Comic Strip Review: Evil Witch Allie and the Black Whole by Kristin Tipping
Jake is a cautious boy who deals with scary things by avoiding them as much as possible. Like the Mirror Lake Bog back of his house, or his crush on Cal, the boy next door. Part of it may be that he hears and sees things, things his realist parents don’t hear and see. But one Halloween night, when Jake pulls a little girl named Allie out of the bog, Jake has to face scary things directly.
Given that it’s Halloween, Jake doesn’t take Allie’s insistence that she’s a witch seriously at first. Her appearance, behavior and props all come across as a little girl who’s playing at being a witch. But as the night wears on, it turns out that witches and ghosts are very, very real.
This is originally a webcomic, found at this location, but collected in print form for ease of reading while the webcomic goes forward. In this first storyline, I don’t see a lot of evidence that Allie is evil per se, so much as self-centered and childish. Her and Jake’s poor people skills make for some awkward conversations.
The art is okay; what really makes it stand out is the use of different color palettes depending on what’s going on in the story, from brightly lit house, to dark night bog, to a place that isn’t anywhere at all.
Since this is a horror story (with some comedy), don’t expect an entirely happy ending. Content note: animal abuse.
While you can read the entire thing online for free, once you’ve done that, please consider supporting the creator by buying the physical product!
