourist spot. It’s loaded with information, including a large Author’s Notes section that backs up each detail with facts and sources. It’s a reminder that Salem is literally buried in history- it’s not just a place for a photo shoot. Many lose sight of this in the over-commercialization of Halloween and paganism- sure, it’s cool to see where Hocus Pocus was filmed, but also remember that innocent people were killed for no reason, and to be respectful. I mean, the last accused victim was only exonerated in 2022!

Yes, I am guilty of indulging in the spooky ambiance Salem gives- it’s what makes it my happy place. However, in my visits to Salem, I never lose sight of the victims of the Witch Hysteria. Taking my mom to Salem, I made sure to show her ALL of historical Salem- in between shopping down Essex Street, I scheduled a walking tour of Danvers (formerly Salem Village) and a visit to Rebecca Nurse’s homestead. After having lunch at Rockafella’s, we made a stop at Proctor’s Ledge and toured the House of the Seven Gables property. I needed to show her the cultural significance of the town, and I needed to show her what makes Salem special.

Enjoy Salem by all means, but also don’t be oblivious to what has happened there in the past. To paraphrase Wickey- “more people believe the Earth is flat today than anyone in 1692.”

[Kate Hultin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel may have been dense at points, but incredibly worth it. Ben does a fantastic job balancing detailed artwork with just as detailed descriptions of Salem’s diverse history. Interwoven in this narrative is everything from the rich literary history to the witch trials and contemporary adaptations of what it meant to be considered “a witch” during that time period. All glaringly relevant. He sets out to prove that Salem is so much more than just the witch trials and yet we keep going back to this main event (that lasted about a year) as the core of modern Salem. If you are a true scholar or lover of history and literature or even if you are neither, it’s worth the read. It’s dense, but so is history if you’re willing to uncover the truth…

[laurakellylitfit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a powerful book! The attention to detail was incredible! The work he put into this, the research, the different writings, the different drawings to depict the time, weaving the lore, the truth and pop culture, phenomenal. So, the next time you walk down the streets of Salem, don't glorify it. Call it what it is.

Thank you Netgalley, Top shelf and Ben Wickey for this advance copy. What an absolute treat! My opinions are my own.




#MoreWeightASalemStory #NetGalley

[François Vigneault · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much weight. There are truly stunning moments and powerful storytelling in this expansive non-fiction book, but they are overwhelmed by the author's extreme logorrhoea. The uneven cartooning is at times gorgeous (the expressive black-white-and-grey retelling of the Salem Witch Trials at the heart of the story, with wonderful and expressive characters) and at others it is actively ugly (the photo-referenced and overly-filtered scenes that frame the tale). There might be a remarkable book at the core of this sprawling, boring, and occasionally illuminating work, but it is lost in the midst of hundreds of pages of deeply unnecessary material. There is no doubt that the author is an interesting talent, but ultimately this is a powerful example of the importance of editing and control.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is lots to love about this graphic novel about the Salem witch trials. The illustrations are stunning, and it was interesting following the story of Giles and Martha Corey, who I had never heard of before.
The book is in three timelines, beginning with modern day and moving into the 1692 trials, with parts of the book set in the 1800s. The 1692 sections were incredible. The way that the text and images worked together evoked a reaction in me that at times was emotional. I am very familiar with the Scottish and Lancashire witch trials, and have a basic understanding of the events in Salem, but this went deeper, which was great.
For me, I could have done without the 1800s story, though. I’m not familiar with American history or literature in any way, and I kept having to look things up. And as we concluded the 1692 story, I was surprised that I still had a third of the book to go. What followed started as a summing up of what happened to the people we had come across already, and quickly became a history of everything that has happened in Salem since, most of it irrelevant to the witch trials, and then an intense rant about how modern Salem is a Disneyland of witch tourism. At times this got incredibly sneery. He describes tourists as rude, and that Salem is reduced to a selfie backdrop. He attacks the films and tv shows that are based in Salem, as well as the business owners. He calls it a ‘consumerist quagmire’.
And then what follows that is 56 pages of author notes, which could have been a book in itself. But a typed book, because the handwritten text is incredibly hard to read when there is that volume of information.
Ben Wickey clearly doesn’t like tourists, and wants us to know that. Which is fine, except that by the end I had a headache and wanted it to stop. He states in his author’s note that he wants his readers to think, but doesn’t trust us or give us space to do so. It’s his manifesto and we are there to listen.
There is a point towards the end of the book where we see the graves of Giles and Martha Corey, and this was a wonderful moment of pause. That image alone made me stop and think. It made me want to visit Salem, not for the Halloween festivities, but to take a moment to show my respects for the people who were persecuted. And in that way, the aims of the book have been achieved. But I wish we had done without the additional information that clouded the waters of what is, in part, a stunning and emotional retelling of the awful events of Salem in 1692.

(I received an ARC in return for an honest review)

[Off Service Book Recs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each October, thousands flock to the infamous "Witch City" of Salem, Massachusetts. Among the shops and monuments to beloved pop culture witchery, spookiness, quasi-satanism, and debauchery, there lies the blood-soaked earth of centuries past, and the events that have birthed and rebirthed the city of Salem as it is today. It started with a whisper, and ended in death for twenty-five innocents and a shadow over a foundling colony that paved a path in mistrust and pain for years to come.

Spanning three centuries of history, readers are brought to heel in the stories of three different generations of Salem: of Giles and Martha Corey, who are forced to come to terms with their dark pasts in the first and finals days of the trials as accusations of witchcraft plunged their small community into moral panic; of a descendant of the trials as he traces the ghost of the past, present, and future in understanding the plight of the city more than a hundred years later; and that of the author, writing in the present as he brings the many faces of Salem to look at themselves in a mirror - which is the truth, how did we get here, and how do we move forward in knowledge and power?

I had to sit with this book for several days after I finished it - I quite enjoyed it, but it also forced me to confront a lot of my own thoughts about "witchcraft" and the aesthetic of a culture loosely built on historical events - which is hard, uncomfortable, and frankly why I feel like this book isn't very highly rated online, which raised an eyebrow when I was adding it to my own reading lists. The triptych-esque telling of this story is winding, interweaved, and thorough - part fictional reenactment of the trials and the major players, part historical lesson and backwards lens view from the fictional overview of a real-life famous descendant, and part musings and editorial from the author themselves - a descendant of one of the original "witches", this graphic novel is densely packed with historical fact (with references), dramatic and colorful storytelling, and both retrospective and introspective opinions on the history of Salem for those who feel drawn to the "strange and unusual" of this now famously aesthetic fall destination.

The overall purpose of this book as I understand it, in addition to presenting a fictionalized first-person account of The Salem Witch Trials, supported by evidence and with heavy emphasis on the socioeconomic and cultural factors that allowed this dark event in American history to come to pass, is to challenge readers on what makes Salem and the Witch Trials so pliable in the hands of time - in the sense that, unlike other dark tragedies of American and world history that have resulted in injustice, loss of life, and religious/other oppression, Salem is now primarily celebrated as a pop culture destination and hub for "witches", with the legend of the Witch Trials serving as almost a cultural ancestry for slogans/movements/sentiments such as "we are the daughter of the witches you couldn't burn" (with the author reminding us that no witches were burned in Salem). The author asks us for introspection - why is Salem open to reinterpretation and cultural adoption in a way which would been seen as inappropriate, vile, or blasphemous such as the horrors of Auschwitz? Why does Salem not receive the solemn respect and remembrance of a human tragedy purported in the name of religion and moral panic?

I have a hard time really answering this question myself and I've really had to think about it, which I think is the best thing this book does, as it also draws this argument out past the stone walls of Witch City into the greater world with more extrapolated questions. If it's okay to rewrite the mythos of Salem into a consumer-friendly tourist destination, relegating the human horrors of its origins to the dusty back corners of spell and tarot shops, then where else is it okay for the demands of capitalism to cannibalize and rewrite the history of other events? On the one hand I think the author makes incredibly valid points, and on the other - as they also acknowledge - there can be identity in making a history and a place for oneself, in celebrating the freedom to celebrate choice and progress in a place where it as violently stripped in a dark and distant past. I think part of being human and being present in a living history - especially in the viral and fast-moving word of the internet - is accepting that things may take on a life of their own before you can think of the consequences. For example, folk tales spring to life from creepypastas and found footage, becoming their own culture and legend in a way that narrative tales of old could only dream of - with their own flesh-and-blood consequences.

