Customer Reviews

The Blair Witch Chronicles

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This single ed. combines "mini-series" with the origins of Elly Kedward (the Blair Witch). The mini-series itself amounted to four single-story issues that had something to do with the witch, but unfortunately, nothing to do with each other. The art appears crude, though that's likely meant to emulate the purposefully crude style of the film. Sure, we learn (if we hadn't known at first) that Elly Kedward was a victim of unnecessary prejudices of her time - that she was left for dead by the residents of Blair deep in Maryland forest country, and that it didn't matter that she might have been a witch when she was killed (if she ever died that is) when the brutality of her "murder" was alone sufficient to fuel 2 centuries of grisly death. "Chronicles" pioneers the idea that Kedward was darkly fated even before she left the shores of Europe (having failed to bear a single child, and leaving two dead husbands; she arrives in Baltimore to find her prospective employer and his family already perished). Unfortunately, the rest of the book is disjointed - the stories are thin by themselves and don't become fleshier in combination. Two brothers - one of whom has lost his girlfriend to the town rogue - follow the rogue into the forest with the idea of exposing him; a newcomer to Blair refuses to leave "tribute" to the witch as his new neighbors do, prior to a deer hunt; a group of modern-day Wiccans (white witches) is hired to cleanse the black woods of its dark spirits; when the local parish can't find a priest to minister in early 19th century Blair (where the church keeps burning down before completion), a fire-breathing sermonizer proves far too eager and appropriate a choice. The only common thread of the stories is that they involve those foolish non-belivers (or those who don't sufficiently believe). We know that (w/i the reality of the stories) the witch is real enough and that those who lack enough fear are sooo dead. The problem is that these stories lack a shred of irony - the world is full of fire and brimstone preachers, of insufferably benign wiccans, decent high school boys and just plainly skeptical men - why are these people singled out? All of the stories seem random and are less about the Blair Witch than the idea of fear in general. Best moment: a wiccan - the sole survivor of her circle - manages to find some protection against the Blair Witch, but even that falls within her malice. It's a powerful moment that the rest of the stories never amount to.

a very interesting comic book adaptation of the blair witch. gives a few different views of the history of burkittsville! a real delight for the true fan!!