Broken Frontier

What if the Salem Witch Trials were both more and less than they seemed? What if there were darker forces at work?

Dark fantasy is a sub-genre that waxes and wanes with public tastes and the last several years have seen it on the rise again. Writers Chris Morgan and Kevin Walsh wisely tap this sub-genre, mixing in some alternative history and a tinge of horror to create Salem. Obviously, as a "zero" issue, this is designed to introduce readers to this new world and whet their appetites for things to come. The success of that comes with a few reservations.

The people of Salem are under siege from two fronts as suspicion and false piety lead to accusations of witchcraft on one side and dark, magical forces assail them on the other. In between the two stands a man named Hooke. A man who is condemned by the church and targeted by forces of evil magic. Who is this man? What brings him to this fight? And can he really stop both the wicked, hypocritical members of the church, led by Brother Hopkins, and the mysterious Queen of Thorns?

This new mini-series from Boom! Studios offers an interesting hook to the readers as well as a compelling mystery under the surface. Who is the mysterious Brother Hopkins and what is his grudge against Hooke? Just who or what is the Queen of Thorns and why is she targeting Salem? And finally, who is Hooke and why has he set himself on the path of confrontation with the Queen of Thorns and her minions? Hooke fits well into the "hard bitten" hero mould and the story woven around the character is solid dark fantasy with just an edge of horror to it.

The problem here is that this issue does not read like a "zero" issue. Rather it feels like the first issue of the mini-series which leads me to wonder what the first issue will be like. The other thing about it is that it both succeeds and fails in its aims of whetting the reader’s appetite for the mini-series. This story throws a lot of characters and situations at the reader but there are few explanations and very little contextual grounding. While this succeeds is raising a lot of questions and inspiring curiosity for the aforementioned appetite whetting, it also feels very whirlwind and confusing – which threatens to turn potential readers off by its murkiness.

The art, by Wilfredo Torres is also serviceable although not truly exceptional, except in a few places. The sequence where the Queen of Thorns attacks a house is wonderfully subtle and is graced with some excellent, sinister overtones. The rest of the characters are also quite well done, although there are a couple of panels where Hooke has a decidedly Clint Eastwood appearance that somewhat takes the reader out of the story.

For fans of the dark fantasy sub-genre, Salem: Queen of Thorns will more than likely prove of interest. For comic book readers in general there are the seeds of an interesting story planted here but this issue is still a bit too confusing to be able to say whether those seeds will bear good fruit.