But to the author's point, one of the greatest conundrums of a capitalism-forward "Witch City" is that there were no witches in Salem at the times of the trials - men, women, and children living their lives were accused and hanged for something they never claimed and never celebrated in the name of God, of country, of moral righteousness. Rewriting Salem as a haven of witchcraft in that lens almost feels like a slap in the face to those who died in the wake of this panic - and the same to those across the world today who still suffer life and limb in the face of witchcraft accusations. In thinking through these confounding ideas, as someone who very admittedly loves the aesthetic of witchcraft and its interplay with feminism, religious freedom, and expression - is really discordant, and is one of the reasons why I recommend others pick up this book. I don't have an answer to the author's challenge in this book, but I can say with confidence I came out learning more and thinking more critically than I did before, and I hope others will give this beautiful book (the illustrations and detail that went into telling this story are incredible) a chance as we close out October.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing Top Shelf Productions for an advance copy of a graphic novel that serves as both a history and a rumination on the Salem Witch trials, why they happened, why they were allowed to go on, and what in this day of fake news and trial by public opinion it tells us about ourselves.

Growing up it every Halloween like clockwork we always spent a week on the Salem Witch Trails. Didn't matter the grade, for two weeks we read books, made crafts, dressed as witches or I guess warlocks. My school wasn't that free yet. This was a school in Connecticut, so maybe it was a history thing. I can't see this happening in Alabama or Oklahoma. As we got older we learned more about it, read books of fiction, nonfiction, a few poems and of course Arthur Miller's The Crucible. However we never really got to the heart of it. Religion run amuck. Power of the crowd against the weak. Though the image of what the witch trials were has changed in the public eye. Even now one can hear both innocent men and guilty presidents scream about witch trials, being railroaded, beset on all sides. I have read a few books on witches in New England but I learned and even more importantly felt quite a bit at the end of this graphic novel. Sadness, rage and an understanding that history repeats itself in so many different ways. More Weight: A Salem Story is written and illustrated by Ben Wickey and tells of witches, ghosts, outsiders redemption, fear, mistakes, love, and of course the power of others over our lives.

The book begins with a look at modern Salem around Halloween, with people in costumes walking around following tours of witches, ghosts and hauntings, while taking selfies with statues. Wickey sets the scene for what happened in the past at Salem, the different sides that were feuding and how little things could be used to consolidate power, get back at enemies, and get out of control quickly. The story is told by different characters and times. Our main during the Salem trials is the Coreys, Giles and Martha. Giles is a man who regrets his past, his coldness, his indifference, his acts of violence. Martha hides a secret, but one that has not let her get jaded, though one day a spat with her husband leads them both down the path of ruin, and terrible death. During the 1860's Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet and writer is doing research on the Witch trials for a play, and is joined by his friend Nathaniel Hawthorne. Both roam the area, seeing ghost, are haunted by the past, and in Hawthorne's case hiding a secret. All while in the background people are being accused of witchery and being sentenced to horrible deaths.

A big book that I think could only be told in a sequential art story. There is just so much, and yet the book reads so well that one learns much while not even noticing. The story is good, jumping in points of view, into different eras, and one never gets lost, the art working with the words to keep the narrative smooth and engaging. The art is excellent, different in each story, and really fit the tale being told. One can tell this is a real labor of love. I can't imagine the time and research needed to get this right, but Wickey does an incredible job doing so. One of my favorite graphic novels of the year so far, and one I don't think will be beat.

History fans will enjoy this, artists will love the art and the way the story works so well with the pictures and vice versa. I learned a lot, and as I said earlier felt a lot. One gets a real understanding of America today from this book. I just hope we don't repeat many of these mistakes.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

More Weight: A Salem Story (2025) by Ben Wickey is in this year yet another brick of a book, more than 550 pages including lots of notes and references, ala Alan Moore's From Hell, the story of another bad moment in history, about Jack the Ripper. Moore also blurbs the book. If you have read or taught The Crucible by Arthur Miller as I have you may recall one of the murdered residents, Giles Corey, who as he is being coerced to confess by having huge stones placed on his 80 year old chest, only replies, "More weight." The first person crushed by the state of Massachusetts. I hope the only one. All these folks were eventually, some of them centuries later, exonerated. This is the key and powerful story of the book and it is clear and has several impacts (I'll explain), but it is weighed down by Wickey's wanting to tell everything but the kitchen sink that may relate to it.

This hefty book piles it on--more weight!--often ambitiously and impressively--it is already on many best of 2025 lists of graphic novels--such as in not wanting Salem to be offended by his characterization of it as the place of the trials, only later to criticize Salem for commercializing the tragedy. It also does not leave its references only in the appendix, but moves quotes and analysis into the text, which I often appreciated and learned from. And there are critiques of said texts, including The Crucible, which Wickey feels misdirects us to infidelity (of John Proctor) as one basis for the witchcraft trials. Okay, point taken, but that's not the only thing that book is about. Wickey emphasizes infighting in the community, greed, capitalism, and so on. A political mess of allowing our differences to divide us to the point of violence (see almost anything as reference right now).

Wickey looks at a lot of fiction that references the trials and intolerance such as from Longfellow and Hawthorne. Sociological analysis abounds through nonfiction and fiction in American lit, and Wickey gives us a lot of it. He takes us--as Miller does--up to the McCarthy trials as an example of how the Puritanism of the past goes on and on, as well as to the present day infighting that leads to the abuse of those we disagree with. So it's at times impressive, but it is so much; it tries to do everything, so it is way more than it has to or should be. Less is sometimes more is usefyl advice. The artwork is often amazing. The story is itself also heavy--more weight!--so to keep some of the stones off our chests and hearts, he uses bright color to brighten things up from time to time, and somewhat cartoony characterizations of principal participants. But the overall effect is overwhelming and uneven.

I knew the basic story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials from my teaching of The Crucible and looking into secondary sources myself years ago, so the basic narrative and trial excerpts were familiar to me, but I still appreciated all the refs, and the focus on Corey, as opposed to Proctor, and I liked that in the process Wickey discovered that one of his own relatives, Mary Easty, was part of the trial! Weird!? And sort of cool, helping him dig into the story on a personal level. If you are interested in this period, you have to look at this book, it will help make it more real and (usefully) terrible for you, and give you sources for digging into it deeper.

[Blaire Desormeaux · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often pick up graphic novels, but my eyes lit up when I saw the title of this book and immediately recognized the last words of Giles Corey, one of the victims of the notorious Salem Witch Trials. Since I've been teaching The Crucible to juniors in American Lit. for several years now, I'm fairly familiar with the Salem Witch Hunt and have a vested interest in the people who inspired Arthur Miller's drama.
Ben Wickey's layered telling of Giles Corey's story mesmerized me.
The book's illustrations are split between modern day, the 1800s (featuring renowned authors Henry Wadsworth Longsfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne), and the 1690s. The illustrations are stunning, and I spent a lot of time flipping back and forth to compare seventeenth century Salem with modern Salem--the pages are set up so that it's easy to see the evolution of the town over the centuries. I will admit I had a hard time following the storyline at times--there are abrupt jumps between characters and time periods. The blend of the worldly and supernatural also becomes muddled, but perhaps my struggles to distinguish elements were due to my lack of experience reading graphic novels.
Most importantly, I think Wickey does a great job illustrating the mistreatment of the accused and treating their suffering and deaths with dignity. In particular, his portrayals of Giles' and Martha's deaths made me emotional. This text is a much more historically accurate telling of the trials and their aftermath than The Crucible and several other works based on the trials. I still love The Crucible, but it's important to remember that a lot of its plot was sensationalized for the benefit of twentieth century audiences.
Unfortunately, the final illustrated pages are essentially a rant during which Wickey goes on far too long, ironically injecting pseudo-academic ramblings with bias, false comparisons, and dogmatisms of his own. Although I could've done without this final argument (which sticks out like a sore thumb from an otherwise enlightened narrative), I still appreciated his artwork to the very last page. I really admire the work that went into this book, which he's stated took a decade to complete. I can tell! What an accomplishment.

[Tim Rooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read the full review on urbaneturtle.com.

Like any good work, More Weight’s title bears many meanings, direct reference to the events surrounding the death of the book’s major figure, Giles Corey, the weight of suspicion and mistrust that tore Salem apart, and the weight of history as the events of the 1692 witch trials echo across American history. The weight is heavy on Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, two of the foundational titans of American literature, the former of which had direct familial ties to Salem, and the latter who bore the weight of personal tragedy and saw his own story reflected in Corey’s tragedy.

Ben Wickey makes the case, first naturally through the flow of the story and then perhaps too overtly in painstaking detail and narration in the book’s final 40 pages or so, that Salem’s witch Trials were among America’s foundational sins, the ripple of which is cast through history. In many ways we still suffer from the kind of paranoia and mass hysteria that turns neighbor against neighbor. In 2025, it is harrowing to revisit a tale that has become myth, repackaged into pop culture and commercial kitsch, in such stark and human detail. Wickey’s cross century struggle is particularly effective here, as we break from the black and white cartooning throughout the events of the Salem trials to the sepia tone haunting of Longfellow and Hawthorne revisiting the ghosts of Salem in their day. It is this second era where the book’s climax feels most evocative and personal, with a slight twist that is both shocking and deeply heartbreaking. The book suffers for going on beyond that as Wickey then spends dozens of pages outlining and criticizing centuries of obfuscation, capitalization, and commodification of Salem’s dark past.

The meat of the book, though, is the exploration of the events, pulled together and dramatized through a mix of deeply researched contemporary accounts as well as previous dramatizations (chiefly Longfellow’s New England Tragedies).

Read the rest here.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Salem Witch Trials take center stage with this well-researched graphic novel that tells the story with a primary focus on Giles and Martha Corey. Most people know of Giles Corey as the man who was pressed to death during the trials because he would not submit to moving forward with his trial. Besides getting the usual background about the trials themselves, readers also learn a great deal about the pasts of Giles and Martha. Each faced challenges, but also found happiness with each other when they married later in life.

Interspersed with the happenings of 1692 at Salem Village is a series of short pieces that tell the story of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a descendent of of the Salem judges who was horrified by that judge's actions, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. These pieces focus on a number of conversations that highlight Hawthorne's aversion to the city of Salem.

The book also concludes with an illustrated timeline that takes the reader through a summary history of Salem from its founding through to its modern acceptance of being the "Witch City," the latter of witch the author believes disrespects the horrors of the trials and its victims.

I really enjoyed this read. I have always been interested in the Salem Witch Trials ... it is hard not to be when you grow up in Southern New England. The writing fonts and illustration styles shift slightly when toggling back between the telling of the Coreys' story and the conversation between Hawthorne and Longfellow, and this is helpful for the reader. The Coreys, and so many of the other personalities connected to the trial, are humanized and brought to life through the illustrations and their conversation bubbles. They are more than just victims as a result.

There is also no question about the research and care taken by Wickey to tell this story. There are more than 100 pages of notes about where he located information and why he made certain illstration or word choices. Anyone with any interest in the trials really should read this graphic novel.

[Carlee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an eARC in exchange for an honest review through NetGalley.

I had high hopes for this book. A graphic novel telling the true story of Salem? Yes. The execution, however, did not make the cut. This is a long one at over 500 pages and while I love a chunky book, I did not enjoy picking this one up and kept checking to see how much further I had to go.

The story-telling was fine. I didn't like the way the story was told in some parts. The book opens up with a more present-day scene, which was fine if it was just that one part, but it just didn't really need to be there. There are also other parts set in a different time. So, three different time POVs and each of them had a completely different art style, which I really didn't like. I wished that the author had just stuck with the main timeline and that art style throughout the entire book. There was really no point in the others.

The biggest issue I had with this book is that it is extremely difficult to read. I don't know what size of a physical book this will be when it is released, but it better big a pretty large one in order for people to actually be able to read the text. The text is sometimes almost entirely illegible. it's almost like handwriting throughout 90% of it and actual handwriting in some, too. It all seems to run together and I had to zoom in on every single panel in order to read it.

There's also just too much text. If I wanted this much text, I'd prefer a novel. In a graphic novel, we're supposed to have the art to carry the story along and, even though it's non-fiction, give us the information we need. There's just too much text. If I'd seen this on a shelf and opened it, I'd just put it back and go find a non-fiction book about Salem without any art at all.

