Jumping-On: "Harrow County" by Bunn & Crook

- by Señor Editor, 28 June 2015

Witches! Are they making a comeback or what? It seems witches are popping up in quite a few places lately, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Move over, zombies and vampires. You’ve been overused for years now. It’s time for witches. And haints. And you can find both in Cullen Bunn’s and Tyler Crook’s “Harrow County”.

The great #1 cover. Click to enlarge.

I have to say, my exposure to Cullen Bunn’s comics has been pretty limited. In fact, I mostly know him from the Marvel stuff, like “Fearless Defenders” (which I hated). However, a friend of mine said that Bunn’s creator-owned stuff is much, much better, so I gave Dark Horse’s “Harrow County” a shot. I wasn’t disappointed!

First things first: this book is kinda similar to “Wytches”. There is an odd tree that may or may not have people inside it, and there are witches. There are other similarities, but the atmosphere of “Harrow County” is much different, though, and I have to say I probably prefer it to Snyder’s book.

So what happened in Harrow County? Years ago, the father figure of our protagonist, along with his pals, hanged a local healer from a tree and then burned her body. The healer used to helpful to the people of the county, but when livestock started dying, and then KIDS started dying and demons were being summoned, it was all a bit much for the good people of Harrow.

As she burned to death, the witch delivered some final words, telling the peasants that she will be back and this isn’t the end.

Fast forward almost 18 years, and one of the witch burners is playing single father to a girl called Emmy. Emmy will be 18 soon, and for some reason this (and cows dying – that bit is important, too) is making the dad and the other locals a bit on edge. Also, there’s a little boy who is just skin. Where are his organs, bones and meat? I won’t spoil that bit, cause it’s very cool!

That's nice!

There are two issues of this comic out right now, so this is where I will stop spoiling things. If you think this is “just another comicbook with witches” then trust me, it holds many surprises.

It is very tough for me here to speak about the writing and the art separately here because Bunn and Crook work in perfect harmony. Both the writing and art are great (I absolutely love Crook’s art – it was the best part of the vampire miniseries “Bad Blood” a while ago), but it’s how they well fit together that really sells “Harrow County”. It’s all very colorful and charming and creepy and weird, in a way that I haven’t seen in a very long time. 

Part of why this charming/creepy combo works, is because of the setting. Harrow County looks and feels like a nice small community, with beautiful, sunny forests and nice, simple folks. At the same time, these are people who burn witches, believe in haints and other supernatural things, and that leads to a very interesting contrast. The book goes from picturesque to disturbing in seconds. It’s great! Really, really good job, Bunn and Crook!

This boy lost 80 pounds and is all skin. The doctors HATE him!

And that’s it, I don’t really know what else is there to say. This is how professional this review is. I was very tempted to just sign off with “th-th-th-that’s all, folks!”, but decided against it. I have integrity. “Harrow County” is very good, so pick it up. Did I mention that little boy that’s all skin? Love that boy. Get this book!


That sums it up! ARE the witches making a comeback? Which witches book is better: "Wytches" or "Harrow County"? Tell us in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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