- Paperback: 136 pages
- Publisher: Titan Books Ltd (25 Oct 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1852867671
- ISBN-13: 978-1852867676
- Product Dimensions: 25.7 x 16.9 x 0.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,367,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
A murder in Roman times sets in motion a tale of witchcraft and revenge that stretches across the centuries to the present day. Three witches plot to punish a Saxon pirate for the rape and murder of their acolyte, Ursula, by manipulating the lives of both his and Ursula's future incarnations.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Bad witch! Bad
29 Jun 2006
Format:Paperback
Ursula was a priestess to the triple goddess in the early days of Roman Britain. When she and her pagan sisters are raped and murdered by a band of massive and brutish Picts (by all reports a race of small people), Ursula cries for vengeance against her killer in a future life.
The triple goddess Hecate, here portrayed along the lines of Neil Gaiman's take on the Fates, complies -- but she/they take their time in doing so. Because of some vague "rules" (which are poorly explained even by the goddesses themselves), Ursula must take revenge on Cooth herself, and the deed must occur in Londinium (London), where the initial rape and murder took place. Never mind that Cooth, in his future incarnations, might be a completely different, decent person; this book makes the assumption that a brute in one life is a brute eternally -- so much for learning as you go.
"Witchcraft" is an obvious attempt to cash in on the success and popularity of Neil Gaiman's excellent "Sandman" and related series, but James Robinson lacks Gaiman's deft hand at characterization. At the same time, Robinson's message here is highly questionable.
Ursula and Cooth are rarely reborn at the same time in London, so centuries pass as Ursula awaits her opportunity for some righteous smiting. She muffs her chance in 1342 -- so badly that she causes another slaughter of her fellow coven members -- and again in 1842, when she's reborn as a man, the adventurer Richard Burton, and chooses to forgo revenge for another turn of the wheel. The Fates, meanwhile, hem and natter, but do little to move the story along.
Finally in the 1990s does Ursula get her chance. Cooth has been reborn as another scoundrel, this one perhaps the worst of the lot, and only after Cooth/Ursula, now a grandmother named Irene, and her daughter in this life, Gaynor, have suffered mightily at his hands do the Fates get involved and kickstart some divine retribution. Oddly, unable to get their hands dirty for the past two millennia, they seem to have no qualms about getting involved now.
"Witchcraft," first printed in 1994 and collected in 1996, attempts to be a story about strong feminine spirit, but I think Robinson should have talked with a few women before writing his plot. The story seems to suggest that women are pretty much always victims (with an occasional rape thrown in to titillate the boys) unless some divine beings come along to save the day. That -- along with the blatant man-as-savage overtones -- is hardly a message of gender equality. Robinson's book is sexism of a different color.
By Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor
The triple goddess Hecate, here portrayed along the lines of Neil Gaiman's take on the Fates, complies -- but she/they take their time in doing so. Because of some vague "rules" (which are poorly explained even by the goddesses themselves), Ursula must take revenge on Cooth herself, and the deed must occur in Londinium (London), where the initial rape and murder took place. Never mind that Cooth, in his future incarnations, might be a completely different, decent person; this book makes the assumption that a brute in one life is a brute eternally -- so much for learning as you go.
"Witchcraft" is an obvious attempt to cash in on the success and popularity of Neil Gaiman's excellent "Sandman" and related series, but James Robinson lacks Gaiman's deft hand at characterization. At the same time, Robinson's message here is highly questionable.
Ursula and Cooth are rarely reborn at the same time in London, so centuries pass as Ursula awaits her opportunity for some righteous smiting. She muffs her chance in 1342 -- so badly that she causes another slaughter of her fellow coven members -- and again in 1842, when she's reborn as a man, the adventurer Richard Burton, and chooses to forgo revenge for another turn of the wheel. The Fates, meanwhile, hem and natter, but do little to move the story along.
Finally in the 1990s does Ursula get her chance. Cooth has been reborn as another scoundrel, this one perhaps the worst of the lot, and only after Cooth/Ursula, now a grandmother named Irene, and her daughter in this life, Gaynor, have suffered mightily at his hands do the Fates get involved and kickstart some divine retribution. Oddly, unable to get their hands dirty for the past two millennia, they seem to have no qualms about getting involved now.
"Witchcraft," first printed in 1994 and collected in 1996, attempts to be a story about strong feminine spirit, but I think Robinson should have talked with a few women before writing his plot. The story seems to suggest that women are pretty much always victims (with an occasional rape thrown in to titillate the boys) unless some divine beings come along to save the day. That -- along with the blatant man-as-savage overtones -- is hardly a message of gender equality. Robinson's book is sexism of a different color.
By Tom Knapp, Rambles.NET editor
great art as well as great storyline
8 May 2010
Format:Paperback
i picked this arch at a local convention i frequent every once in a while. what first attracted me to it was the artwork. The images are very well done and really match the tone of the book. many comics have a great cover and the inside pages look like crap, this on the other hand is as beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. The second thing that attracted me was the fact that it was an off-beat comic from the 90's, where there was a lot of different experimentation on what is and what is not a comic or suitable. Story wise, without knowing anything about witches or witchcraft or what it's like to be a female, you do feel for the characters and also feel engaged in the storyline. you don't know whats going to happen next, so there is a build up of suspense from page to page. also, there is a build up of woman power and such, though it's not in the normal terms. I enjoyed reading this series, wish there was an on-going storyline for this. it's pretty graphic, and the nude parts kind of come out of nowhere, so it's a bit unexpected.
anyways, thumbs up for this book, one the arch, it's cheap on amazon or ebay. worth it, to read something very different. : )
anyways, thumbs up for this book, one the arch, it's cheap on amazon or ebay. worth it, to read something very different. : )
1 of 4 people found the following review helpful
an epic in 3 acts
12 Feb 2000
Format:Paperback
This book is amazing. It tells the saga of Ursula, an roman witch trough her many incarnations, just to fulfill her destiny.
With the Hecatae giving support to her vendetta, this story is full of drama, action, spells. The storytelling is amazing, so is the art.
I must have to any vertigo fan.
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