Kull Vol 2: The Hate Witch By: David Lapham, Gabriel Guzman & Dan Jackson

With all of the talk about holidays and end of year activities, I bring to you a review that has nothing to do with Christmas, Hanukkah, or the winter season in general. Kull: The Hate Witch is the second volume in Dark Horse‘s Kull series. Before I begin my review, I should warn you that this genre of comic books/action movies/etc is probably one of the ones I’m least likely to pick up on my own, normally. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try because I think it’s always fun to experiment outside your usual favorites. I was pleasantly surprised.

This book is full of beefy, muscular men fighting bloody battles with axes and swords. Regardless, Kull’s wife is actually kind of awesome (the little we see of her) and does a great job ruling the kingdom while he’s out fighting the big, bad witch. As for the witch, she’s pretty much your standard evil, ancient witch. She speaks in riddles and prophesies bad things to come as a result of Kull’s rule over Valusia. Does anyone listen? Not really, but I’m guessing this is more of an introduction for a major plot point later on in the series.

The story itself is fairly typical of the hero genre. The hero’s loved ones are threatened so he goes on a journey to a dangerous land to save the day. It definitely took me awhile to really get into this book. Kull is your typical hero, determined to go it alone regardless of the risks. The sidekick characters are not particularly interesting, but I’m guessing that is because I haven’t followed the story from the beginning. I did find Kull’s background story/history from his time on Atlantis particularly interesting. I look forward to reading more about his time in the jungle and his friends from Atlantis.

The artwork from Guzman is gorgeous, especially the work on the landscape/sceneries. The witch is sufficiently disturbing to look at, and her crows (aka minions) are frightening and effective. The colors are bright and vibrant and keep the book from becoming too dark and gruesome.

This book is definitely best for those who love classic hero stories. While it didn’t make me a new die-hard fan, I am definitely interested in reading more about Kull’s storyline. The action is fun and the mythology is nicely developed. If you’re in the mood for something completely opposite of everything else going on right now (holidays, winter, etc), I would recommend checking out a Kull book from Dark Horse.

About the Author

Stephanie

Stephanie ‘swoots’ Wooten was born in California, grew up in Maryland, went to undergrad at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and then moved back out to California in order to get her MA in Cinematic Arts at USC. In undergrad and grad school, Stephanie focused on television studies. She enjoyed nothing more than the idea of delving into an entirely new, believable universe full of characters that you genuinely cared about as though they were real people.