3 out of 5

‘The Westwood Witches’ wants to be a serious book.  And El Torres imbues it with the right balance of characters and stereotypes, gore and mythology to make it possible – plus, there’s a really interesting idea driving the four issue series.  Paired with Abel Garcia’s weighty art style and grasp of framing and a perfectly gloomy coloring job, yes, the story of Jack, writer of hit book ‘Walpurgis Passion’, as he moves back to his hometown of Westwood to get inspiration for a sequel, seems poised for something greater, and the first two issues of mystery and creepiness fulfill that potential.  Unfortunately, once again proving that art and story are best when aligned, Garcia leaves for the concluding two books, issues 3 and 4 each done by separate teams who do a fair job of mocking Garcia’s style but lack the tonal juxtapositions and patience Abel had applied, and thus the story starts to suffer a bit, letting us focus a bit more on the stilted dialogue and occasional editing flubs that seem like they’ll be the habit of bi-lingual imprint Amigo.  This is acceptably cheeky in a series like ‘Rogues,’ but in something heftier like ‘Westwood,’ it’s very much a negative distraction.

That being said, our core concept is still a good one – the slow reveal of how Jack’s book about witches may be tied to some seemingly real witches in his hometown – and Torres manages to blend a second person narrative (playing in Jack’s head) with that issue’s current events to walk the line between something spooky and emotional.  And our ‘fill-in’ artists do deliver some goods – a face ripping in issue 3 by Roger Bonet (with stunning colors by Eva Roman) matches some of the unnerving visuals Garcia contributed, and Ángel Hernández’s and colorist Esther Sanz’s overall work on issue 4 smartly tries to establish its own style – stiffer than Abel’s work, but nice that it doesn’t feel like a direct attempt to copy.

So I’m still waiting for Amigo to define itself.  We have a horror book, a fantasy / comedy book, and a kid’s book, all somewhat middle of the road for various reasons.  Though Westwood was assailed by problems from without (roster changes), and the overall vibe was certainly solid enough to attract me back to see what’s up next.