As I said, the story-telling was fine. The information is there. I liked the art style of the main part. But the formatting really ruined the experience of it for me.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Thank you to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Being a descendant of one of the women hanged and two others accused, I have a special fascination with the Salem Witch Trials and have read dozens of books on the subject.

"More Weight: A Salem Story" is a long-overdue focus on the story of Giles and Martha Corey. Even with all of the books I've read before, I realized how little I knew about the Corey's before this book. Too often, Martha is barely mentioned, and Giles' story is limited to being the one person who was pressed to death.

If I rate the book only on the research put into it, and Giles and Martha's storyline, I would give it five strong stars. The effort and thought put into the story presented by this author is impressive and the story of Giles and Marth will stick with me for a very long time. I learned so much.

I am not giving it a five-star rating as a whole for a few reasons. The book is very long and has so much information it was overwhelming. I am very interested in this subject, and I had to put the book down every few days and take a break. The 1860s timeline with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was distracting, and for me it took away more from the story than it added. I read the graphic novel on a tablet with a good-sized screen and still had to zoom in on text regularly to read all of it, and there is a lot of it. I grew up both reading and writing cursive, and have studied handwriting styles of the past, and the parts of the text presented in a cursive font were very difficult for me to read. Some of it I just skipped.

I hope readers give this book a chance as the story of Giles and Martha Corey, and by association other victims of the witch trials, is an important one to learn about. I hope readers will look past these and give the book a chance. The story and history is important to know.


#MoreWeightASalemStory #NetGalley

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Top Shelf Production and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was a long read in all of the best and worst ways.

Let me elaborate on those thoughts. Truly, this graphic novel is incredibly well-researched and thorough in covering as many aspects of the Witch Trials. Despite some people’s assumptions about graphic novels, this is not a simplified retelling of the events. Instead, by my estimation, it contains as much information as any other Nonfiction work. There were many aspects surrounding the events that I had never even considered, let alone already known.

Furthermore, this book covers three different time periods. We see the immediate events, as well as two different periods of historical reactions to the events. It deeply appreciated the moments spent in the present day, as it reflects on how such a gruesome event has become mythologized and a tourist curiosity.

But, the length and depth that this book goes into might rub certain readers the wrong way. Because of the amount of knowledge that the author hopes to share, often small text boxes must be used, where content is crammed in. It might have been the digital nature of the ARC, but I occasionally found it challenging to read, due to the font size. On top of this, I often felt the narrative went too in-depth with the events. Despite the books ability to deny expectations provided to graphic novels, it also counters what the average reader may be hoping for. As someone wanting to read a graphic novel, I found the occasional wall of text to be overwhelming and frustrating.

If the book had been shorter, I believe I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more. The story was interesting and I was engaged with most of it (especially the part of the narrative set during the trials). It was educational and engaging, but simply ran too long.

[Adri Holt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Though it is tempting to compare the witch hunts of history to today’s “cancel culture”, I think its worth pointing out that scapegoating among humans is far from anything new.”

Salem is another blight on the history of the United States.

Split into 3 parts:

1) An in-depth look into the town of Salem, the lives of its citizens, especially of Giles and Martha Corey during the terrible Salem Witch Trials.

2) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne taking a walk-through Salem, going down memory lane and the haunted history that follows the celebrated author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

3) The last bit of the book kind of breaks down the time between the trials and how Salem flourished and then constricted itself by profiting from its harried past.

I found it a little amusing that this book comes out this year, which means that the events of the Salem Witch Trials happened 333 years ago. Multiply that number by 2 and it is the number of the devil.

#ThxNetGalley #BenWickey #MoreWeight:ASalemStory

Merged review:

“Though it is tempting to compare the witch hunts of history to today’s “cancel culture”, I think its worth pointing out that scapegoating among humans is far from anything new.”

Salem is another blight on the history of the United States.

Split into 3 parts:

1) An in-depth look into the town of Salem, the lives of its citizens, especially of Giles and Martha Corey during the terrible Salem Witch Trials.

2) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne taking a walk-through Salem, going down memory lane and the haunted history that follows the celebrated author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

3) The last bit of the book kind of breaks down the time between the trials and how Salem flourished and then constricted itself by profiting from its harried past.

I found it a little amusing that this book comes out this year, which means that the events of the Salem Witch Trials happened 333 years ago. Multiply that number by 2 and it is the number of the devil.

