I had originally planned to write this blog post at the end of last week, thus ending my 'Kickstarter week' which had already contained my thoughts on Hallowed North, Fairyfare, Vodou Cowboy and Shark of War. However, as I had previously mentioned, time seemed to get away from me.
However, while the week seemed to scoop up anything resembling spare time, my weekend had no such problem with it, as I instead managed to make up for last week's failing and essentially close the 'Kickstarter week' as I had originally intended (albeit a little late)
So, this weekend I read all four issues of I am Hexed, a political thriller created by Kirsten Thompson, Christianne Gillenardo-Goudreau, Amagoia Agirre and Taylor Esposito. This series told the story of Charlotte 'Charlie' Helm, a political operative in Washington DC and a witch, working in a world where witches are commonplace to gain her community equal whites and reduce discrimination. However, when her boss is arrested, Charlie finds herself dragged into the middle of it as Feds and witches alike hunt her down. However, with her ex-girlfriend backing her up, Charlie plans to find out what she's been caught up in and how to get out.
I first came across this series many moons ago back when the first issue was released. Given the chance to write the review for I am Hexed over at Pipedream Comics, I found this to be a riveting read and was really hooked in the journey that Charlie had found herself on. This lead me to pledge on the fourth issue's kickstarter to pick up all four issues.
However, now that I've read it all together (over a couple of nights I will admit), I do find myself wondering what it was that I found so great.
Sadly, as I read I am Hexed, I found the series to be a little bit of a struggle as the plot came across as rather confusing (more so than I remember). While (despite the meandering first issue) the story was full of action and heart and I did enjoy following Charlie, who I thought to be a really captivating and enjoyable protagonist, I struggled to keep up (or maybe, more accurately, keep invested) with each successive issue. I just couldn't understand the reasoning behind why any of this had happened, even at the end when it was finally all explained. I am Hexed did that this real detective story vibe to it which was cool and I liked the narration by Charlie, which reminded me of Burn Notice, but, unfortunately, my lack of understanding made it tough going.
That said, the art was the series' saving grace with me as I truly loved the style that Christianne Gillenardo-Goudreau and Amagoia Agirre used respectively. It reminded me of the styles used by Sarah Millman on NPC Tea and Nich Angell on 7String but with a colour pallette that was so much more vibrant. What I thought really stood out (and I really loved) was rhe depiction of the magic, which really gave me that NPC Tea vibe while seeming to give I am Hexed something of its own flavour.
In the end, though, I am Hexed struggled to live up to the expectations I had set it. Of course, maybe I just wasn't in the right headspace for this series at this point but, as of right now, this was an ok series which bordered more to 'not my thing' than to 'good'.
Although, maybe that will change if I re-read it sometime in the future.
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