REVIEW: The Coven #1-3

Publisher: Awesome Comics
Words and Pictures: Jeph Loeb and Ian Churchill
Inks: Norm Rapmund
Review: Art Bee

Once again I have been digging in the back of the closet and this time my endeavor has produced something nice in The Coven. Time had buried the memory of this book for a long time, but it came racing back as I turned the pages. This series was one of the better books produced by Awesome Comics after they split off from Image in 1996. Fortunately for all of us, they folded in 2000. Most of the comics produced were complete trash in my opinion.

The Coven is almost a cookie-cutter copy of X-men, Avengers, or any other superteam. About the only thing that separates The Coven from the others is most of the characters and story elements are blended with the occult. The first issue of the series will definitely leave you shaking your head thinking this has all been done before, but if you give the storytellers just a bit of a chance, they do get better with time.

One of my very favorite qualities of this story is the creator’s use of opposing duality interwoven with many of the characters and story elements. For instance; the leader of the Coven, Blackmass, is a very large and super strong, but if he condenses his body (becoming smaller), he gains strength and toughness. The character called Scratch is a half demon, but he is also a priest by nature. I love when creators do this. It adds such an interesting dynamic to the story. Every character in this series has had a lot of thought and effort invested into them.


Another great quality of this series is the artwork. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous! These guys really went all out on every panel. Some of the full page and double page graphics are some of the best work I have ever seen. I really wish I could get some of the originals or prints to hang on my walls.

The great drawback to all of this is the creators’ opinion of their readers. They must think the reader is stupid. When scenes change, especially in the first issue, they say “in the present” or “now”. No other time frame is used in the issue! We assume it is now unless you say or indicate otherwise. In issue two, they say “in the middle of the night”, meanwhile the following panels show a night sky. Really? It is amazing they give us credit for being able to read!

Regardless of the writers’ opinion of us, this is a really good series to read. It has a lot going for it, so if you happen to catch one in a box of back issues, pick it up.