In the forests of Greendale, a cauldron aflame bubbles, while a familiar platinum white-haired girl stands over it, preparing her spell to undo a monstrous curse. Unsure if it will even work, Sabrina Spellman covers her worry with sass directed at the target of her spell: a high school classmate.
In Sabrina: Something Wicked, the teenage witch is busy as always juggling her mortal friends and potential romantic interests against her magical responsibilities. While deciding between mortal Harvey Kinkle’s and bad-boy Ren Ransom’s affections would be bad enough, Sabrina is also keeping a big secret from Ren. The friend she is helping with the curse is Ren’s sister Radka, and as it turns out both of them are cursed to fuse together into a wendigo creature. Radka remembers these monster events, but Ren is blissfully unaware. Can Sabrina solve the curse without mucking it up with another one of her spells? And just who created this curse in the first place?
Kelly Thompson is one of my favorite writers for female-voiced characters. She is over at Marvel writing Captain Marvel and Black Widow and even did a 25+ issue run reimagining Jem and the Holograms for IDW. Her Sabrina feels like a mix of the Netflix spooky era with some of Thompson’s own ideas, and she really nails this moody, smart teenager vibe. Her Sabrina can be dark and stormy, but also really funny and witty. But Thompson slips into other characters easily as shown in a dinner scene with Sabrina’s aunts where Zelda is shown to be very heartfelt behind her exterior and Hilda is very fidgety and emotionally responsive.
Husband/wife duo Veronica and Andy Fish are on art and the style seems like they infused the technicolor art of old Archie comics with the darker tones of a Netflix show. It really works in night scenes or magical scenes when tonal shades of red, green, blue, or purple are used to differing effects. I also found myself laughing at character faces during comedic moments, as often we would get less detailed reaction faces reminiscent of overly comedic scenes in a manga or anime. I’m not surprised to like the art here, as I did enjoy the first volume in the series.
Sabrina: Something Wicked is a follow-up to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch miniseries by the same creative team, but more than stands by itself as it gives all the important details to the reader. It does include a recap page for those who want to know more, but selective buyers may want to just purchase the first book to have the full story.
I’d rate the series for teens and up, and the publisher rating happens to agree! The voice of Sabrina that Thompson creates would resonate with those readers still searching out parts of their identity in a world that often has other more pressing issues to attend to than self-exploration. I would recommend this series for any YA collection, and will likely purchase a copy for my library (if I haven’t already).
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Something Wicked Vol. 02
By Kelly Thompson
Art by Veronica Fish, Andy Fish,
Archie Comics, 2021
ISBN: 9781645769620
Publisher Age Rating: Teen (13+)
Series ISBNS and Order
Related media:
NFNT Age Recommendation: Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
