Author and Narrative Manager of CD Projekt Red Bartosz Sztybor is back for another “The Witcher” series with artists Vanesa Del Rey, John Starr, Jordie Bellaire, and Aditya Bidikar at Dark Horse. Thanks to the growing success of CD Projekt Red’s games fans are hungry for content starring Geralt of Rivia. Will Sztybor and Rey be able to weave a story that doesn’t seem too generic for Geralt and friends? Will this title be able to stand alone as a solid story amongst a sea of Witcher content? “The Witcher: Witch’s Lament” #1 see’s Geralt witness the death of a witch that he feels responsible for. The setup for the story is deceptively simple teasing that the greater tone of the series is already intact. Read on to see if the impressive talent and premise behind the issue equate to a good series!
Written by Bartosz Sztybor
Penciled by Vanesa del Rey
Layouts by John Starr
Colored by Jordie Bellaire
Lettered by Aditya BidikarFlames rise as a witch is burned at the stake. As Geralt searches for his next job, disturbing images of the fatal persecution appear before him, bringing an ominous warning.
It is refreshing to see Sztybor’s script get the tone of “The Witcher” right so quickly. The opening pages of “The Witcher: Witch’s Lament” #1 have just the right sense of dark humor to make readers chuckle with a light sense of dread. Geralt plays the hits here in the beginning when he quips curse words at his horse to mask his terror of the creatures lurking in the woods. Geralt organically continues to find more history about his target and a simple mission continues to get more complicated as the issue progresses. The plot feels self-contained enough to be wrapped up in the course of a mini-series while not seeming too redundant.
Vanesa Del Rey’s collaboration with John Starr’s layouts and Jordie Bellaire’s colors evoke the gritty nature of “The Witcher” series perfectly. The loose lines and complicated arrangements of characters can even get more noir than the show or video game series in many instances. Comics aren’t beholden to beautiful framing like games or movies and I’m glad to see the art team pushing the envelope here. This team’s experimental nature allows them to get the most interesting story to be told through the visuals. I have to spend additional time praising Starr’s layouts as the design of the pages complements the pacing of the script really well here. Sztybor is able to rely more heavily on the visuals here and scale back some of the dialogue in the script.
The art is solid overall but the less detailed scenes tend to stick out. Geralt’s facial expressions and details can be distorted between pages. The characters are very expressive but can look slightly different in each panel they are in. Rey and Starr’s work suits the tone of the book well. Bellaire’s visuals help to clue readers in on how important a scene can be and what time of day it is. The bright hues of fire and the dark purples of the night really stood out to me long after I closed the final page of the issue. While this title could definitely benefit from a slightly more anatomically detail-oriented approach, this issue contains solid artwork overall.
Sztybor’s script puts Geralt in awkward situations where he ends up questioning his own morality. Geralt has a sense of guilt that he carries throughout the issue. Geralt is much more relatable in the moments where he is facing moral ambiguity. Sztybor’s script has excellent pacing and the average reader likely will not know where the script is going. This issue alone features a couple of minor plot twists to keep readers interested through the run-time. Even though this is a small town with a standalone story, Geralt’s actions and role in the story make this tale stand out. Geralt is driven by a sense of guilt that humanizes the story.
“The Witcher: Witch’s Lament” #1 is a breezy, confident read that will leave The Witcher fans hungry for more content. The first issue was a quick read thanks to the focus on art over a wordy script. The odd, foreboding feeling of “The Witcher” world is on perfect display here. Sztybor is very careful with the pacing of the issue and allows the story to feel right at home as a nuanced side quest from the newer game or a fleeting episode of the television show. It is shocking to see just how successful “The Witcher” can be across so many different mediums. I love this property in video games, television, prose and now I can happily add comics to the list. Sztybor brings a nuanced understanding of “The Witcher” property that really makes the title stand out. Vanesa Del Rey, John Starr, Jordie Bellaire and Aditya Bidikar are a solid art team who add an organic feeling to this series. Anyone craving more adventures with Geralt of Rivia can add “The Witcher: Witch’s Lament” #1 to their reading list.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – “The Witcher: Witch’s Lament” #1 is a smooth read that catches readers up to Geralt’s current misfortunes quickly.
