‘An Unkindness of Ravens’ by Dan Panosian and Marianna Ignazzi is a graphic novel about a newcomer in a town run by witchcraft.

When Wilma and her dad move back to his home of Crab’s Eye, Wilma knows she will have to adjust to being the new girl, but she bears an uncanny resemblance to a girl who has disappeared recently. She is also being sought after by two different groups: The gothy Ravens and the popular rich kids. The problem is that the stakes may be higher than Wilma knows.

Almost every volume starts with a lot of text. Initially, I found this bothersome, but it grew on me. The moody art helped. The story doesn’t feel particularly unique, but it had decent atmosphere and some nice surprises.

I really liked this title. The art style kind of reminds me of the Archie comics which I really loved and the plot was compelling. I liked the dark narrative that the graphic novel presented.

The story follows Wilma, the new girl in school that everyone can't seem to get enough of...is it because she is new to school...or because she is the spitting image of the missing girl Waverly. Wilma's whole life she has been told by her father that her mother and twin sister died in a car crash when Wilma was young. But things might not be as they seem and everyone else seems to know a lot more about her family than she does.

What's weirder is the tug of war that the two warring groups the popular survivors and the unpopular ravens seem to be having over her. With magic in the air more powerful than anyone ever anticipated, will Wilma get to have the normal life she so desperately craves? Or is she doomed to take over her role in the family business?

I highly recommend this book though I was wanting a little more from it (as in I wanted more pages). It leaves on a really good cliff hanger though so it keeps you wanting to come back for more.

When Wilma shows up at her new school, what she most wants is to not be noticed. This hope is in vain though, as she closely resembles a popular student who has recently gone missing. On top of this, she also discovers that the school's coven of witches (descended from survivors of the Salem Witch Trials) is interested in her and isn't going to let her stay under the radar for even a minute.

This was only okay for me. The story was engaging enough to read through relatively quickly, but I haven't found myself itching to hear more from this author. I had, in fact, forgotten that I even read it. This is easy to do when you read as much as I do, but still means it doesn't stand out in the crowd.

An Unkindness of Ravens was...Okay. It's basically Sabrina mixed with Mean Girls and The Craft, which really isn't a bad thing I have just seen it done better. The plot...took on more than the graphic could really handle. It felt rushed and honestly I didn't like a single character. Plus, I can only handle so much of a meandering plot line, which this story really did a lot of.
Now, The artwork is really lovely. I enjoyed the dark themes and how the shading really added to the tone. While this isn't in my top 10 graphic novels for 2021, I will say it was still a fun pulpy ready and it made me want to watch some 90's girl movies again.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a good story, but it was very predictable. I'd like to find out where the story goes next, now that so many things were revealed in this book. It's a decent light read if you are okay with figuring out the mystery early on. Fun art though.

The Craft meets Mean Girls. The storytelling was pretty bad in this. It moves at a snails pace without saying anything for most of the arc. Panosian's ear for dialog is deaf. The art is serviceable but unremarkable. It reminds me of something you'd see in an Archie comic. There is an interesting story to tell in this. I just don't know that Dan Panosian is capable of telling it.

A Very Long Fuse

It feels like this series is eventually going to blow up nicely, but five slow issues make for a very long fuse. So far I'm willing to go along with the slow burn, but the pace better pick up and the story better spread out in the next volume

Ravens are witches; Survivors are witch hunters. That's clear very early on. Wilma is popped into the middle of the creepy town that is the Witch/Survivor battleground and she has to figure which side she's on. Who can she trust? Dunno. Who is really her ally or friend? Dunno. Who are the good guys? Dunno. Heck, ultimately, is she a Witch or Survivor or some third sort of player who will disrupt everything? Dunno, but there are hints that this will be the main mystery as the series progresses.

The problem is that our heroine is of the sharp/dopey variety, and she's in deep denial. So sometimes she is a shrewd observer and sometimes she is as dense as a tree stump. The denial angle means that everything has to be said or demonstrated two or three times before she gets it. On the plus side she is feisty and independent, so we don't get a lot of teen angst or hand wringing.

The author has gone for a clever structure that takes some of the edge off this. On the one hand we get straightforward panels of dialogue and action that give us a clear narrative sense of what's going on with Wilma. But every few pages we get two or three pages of slightly coy text from some all-seeing all-knowing occult "librarian" who provides backstory, explanations, historical tidbits, and veiled clues about what's going on with Wilma. These feel like the old school cut scenes from early adventure video games, but they still work.

This two-fold structure allows for two markedly different art styles, complements of two different illustrators. Wilma's story is illustrated with straightforward, colorful, traditional comic book style art. This could be very sophisticated "Archie and Jughead" computer art. The weird text, though, goes for full on creepy weird. It's more like dark, brooding pen and ink or etching with blue and black washes. Totally different of course, but the sweet and sour effect actually worked for me.

