Comic book series
Witches is a supernatural comic book limited series that was published by Marvel Comics in 2004. Plotted by Bronwyn Carlton, with scripts by Brian Walsh, it featured art by Mike Deodato and Will Conrad.
Publication history
Marvel Comics originally green-lit this storyline in late 2000 and released promotional art for the series in 2001 at both Comic-Con International (Marvel: 2001 Official Convention Preview Book, pages 18–19) and various comic book based websites. According to those original website advertisements, Marvel had planned on releasing the series (then titled The Way of the Witches) during the last week of September 2001. Marvel Comics had planned to capitalize on the female-based television shows and movies that were popular at the time such as Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Charlie's Angels with a comic book title of their own. The three characters decided upon were mostly unused magical female characters in their universe: Jennifer Kale from the Man-Thing comic, Topaz from the Werewolf by Night comic, and Satana, the Devil's Daughter, from several of Marvel's horror comics, primarily Son of Satan, The Haunt of Horror and Vampire Tales. They were to be led by the most recognizable Marvel comic-book sorcerer, Doctor Strange, with him acting as the Charlie's Angels-esque director. Aside from the main characters, other supernatural characters that were to have appeared in the series (according to artist Mike Deodato) included: Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Lilith the Daughter of Dracula, Lilith the Mother of All Demons, Moon Knight, Blade, and Daimon Hellstrom.
With Bronwyn Carlton as writer and Mike Deodato as artist, Marvel announced that the project would be a regular monthly release comic book once it was on their schedule. Several drafts of the story were made and Mike Deodato himself confirmed that three issues worth of art were submitted to bosses, with Marvel making changes to both with each entry. After a period the title was completely revamped and became a slated mini-series project. Additional scripts and art were submitted but Marvel eventually put the title on hold for three years. As such Carlton and Deodato were forced to move on to other projects.
One of the projects Mike Deodato worked on was the very successful run of The Incredible Hulk. Satisfied with his work, Marvel advanced Mike to continue his work on The Amazing Spider-Man. Wishing to market this transfer, Marvel hired Brian Walsh to pick up on writing the Witches title. With Mike Deodato busy on another title though, Marvel hired artist Will Conrad to salvage as much of Mike's previous work as possible and fill-in the blanks with his own.
Plot summary
A descendant from a powerful magical family, Andy Kale is tricked into opening a book of magic and thus letting loose a terrible evil. Sensing what happens, Doctor Strange recruits three powerful witches: Andy's sister Jennifer Kale, Satana, and Topaz. He tells them they are to stop the evil monster before it destroys the world's mystics and then the world itself. Though the girls don't exactly see eye-to-eye due to their varied personalities, they agree to help.
Collected editions
The series has been collected into a trade paperback:
