Dirt Witch (Advanced Spoiler-free Review)

In the 80s, if you played a record backward it would reveal evil subliminal messages, and then you would be at the bidding of the devil himself. As a kid, some of my fondest memories were playing Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil record backward in the hopes I would be sent some sort of demon friend, and we would go on adventures together. Well, Geraldo lied. Or did he? 

Horror is a great canvas to paint on. Only restrained by your tolerance of how far you are willing to go. If horror is a buffet that we happily gorge ourselves on, then Jon McCarthy, Thomas Tikas, HG Tobalina, and Garrett Berner are the culinary artists who keep us nourished. The entire book takes me back to a time when I would watch horror movies and cover my eyes when the scary parts came up. Dirt Witch does a fantastic job at getting the hairs on the back of your neck to stand up. 

Upon our initial introduction to Randal, who seems harmless until the cops show up, and all hell breaks loose, this is where the creative team takes us on a hellish journey that you, I, or Randal are never going to forget. Dirt Witch pays great homage to monster stories from the likes of EC Horror and Creepshow. The build-up keeps you on a nice little edge; filling the reader with trepidation. It’s at this point we start to feel remorse for Randal at the same time, keeping our wits about the consequences of the path we choose. My only real hang-up with Dirt Witch is this is a one-shot. I wanted more, but at the same time, I love how it ended. Dirt Witch needs to be added to your stack of “to be read” comics. If that stack is too big, start another pile and put this book at the top.