#ThxNetGalley #BenWickey #MoreWeightASalemStory

[Sesana · Rating 1 out of 5]

This graphic novel needed a stern editor. It feels like at least three different books awkwardly pasted together. The cover copy promises a retelling of the Salem witch trials, focusing on Giles and Martha Corey, and we do get that. Sort of. Although the Coreys get slightly more attention than the other victims, it's a very general history. This, arguably the selling point of the book, needed some serious tightening. On top of that, it's also a complete history of public perception of the witch trials through history, right up to a lengthy condemnation the current tourism trap aspects of Salem. This part is so long that it completely deadens the impact of the actual historical content. It simply wasn't necessary here, at least not to this extent. Perhaps as an author's note, but this is pages upon pages. Even more unnecessary is the odd interludes set in the 19th century, with Nathaniel Hawthorne showing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow around Salem. This is the part that most genuinely felt like an entirely separate book that had been stapled into this one. I didn't feel like these sections brought anything to the party. Additionally, there's 50+ pages of notes at the end of the book. This, I think, is where Wickey most shows that we really wants this to be From Hell, but this simply isn't as engaging as Moore's notes at the end of that book. This book comes in at over 500 pages, and I genuinely feel like 100-200 pages could have been cut outright, and that a few more editorial passes would have streamlined another 50 or so out of the page count.

[Vals · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fact-based narration of parts of the Salem trials in the form of a comic book? I'm in. While I enjoyed the focus on the story of a married couple accused of witchcraft, thus forwarding the notion of how men were also considered witches (or wizards), and on the role children play in the whole farse, I could have done without the jumps forward to 1800-something, which I found a bit intrusive and unnecessary to the understanding of the story.

It is clear that a lot of research went into this book and it shows, and I really appreciated the notes at the end on the historical facts addressed in the book. Also, I enjoyed the final analysis on how Salem's trials have influenced the history of witchcraft and how they have been used, and reimagined, by the media and the art throughout the years, up until our days.

I'm not usually a read of comics, so I don't have a technical or so opinion on the art, but I really liked the drawings and I found the style perfect for this book and its topic. On note on the words: in some cases, I found them overwhelming, because of both the font and their density (at times the written parts were so long that the whole page was heavy on the eyes and it made it difficult to read them without pausing — I guess it'd be different on paper though).

My thanks to the author and the publisher for allowing me to read the ARC on NetGalley!

[Rachael Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I didn't know I needed this year was a graphic novel about the Salem Witch trials and some of the history and tragedy which still seems to echo from that fateful time. I will say the description of "staggering" in the summary, is fairly apt as this book is very thick and longer than it needs to be. However, the artwork is incredibly well done and the story is intricate.

On the first few pages, ghost in a white sheet seems to be wandering the town of Salem during the fall, potentially near Halloween. The ghost wanders from frame to frame as people in the city talk about some of the historic locations and events. Finally, the ghost wanders off into the distance leaving the reader wondering if this ghost is a visitor to the town or a remnant of the deeds from the past. I think these few pages were the part which captured my attention and pulled me forward into the story. I was familiar with many events of the witch trials, but this book lays it out as we flash between Salem and then other time lines which are linked to the events.

I did think the book was a bit too thick and definitely bogged itself down a bit. I also found some of the text to be hard to read so I wondered if it was making the impact intended if I couldn't read everything. I do think if it had been broken into two parts, it could have held my attention better and be more streamline,

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re not familiar with the history of Salem and its witch trials, this graphic novel is a solid entry point. The author, while not a historian, clearly put in the work—spending time in Salem, connecting with residents, and striving to honor both the historical record and the modern-day sentiments of those who live with that legacy. His goal was to get the facts right while also capturing how the people of Salem view their own history, and I think he succeeded in that respect.

The artwork fits the subject matter well. We often imagine people of that time as living hard, joyless lives, and the art conveys that sense of austerity. The mix of black-and-white and color panels is sometimes striking—there are moments where the color really enhances the impact of a scene—but other times I wasn’t sure what it added. Still, the black-and-white aesthetic ties neatly into the grim tone of the era.

That said, the book is quite long, and if you’re already well-versed in the Salem Witch Trials, you may not learn much new in terms of facts. But if you enjoy studying the trials or want to explore the story through a different medium, this graphic novel is definitely worth picking up.

