The coven — Adriyel, Em and Michele — need to end the ominous magickal eclipse they caused, but the danger continues to escalate as wytches throughout New York City are being massacred. Is the endless wytching hour connected to the sudden attacks? Will the wytches survive long enough to unravel the mystery and save all of wytchkind? Bytchcraft #2 is written by Aaron Reese, drawn by Lema Carril, colored by Bex Glendining and lettered by Morgan Martinez for Mad Cave Studios.
Issue #2 of Bytchcraft builds on the groundwork laid in issue #1, continuing late writer Aaron Reese’s worldbuilding and character development. The coven is under attack by Lady Genevieve, who aims to “save” wytches by killing them. However, the coven isn’t going down without a fight, and it’s how they fight back that is the highlight of this issue.
For a refresher, the coven consists of three Black queer wytches: Adriyel (who has telepathy), Michele (who controls nature and animals) and Em (who has power over the dead). In this issue, each character gets a moment to show off their abilities as they use them to combat Lady Genevieve’s attacks and figure out the mystery behind them.
Enhancing the magical abilities of each character is witty and engaging dialogue, gorgeous artwork and lettering, and fabulous style. Moments like Adriyel using Latin to free his sister-coven members from a psychic attack and Michele turning soldiers into a flower bouquet while looking like a chill princess are highlights. My personal favorite moment is Em saying “Can we blow this popsicle stand now?” while changing into a badass red-and-black outfit. It shows that Em is ready to throw down and look good doing it.
When it comes to the lettering, I loved how it got a bit more creative with the speech bubbles and text placement. I liked how the text bubbles had dashes at some parts to show that the wytch coven were speaking telepathically. Another moment that stood out was Em’s words being upside down while she was upside down taunting soldiers alongside Adriyel.
When it comes to the ongoing plot, the prophecy that is revealed almost a dozen pages in is especially intriguing. I have a theory that it concerns not only the coven’s potential but also that of Lady Genevieve. I also liked the subtle callback to the previous issue’s opening words, “The unicorn’s splendor holds the might to slay even the fiercest of dragons.”
By the end of the issue, the wytch-coven needs to regroup. They are headed to a place known as The Sacred Green, which I can assume will give Michele an advantage power-wise. I look forward to seeing Michele and the other wytches grow even more in issue #3.
Latonya "Penn" Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others. Follow them @wordsfromapenn.com on Bluesky.
