Wytches, by Scott Snyder and Jock, is a book guaranteed to make sure you’ll never want to go into the woods again. And that makes it the perfect book to kick off our countdown of 31 terrifying tales you’ll want to read this October.
First released in 2014, the six-issue series focuses on the Rook family. They move to a remote town in New Hampshire after their daughter, Sailor, gets in a fight at school. While the family tries to repair itself, something terrifying is lurking just outside the door to their new house… Wytches, horrifying hags who live in the trees and underground, and steal children once they are “pledged” to them. Sailor, you may not be surprised to hear, gets pledged. And things spiral out of control from there.
Snyder was an expert at horror by the time he tackled Wytches, thanks to his work on Vertigo’s American Vampire, and several horror-infused takes on Batman for DC Comics. Jock, too, had worked with Snyder before. But nothing could have prepared the world for Wycthes, a horror masterpiece.
The best way of describing the overall feeling of reading this book is “upsetting.” Jock’s art style, which focuses on shadows, leaves a lot to the imagination. And that allows the reader to fill in the gaps, meaning Wytches is a book that will live in your head long after you put it down.
And in fact, Wytches has been so successful Prime Video greenlit it as an animated series, showrun by Snyder with storyboards by Jock. That’s already prepping a second season, and will bring the book to a whole new legion of fans. So why not pick it up this month? Make the pledge. You know you want to.
Wytches, Volume 1 is available at bookstores everywhere from Image Comics, via Simon & Schuster.
Bonus: For extra credit, you can check out other horror books from Scott Snyder like the aforementioned American Vampire, as well as Severed and Dark Spaces: Dungeon.
It’s spooky season, and you know what that means: time to curl up with a comic book or graphic novel that will scare your socks off. With that in mind, we’re posting a new horror book to check out every day of October, for our 31 Days Of Halloween Comics. Awoooo! Looking for the rest of our picks? Check them out on the Halloween tag.