It was a spiderweb moon And the imps did wonder What dark delights wouldst the cat-witch conjure
By the Sardine Queen, by salt and the devil, by blackwormy earth, and by the deep, dark sea, the catwitch Urfi conjures an angel to love her and have children with her. But angels aren't meant for love, and with the embryonic egg of their unborn children, Urfi flees from her partner's violence, enduring terrible trials to find a new and safe home in the faery forest.
As her children, Isobel, Batzel, and Mazel, grow up with her, they find the horrors their mother endured during her flight to the forest returning to their lives -- this time for the three of them to defeat for good. With secret magic, solemn bonds of friendship, and sisterhood, they can at last stand against the threat of the angels' terror and insanity in this dark fairytale of motherhood, magic, and apocalyptic romance.
A gorgeous intergenerational family story of promises made, promises kept, and a mother who would do anything to protect her daughters.
The Witch's Egg by Donya Todd isn't a perfect book, but it's very fun and has a fascinating array of influences that make for a unique whole. The art in particular is excellent. Recommended!
I adored this psychedelic trip. It's delightfully weird, and takes a gleeful hammer to narrative convention in order to unearth deeper truths about love and family. Towards the end it was oddly affecting too, in a way I don't always get from graphic novels. One for those who love twisted fairy tales and folklore.
This was a bit of a psychedelic adventure about a bisexual witch trying to ensure the safety of her egg. With art inspired by medieval woodcuts and quite a lot of old-style language, there was a lot that felt different from what I normally read. Todd was less concerned with traditional narrative structures or classic panel layouts than crafting a hallucinogenic throughline to follow this cat/witch/hybrid. There were bits that didn’t make sense to me (which I was fine with) and more than a few moments where oddly modern language shone through (I was less fine with this). Why does an angel of death have a valley girl accent? Why are spells that could have come from Macbeth living on the same page as texting abbreviations? I wish Todd had been more consistent in tone, as the rapid shifting between memeworthy and something more eldritch dampened some of the really cool stylistic choices being made. My gut is that most won’t care for this, but those who like it will really like it.
Trippy and beautiful. I love how surreal and folklore-y the story is, the character designs are all very unique (Urbina is my favorite), and there are several full page spreads that I stared at for like a solid 10 minutes just to soak up how cool they were.
Just wish the text was easier to read. It's too small or low contrast in a few places to the point I couldn't make out what it said.
What a wild ride. The psychedelic almost childish art style married with deep witch's lore is fun. I was getting pretty lost in the poetic surrealism of this comic.
Loved this trippy fantasy fable that was rich in the telling and the psychedelic art. Not recommended for newbie comics readers - this is a step above.
That was so weird. Note on the contrast of the text: it was very hard to read, so I wouldn't recommend it to anybody struggling with contrast in their vision.