Zine Review: Witches of Cinema Vol 1 & Vol 2

Witches of Cinema Vol 1 & Vol 2
APac
12/12 pages
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Witches of Cinema Vol 1 & Vol 2 are black and white collections of witches in cinema with art and text along with commentary about witches in cinema.

Witches of Cinema Vol 1 & Vol 2 open with quotes about witches being portrayed in media before launching into a series of character drawings of witch characters in popular movies.

Each character drawing is accompanied by a brief description with their name, the movie and year of the movie featured in, and things like powers, objects, and goals. APac’s art style is detailed and realistic with each witch easily recognisable and accompanied by special objects and familiars.

Along with the art and descriptions, there are various quotes about witches and how they are presented. I found all of these to be incredibly interesting as they comment a lot about witches being presented as ‘anti-mother’ and lacking fertility. There’s almost a line of thought in terms of what came first – the infertile woman or the female witch. Much more is touched on in these brief quotes as well.

I also find it interesting that Apac separates the two volumes in order of time – the first being 1922 to 1990 and the second being 1990 to 2020. While time is as good a way of categorising as any in many ways, I think it serves to help further demonstrate the portrayal of witches and how that has been evolving.

Each zine comes with two inserts – Female Filmmakers and Extensive List of Movies. I always get nervous about parts of zines that aren’t in some way attached to the zines. However, with the movie checklists, I do like that I can stick them in my bullet journal.

These zines are a fun idea. They combine art and text, introduce the reader to characters they may haven’t seen in a long time and/or characters they would be interested in seeing. I’m so excited to watch some old favourites as well as check out some new-to-me charters and movies as well.

Definitely pick both of these up.