The Witching Hour (DC Comics)

For other uses, see Witching hour (disambiguation).
The Witching Hour

The Witching Hour #1 (February–March 1969).
Art by Nick Cardy.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
Schedule Bimonthly, then monthly
Format Ongoing series
Genre
Publication date February–March 1969 to October 1978
Number of issues Vol. 1: 85
Vol. 2: 3
Main character(s) The Three Witches (Morded, Mildred, and Cynthia)
Creative team
Writer(s) Vol. 1: Alan Gold, Marv Wolfman
Vol. 2: Jeph Loeb
Penciller(s) Vol. 1: Nick Cardy, Gray Morrow
Vol. 2: Chris Bachalo
Inker(s) Vol. 2: Art Thibert
Editor(s) Vol. 1: Dick Giordano, Murray Boltinoff
Vol. 2:Karen Berger

The Witching Hour was an American comic book horror anthology published by DC Comics from 1969 to 1978.

Publication history

The series was published for 85 issues from February–March 1969 to October 1978.[1] Its tagline was "It's 12 o'clock... The Witching Hour!" and was changed to "It's midnight..." from issue #13 onwards. The series was originally edited by Dick Giordano,[2] who was replaced by Murray Boltinoff with issue #14. Nick Cardy was the cover artist for The Witching Hour for issues #1-6, 11-12, 15-16, 18-52, and 60.[3] Stories in the comic were "hosted" and introduced by three witches, based on Macbeth's Weird Sisters: Morded, Mildred, and Cynthia. The witches defined the archetypal Maiden/Mother/Crone—in reverse order—triumvirate of womanhood. A prototype version of the extraterrestrial Psions appeared in issue #13 (February–March 1971).[4]

After The Witching Hour's cancellation as a result of the "DC Implosion", the title was merged with The Unexpected,[5] until issue #209. The witches were later revived—along with the hosts of the companion series House of Secrets and House of Mystery as important characters in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

Vertigo limited series

Vertigo published an unrelated The Witching Hour limited series by writer Jeph Loeb and artists Chris Bachalo and Art Thibert in 1999-2000.[6]

2013 one-shot

The Witching Hour title was revived for a one-shot anthology by Vertigo in 2013.[7][8]

Collected editions

References

  1. ↑ The Witching Hour at the Grand Comics Database
  2. ↑ McAvennie, Michael; Dolan, Hannah, ed. (2010). "1960s". DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Editor Dick Giordano conjured up a triumvirate of witches to host an anthology series produced by some of comics' biggest names.
  3. ↑ Coates, John (1999). "Art Index". The Art of Nick Cardy. Coates Publishing. pp. 171–172. ISBN 1-887591-22-2.
  4. ↑ Wolfman, Marv; Gold, Alan (w), Morrow, Gray (p), Morrow, Gray (i). "The Maze" The Witching Hour 13 (February–March 1971)
  5. ↑ Wells, John (October 24, 1997), "'Lost' DC: The DC Implosion", Comics Buyer's Guide (1249): 134, Following #85, The Witching Hour was merged with House of Secrets and Doorway to Nightmare in The Unexpected, beginning with #189.
  6. ↑ The Witching Hour vol. 2 at the Grand Comics Database
  7. ↑ Armitage, Hugh (July 2, 2013). "Suiciders, Witching Hour: Vertigo unveils full revival title details". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved July 24, 2013. The Witching Hour will feature supernatural stories from creators including Kelly Sue DeConnick, Cliff Chiang, Lauren Beukes, Emily Carroll, Matthew Sturges, Shawn McManus and Tula Lotay.
  8. ↑ The Witching Hour one-shot at the Grand Comics Database

External links