So, this might or might not become an interesting tale. It could just end up being a "choose your path between light and dark" story. Time will tell. But so far I'm curious and intrigued, and really rooting for this to keep getting even better and better. I'll certainly keep an eye out for the next volume.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

This "borrows" from so many things: Sabrina, The Crat, even Buffy. It's not really new or innovative, but it's also not bad, for what it is. The art is gorgeous, even though several of the character designs are very similar, so it is occasionally tough to tell who is who, especially among the adults.
The basic premise is simple: a girl moves back to her dad's home town where she discovers her family actually comes from a long line of witches. There are a bunch of other things she discovers as well, but I won't spoil those for you.

I'm going to be honest - this book didn't grab me. I got 50% of the way through it and still felt like I didn't know what was going on. The artwork is okay, the story is... okay? It just felt rather dull and didn't pull me in like I had hoped. The cover and synopsis sounds awesome, but it just didn't pull me like I needed it to.

One out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and BOOM! Studios for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

BOOM! Studios is very quickly becoming one of my favourite publishers because of stories like this!

I love magic--Let's try that again--I LOVE MAGIC.
Mix in a strong but awkward teenage girl that just hasn't found her courage and voice yet. Getting pushes and encouragement from all sides, unsure of who she is, who she can trust, absolutely ready to blow... This is such an explosive story.

The way the narrative changes around from Wilma's view to an outside third person observation about facts and history at the beginning of each chapter, was such a delight to read.

This cliffhanger is ridiculously unacceptable, I need more of this NOW!

In all seriousness, this was a fantastic read, I would highly recommend it.


**Thank you to BOOM! Studios and NetGallery for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

A supernatural mystery that includes magic and the new kid in town. The book gives off the same sort of vibe that the movie The Craft does, which isn't a bad thing. I really enjoyed the story. The art reminds me of the Riverdale books. They have bright colors and upbeat art, but a darker story. It flows really well and I enjoyed it. I can't wait to see what volume 2 holds.

Creative Team:
Written by Dan Panosian
Illustrated by Marianna Ignazzi
Colored by Fabiana Mascolo
Lettered by Mike Fiorentino

This was a pretty fun graphic novel to read. We see magical things happen right away, and two groups are vying for the loyalty of a new student. This leaves them with a tough decision to make and they want to try and make the correct choice. Once Wilma learns a shocking truth she decides to do something drastic. As this graphic novel comes to a close it looks like this story is far from over.

Engaging enough but it moved fairly slow and the characters blended into each other, mostly in art design. There is a single dress size in this city and a single way to do eyebrows. Personality-wise they were bland. So though the story was interesting, the characters were not.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* This had a lot of build up for a cliff hanger but not one that makes me want to find out what happens next really, the story itself is pretty cool but just wish there would have been a little more to keep me wanting to read

I love a good witchy story and this one is a great series beginner. It does take a little while for the story to start coming together but I cannot wait to see where it leads. The artwork is perfect in invoking the tone for this story.

4.0 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

It's Sabrina the Netflix Witch, with a sprinkling of The Craft. To say this is derivative would be underselling it - nothing faintly surprising or actually thrilling happens, all the clichés click into place.

The art isn't good or bad, it's just very practical. That said, the coven of supposedly cool witches all look like bland, conventially beautiful dolls, which is at least unintentionally creepy.

An unkindness of a review, I'm afraid.

Thanks to the publishers for sharing this one. It wasn't the most original plot but still very readable and I liked the art. My full review appears on Weekend Notes.

This was a great read!! Excellent writing style that made me feel as if I knew all of the characters in real life. Everything about this was raw and real. The artwork was also amazing. Glad I got approved to read!

In An Unkindness of Ravens, a girl named Waverly goes missing at Danforth High.

A new girl, Wilma who looks uncannily like Waverly, is given her old locker. Because of her psychic abilities, Wilma can see an invisible message left in her locker filled with satanic imagery. Waverly was part of the school’s outsiders, The Ravens. The Ravens make it clear that the invite was for Wilma. She decides to go even though the Scarletts (the school queen bees) also want her to join their clique. Ahhh, high school! How I don’t miss you at all!

This has the feeling of a mix of Mean Girls and The Craft. The plot and the setting have both been done to death. I really wanted a more in-depth character study of the girls in both factions. I really only had their physical portrayals to categorize most of them. And the artwork is the best part of this book. It is suitable dark and gothic, yet it is easy to tell each character apart. For the art alone, I will look for volume 2. I hope that the next book’s plot reveals more of the town’s secrets too. For this volume of An Unkindness of Ravens, 3 stars.

Thanks to BOOM! Studios and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with an ARC!

this was a cute graphic novel but it didn't surprise me in any way. i got what i expected from the story with some nice illustrations. i wanted so much more from the characters, particularly the ravens! they had such an intriguing character design and i expected us to have more time to learn about them and who they were as people. hopefully future books will explore them.