Title: Hex Wives.
Writer(s): Ben Blacker.
Artist(s): Mirka Andolfo.
Colourist(s): Marissa Louise.
Letterer(s): Josh Reed.
Publisher: DC Vertigo.
Format: Paperback.
Release Date: October 29th, 2019.
Pages: 160.
Genre(s): Comics, Fantasy, Horror.
ISBN13: 9781401294663.
My Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆.
Mankind always had a thing against witches. Unexplainable life expectancy and occult magical powers don’t exactly make humans very comfortable after all. The good thing was that they couldn’t always tell them apart from themselves, making it that much harder to find and eliminate them. Or was that a bad thing? But what if this war had a much more basic conflict to it? One that was actually filtered down to genders? A war pinned in a rage between women and men? Let’s just say that it definitely wouldn’t be a very pretty world. As part of the now deceased and previously reborn imprint of DC Vertigo comes a story, collecting all six issues of the mini-series, by writer Ben Blacker, artist Mirka Andolfo, and colourist Merissa Louise, centered around a century-old war between witches and men.
What is Hex Wives about? For countless years, an all-male conspiracy known as the Architects have been battling a coven of reincarnating witches without success. When the leader of the Architects was defeated in 2005, it seemed like the witches were set for a peaceful life without any form of hindrance. Nearly 13 years later, they are now resurrected in the life of stay-at-home wives in a corner of suburbia where no one could reach them. With no prior knowledge of their lives as witches, they live happily at the mercy of their husbands who seem to be hiding a terrifying secret. Slowly, they uncover pieces of the truth, but will they recall the memories of their former selves before it’s too late?
“We’re a coven.
We look out for each other.
Now let’s get dressed to raise some hell.”— Ben Blacker
This was incredibly painful to read through. Embedded in an intriguing premise, the blatant satire of the rampant sexism of the 1950s is revisited without any added reflection on the matter. The women in this story simply fall prey to this issue as the reader endures the stereotypes throughout each issue, forced into a state of learned helplessness, while these characters continue obliviously with the unjustified treatment. Add in the fact that their characterization is mediocre with some of the most inaccurate writing style conveying speech anachronisms (e.g. ladies in 50s talking like teenagers in the 21st century), there’s rarely any moment through this poorly-developed concept of a science experimentation on witches that makes much sense. In fact, the absence of proper world-building leaves so much unanswered that by the time you reach the anticlimactic ending filled with inconsistencies, you’re just hoping that it won’t give you anything more to miserably chew on, hoping for some kind of desperate dose of instant gratification that will superficially hide all of this story’s flaws.
The artwork is sharp, clear, and vibrant. It doesn’t dare do anything exploratory and sticks to telling the aforementioned story. Occasionally, a nine-panel page of the protagonist getting herself ready in front of the mirror is used in almost every issue, probably trying to illustrate something metaphorical on her psychological entrapment, but it remains nothing impressive. The horror elements are also sparingly present throughout this story, occasionally reminding us that witches aren’t sweet, kind, and nice ladies, especially with their blood magic. The colouring also shifts to focusing on a restrained grim colour palette, like some kind of discotheque, to accentuate the horror moments, but again, it’s never enough to justify this mediocre story.
Hex Wives is a half-baked witchy tale of emancipation brimming with condescending patriarchy and poorly-executed feminist enlightenment.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
Ooooo, another strike out! You are on a roll here. Do we get a 1 star next? 😀
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I doubt it hahahah It would’ve felt the wrath of my streak and it wouldn’t have been too good for it! 😀
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Ouch! Didn’t like this one, did you?
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Nop. It being part of Vertigo comics gave me some hope that it would be decent but man.. I wasn’t sold by the execution at all.
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Oh no! That premise sounds so interesting. I think I’ll still check it out though, so I’ll add it to my TBR. Kinda digging the art.
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I’d be curious to see how you’ll feel about it when you get the chance to try it for yourself! You really weren’t kidding about witches. Don’t matter if it gets 1 or 2 stars, Zezee is still gonna pounce on it! 😛
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🤣🤣 can’t help it lol
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Oh, man….been listening to Blacker talk about writing (in all sorts of media) for years on his podcast, so was pretty excited to read your take on this. Wow. Maybe I should stick to him talking *about* the craft…
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I’ve heard about the guy before when it comes to writing but man… this probably wasn’t the best place for me to discover his stuff. I hope whatever other titles he works on is much better than this.
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What’s going on? I’m not adding a book to my to read list because of one of your reviews? Am I now living in a alternate universe or something? 🤔🤔😂😂
Wow…this does sound truly horrible. Sorry you had to go through this one. Hopefully the next read will be a better one again 😊
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Hahahah can’t be overwhelming my friends too much. Got to keep them interested in my blog and this is the best way to do it. Share a couple of bad ones that give you guys some breathing room! 😛 Thanks for reading, Michel! 😀
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Concept sounds interesting. Sad it it was executed well. Great review!
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Quite disappointing. Thanks for reading, Yesha. 🙂
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Ouch, ouch this is so bad Lashaan! But I agree on the art.
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Thanks for reading, Sophie! 😀
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Fantastic review Lashaan, too bad this one was so poorly executed!
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Thank you so much, Nicki! Yep. I wish it had succeeded somewhere in story-telling. It had potential! 😦
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I might want to read this one just to see how terrible it is!
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Ha! I hope you enjoy it way more than I did, Nancy! I might not have been the best target for it in the end. 😦
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That’s so sad because the premise sounds really intriguing.
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Right? I went into this hoping to get something really good but I was too flabbergasted by what it delivered in the end. 😦 Thanks for reading!
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Ouch, ouch, ouch! Love that new sharp style, Lashaan, makes your reviews even more enjoyable! 😁 Is there a 1/5 lurking somewhere in the shadowy corner of your mind? 😉
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Hahahah I can only be as sharp as the ideas explored and in this case, none of the potential ideas delivered! And, unfortunately, I don’t. MAYBE, I could’ve if I had picked up Frank Miller’s latest volume in his Dark Knight Returns series but I’m still being cautious about it… I want to but also don’t want to know what story he wanted to share with us now… 😛
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Hahaha you and Miller have a very special relationship, Lashaan! 😀 I read that Batman: Year Two might merit a one star rating, though, despite not being authored by Miller 😉
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I should revisit that and see if my reread would change anything of how bad that was hahahah
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Okay I’m sad because this sounded like such a cool idea until we got to how bad the author failed in the execution 😔
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Right? It’s why I wanted to try it out. It sounded like it had a cool idea to work with. Now… I’m sad as well that it was unfortunately a flop. A flop with no sequel in sight, which is not surprising…
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Sounds like a women empowerment piece for the sake of being a women empowerment piece.
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Right? Still so disappointing. I’d love to hear what others think of this, especially women… If I was a woman, I feel like I should be sadened by this more than anything.
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