The Witcher: Witch's Lament #2

The Witcher: Witch’s Lament #2

Dark Horse Comics 2021

Written by Bartosz Sztybor

Art Layouts by John Starr

Illustrated by Vanesa R. Del Ray

Coloured by Jordie Bellaire

Lettered by Aditya Bidikar

Geralt's rescue mission takes a turn when Giltine refuses his help. Drawn to the cult's settlement, he finds himself an unwitting participant in one of their most sacred rituals.

This is a pretty strange and strangely powerful issue. As Geralt locates Giltine supposedly being helped by some witches who think she isn’t ready to leave yet and have convinced she isn’t ready to leave as well. This issue has a lot going on and whether these witches actually have the ability to help others assuage their guilt remains to be seen but to me it stinks of something else entirely. If there is anything I’ve learned from reading The Witcher series is that witches aren’t to be trusted for their words belie their meaning and if you aren’t careful you’ll get caught up in something without realising what you’ve done. These are the witches that I’ve come to understand inhabit Geralt’s world. There is just something about the way that this is being told that almost feels intrusive into Geralt’s mind and world and it’s interesting and kind of terrifying.

I absolutely adore the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exquisitely well. The character development that we see is extraordinary thanks to how we see the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we’re drawn further and further into this as it engages the reader in some beautiful ways.

I am loving the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen. For this to happen it all depends on which avenues are opened up and those that are explored. The layers contain the characterisation, the loss of time Geralt experiences and of course Bandura and her anger and whether these work with the main arc or simply swirl around it they add this wonderful depth and complexity to the story. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is perfectly achieved.

The interiors here are absolutely gorgeous. The style is distinctly Vanessa’s even with John’s layouts her work really shines through. There are some absolutely intense and dramatic moments, including a great arse shot of Geralt, that capture the readers attention and keeps it focused on the page. The linework is incredible and how the varying weights and techniques are utilised to create the detail work is astonishingly well rendered. The composition of the panels and how we see the depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is magnificently rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellously talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is fabulous! The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work demonstrates a sensational eye for colour and how to utilise it effectively.

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There is so much mental manipulation going on within these pages. The play on words the soothing tones and I picture the sing song lull of the tone in their voices that mess with Geralt. This is so intelligently written and with such great characters and these dynamic and brilliant interiors showcase why The Witcher is one of comics greatest franchises.