Thessaly - Witch for Hire

Yes, my friends, I have finally succumbed. I have finally read a graphic novel. Right now, I don't know why it took me so long. It was a fun book, a quick read, with engaging characters and a deft touch of humor.

The Sandman Presents: Thessaly - Witch for Hire is a story of one of the characters from Neil Gaiman's series The Sandman. The art is by Bill Willingham and Shawn McManus, and I found it beautiful and engaging. This is definitely a book for older teens and adults, as there is some minor nudity and three or four swear words.

Thessaly is the oldest witch in the world, having lived since the beginning of mankind. She is extremely powerful, having studied every tradition of magic and religion that has been. Because she is so old, Thessaly values her privacy; she finds that whenever she is involved in a showdown with evil or destruction, she must move on rather than becoming a local celebrity and drawing more attention to herself.

As the story in this graphic novel opens, Thessaly is out shopping in a small Italian tourist town and returns home to find a vicious serpent-monster there. A ghost acquaintance appears -- Fetch -- professing his undying love for Thessaly. The problem is, he is the one responsible for the monster that she has just fought... and for the 30 monsters that have come after her for the last two years. Even worse, it turns out that Fetch has contracted Thessaly and himself to destroy the one undestroyable creature in the entire universe.

Since I had not read any of The Sandman comics, there were a number of references that I did not quite understand. Thankfully, these didn't detract too much from the flow of the story, which was fast and packed with action. Thessaly and Fetch are intriguing characters, and I'm interested in reading more of their story. If you need something light to escape into, and you have 45 minutes or so, you may find Thessaly - Witch for Hire a great way to spend that time.