Where Conan failed to take hold as the main catalyst of his own series, Kull does just that in this trio (more came after..) of “The Hate Witch”. Come read along with me, and let’s all remember what it means to be a real bad ass.
Alright friends and fans, I’ll say it before you call me on it. The cover of Kull: The Hate Witch issue two does have a similar cover to that of Conan issue one, BUT.. there isn’t that whole romance novel feel. Either way, as my imaginary friends of Monty Python’s Flying Circus would say… “LET’S GET ON WITH IT!”
Holy guacamole, Batman. I had so much fun with reading these three books. I brought them with me on vacation, thinking I’d take my time with them on the beach, but I devoured them (along side with some fabulous rum) with a voraciousness that I didn’t think I’d have for this series. Just like Conan, I don’t know squat about about the Kull character. He’s a conqueror.. right? Well, so all I want to read about is some big dude getting pissed and conquering. SCORE!
These books are written by David Lapham, penciled by Gabriel Guzman, inked by Mariano Taibo and colored by Dan Jackson. I usually just mention the writer and penciler but I feel like all four of these cats contributed to such a neat series that they all deserved to get some credit. I have been trying to get over my “every single comic book should look like a 1957 Flash comic” deal and give more modern looking books a chance, (whatever, I’m sure you’ve got your issues.. stop judging me!) and I think these books have gotten me over that situation. Why? Because the Hate Witch is a bad looking SHUT YO’ MOUTH! Seriously…she is a haggard old crone and I fucking love her. She’s the baddest bitch in the land and makes fun of Kull to his face. She’s who we all want to be when our boss is nasty to us, when we get cut off in traffic, when someone steals our parking spot at the mall… oh, she’s ill.
Short Synopsis: The Hate Witch comes into Kull’s court and calls him the “Doom King”, proclaiming the end of the Valusian people and their world, all because Kull’s a punk bitch! Well, she calls him “Kull-nae”, but you get the idea. Apparently, both she and Kull both hail from Atlantis, although the Valusians have made him their king. I mean, she thinks he’s a herb, but he’s really a conqueror, THE conqueror. So, the deal is that she is only supposed to have power near her homeland of Atlantis, BUT she is able to wreak havoc wherever Kull is, because when he was a kid she put her “mark” on him, meaning she scarred him on his head. Of course, he’s got long hair, so no one knows of his mark and he denies it. I’m not going to ruin the rest.. read it!
Now, I love zombies and the Hate Witch kind of looks like one.. but a fancy pants zombie who wears crow (or is raven in this year?) feathers and looks like she’s the Prada version of the walking dead. I love her as a villain. If you read my words regularly, you might remember the piece I wrote on Darwyn Cooke and Tim Sale’s “Date Knight”? No? Well, it’s on here, find it. It lays out how much I love when a villain gets all up in the most feared hero’s face, without a glimpse of fear. That’s what she’s all about, and that’s why I am totally hooked into this series. Oh yeah, Kull’s a bad ass. He goes right after her, ready to murder this powerful supernatural woman. He doesn’t do it for love. He does it for pride, glory and because he needs to protect his people. Get into this series, if you’re ready for the illest villain in the land.
