I was given a free digital copy of the new comic book, Season of the Bruja that was written by Aaron Durán and illustrated by Sara Soler so that I could read and review it. Opinions are my own.
Here is the description of the book that was sent to me: “Althalia Cabrera might seem like any other witchy Portland hipster whiling away her days behind the counter of a freaky occult museum, but there’s more to her whole deal than a trendy pursuit of the craft. Althalia is a bruja by blood-the youngest in a long line of powerful magic users from a long-ago culture indigenous to Mexico. In her twenty years, Althalia has studied with her loving abuela by her side, supporting and mentoring her use of the family magic, and protecting her from the darkest parts of their practice’s history. But just as Althalia’s inner light and power begins to shine, the darkness of the past finds its way into her world and strikes a tragic blow, testing Althalia in ways she might not be prepared enough to survive.“
I was hooked into reading this because the story seemed interesting. You don’t often find a hero who has been mentored by her grandmother, her abuela. That seemed like something that my daughter would really want to read. I like to find strong female characters for her to read about and not always ones that are super heroes. Althalia is a bruja, a witch or sorceress. In the opening scenes we see that she is not only physically tough but mentally tough and her skills as a bruja are formidable. She also has heart and a fierce protection of herself, her friends and family and her heritage.
The book opens with a chaotic scene that needs Althalia to handle. She does so but at what cost, we do not know yet. She later suffers a devastating loss and the book ends with her embarking upon a hero’s journey. That has to be where things go from her because it is the next logical step. She needs answers and she’s only going to find them when she uncovers the truth about what happened.
The book has enough mystery and interesting characters to make me want to check out the next issue to see where things go. I hope that over the next few issues we get more of a backstory as to who Althalia, Dana the were-coyote and Abuela (Isadora) are. There is also this creature that they call Boss who is a Chupacabra, I cannot seem to find the name for it, though. So I’d like answers on that as well. The book was interesting and certainly one that I’d read additional issues of in the future. It is worth a look.
Season of the Bruja #1 On Sale: March 29, 2022