For me, it landed at a 3.5 stars, which I’ll round up to 4 (since I usually do that when posting on review sites).

[drown_like_its_1999 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Explores the infamous Salem witch trials and the long shadows they cast into the future. Giles and Martha Corey, among many other Salem residents, are accused by spiteful and restless youths of enacting harm on them through the devil's magic. Citing "spectral evidence", a kangaroo court brings these hapless citizens to trial with onlookers afraid to get swept up in the hysteria and defendants hopelessly trying to espouse their innocence. Years later, authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Longfellow stroll through Salem and discuss how the paranoia of those days set the stage of their lives and careers. In modern times, Ben Wickey further analyzes the downstream implications of these heinous events and how they have shaped the city of Salem along with the greater world.

There's a marvelous book in here that is sadly bogged down in hundreds of pages of peripheral information. The core story of Giles and Martha Corey is damn engaging; exploring their complex relationship and how Giles actions fed into the hysteria that was their downfall. Sadly, this plotline was only given partial focus and far more time was spent dissecting the trials centuries later. The quantity of time spent with Hawthorne and Longfellow was particularly egregious, turning an interesting anecdote into how the trials influenced popular culture into obsessive naval gazing that nearly dominated the length of the book. At least the art in the book is consistently engaging, dominated by intensively drawn scratchy black & white period sequences interspersed with dramatic and saturated horror depictions. More Weight is remarkably well researched and is probably an excellent read for those obsessed with the events in question, but for those of us who just want a compelling narrative this is far too bloated.

[Bebo Saucier Carrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

As other reviewers have stated, this is clearly a well-researched passion project, the art style is wonderful, and truly hats off to the author for all the hard work this novel entailed.

All that being said, I also will echo other reviewers in stating that this could have been half the length that it was and been a more impactful book. The 1800s timeline with Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was unnecessary and impeded my enjoyment a LOT. The bookends of commentary on modern Salem, while not necessary, did make more sense and I think their addition didn't harm the novel like the 1800s timeline. I truly would have been so pleased to just have the story of Giles Corey, because all of the 1600s timeline was excellent. I would have been confused had I not read the Crucible and studied the historical background of the trials (thank you 11th grade English class) and already known the names of the major players in the Salem Witch Trials.

To summarize: the graphic novel is far too dense and should have focused in on Giles Corey's story, cutting the 1800s plotline out entirely.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who’s recently fallen in love with graphic novels and has a long-standing fascination with the Salem witch trials, More Weight: A Salem Story was high on my list of anticipated reads. I was thrilled to receive an advance copy from NetGalley and the publisher—thank you for the opportunity!

Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite live up to my expectations. At over 500 pages, it’s an ambitious project, and while I appreciated the depth and seriousness with which the subject matter was treated, the reading experience—particularly in digital format—was challenging. Each page is densely packed with both text and artwork, making it feel overwhelming at times and difficult to engage with for long stretches.

That said, the art itself is cool. The visual storytelling is evocative, adding emotional weight and atmosphere to the narrative. I truly admired the artistic choices, but ultimately, they weren’t enough to carry the entire story for me.

This may be a more rewarding experience in print, where the formatting and pacing might feel less taxing. I still think it’s a valuable contribution to Salem literature and graphic storytelling—just not the best fit for me personally.

[Rosanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This tome of a graphic novel packs a LOT into it's more than 500pages. It's a story, but also an informative history book. The story portion is strikingly illustrated with slightly differing styles between the two main timelines (1692 during the Salem witch trials with a focus on Martha and Giles Corey, and 1860s where the focus is on Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) Everything seems well researched and the narrative is dramatic and poignant. However it's quite long and can feel slow at times.

This graphic novel I feel would best be enjoyed as a physical book because I had a bit of difficulty reading as an e-book (both on PC and mobile screens) I wanted to be able to look more closely at some pages, especially the maps at the beginning, and was not able to.

If you have interest in learning more about Salem, the witch trials and their legacy then you might be interested in checking this out. I definitely learned things I never knew. History lovers will appreciate the pages of author notes and resources at the end

Thank you to NetGalley,IDW, and the author for letting me read this interesting e-ARC