VAN HELSING: HOUR OF THE WITCH – Review

VAN HELSING: HOUR OF THE WITCH, from Zenescope Entertainment on April 6th, 2022, teams up Liesel Van Helsing with Gretel and Calabar to track down a diabolical witch in league with an equally diabolical vampire.

The Details

• Written By: Pat Shand
• Art By: Sergio Ariño, Julius Abrera
• Colors By: Grostieta, Vinicius Andrade, Maxflan Araujo
• Letters By: Taylor Esposito, Elizabeth Sharland
• Cover Art By: Igor Vitorino (cover A)
• Cover Price: $7.99
• Release Date: April 6, 2022

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Was It Good?

Pat Shand is quickly turning into our favorite Zenescope writer for turning out stories steeped in rich character- and world-building combined with an action-packed adventure. Over the last year or so, Zenescope has taken pains to release a series of one-shots that tell a complete story but leave just enough uncertainty to tell further adventures with the same heroes and villains later on. In VAN HELSING: HOUR OF THE WITCH, Shand combines the events from two one-shots from both Gretel and Van Helsing to pull the threads together and establish a potential partnership in the future.

If there’s one thing you can say about Zenescope that puts it head and shoulders over Marvel and DC, it’s that they handle an interconnected universe with much more care and consistency. You could chalk that consistency up to a smaller character lineup and fewer titles per month, but you could conclude that quality is better than quantity and that seems to be the case here. There are heaps of references throughout this annual making reference to previous one-shots over the past year or so, but the references aren’t necessary to be satisfied with the story Shand presents.

The story is effectively a collision course between two heroes with separate goals that happen to intersect. Van Helsing is on the hunt for a troublesome witch. Gretel is on the hunt for a troublesome vampire. When the vampire and witch team up, it’s a perfect match made in Zenescope heaven. While the premise sounds rudimentary, it’s elevated by Shand’s attention to backstory with a reasonable amount of flashbacks and history interwoven into the present-day events. This is the type of comic where you feel each moment matters, and because this is a triple-sized issue, you get your money’s worth.

There are too many artists working on this Annual to tell who exactly worked on what, but the net effect is a gorgeous and energetic comic. To the art team’s credit, multiple artists are usually a red flag for jarring, inconsistent art transitions and generally lopsided visuals. Surprisingly, there are no obvious art consistencies anywhere, so whenever an artist handoff occurs, the artists are either mimicking each other so well that the transition is invisible or the transitions are cleverly hidden. Either way, the art looks great and maintains a consistent quality throughout.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

We begin with Gretel and Calabar relentlessly chasing down a child-eating witch named Goody Cole. The chase leads our heroes into an underground cavern where they encounter Liesel van Helsing clearing out a nest of vampires. Goody Cole is eventually dealt with and the vampire nest is cleared, so the heroes introduce themselves and decide to debrief as they suspect a powerful witch intersecting a vampire nest is an unlikely coincidence.

Later, the trio trades backstories, weapons tips, and current research to hunt down their respective targets. Van Helsing is on the hunt for Mercy Brown, an elder vampire responsible for countless deaths. Gretel is searching for Mother Margaret, an elder witch whose evil is responsible for just as many more deaths.

As the Annual progresses, we learn the two villains have discovered a mutually beneficial partnership, we see that both villains have connections to the past of both Gretel and Van Helsing, and we conclude with an ending that promises evil will be back.

Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.

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