Guest post written by Brooms co-creators Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall
Jasmine Walls is a writer, artist, and editor with former lives in professional baking and teaching martial arts. She still bakes (though she’s pretty rusty at martial arts) and has a deep love for storytelling, creating worlds, and building tales about the characters who inhabit them. Along with Levine Querido, she has works published with Boom! Studios, Capstone, Oni Press, The Atlantic, and The Nib. She lives in California with two dogs and a large stash of quality hot chocolate.
Teo DuVall is a queer Chicanx comic artist and illustrator based in Seattle, WA. They graduated in 2015 with a BFA in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts and have had the immense pleasure of working with Levine Querido, HarperCollins, Dark Horse, Chronicle Books, Scholastic and more. He has a passion for fantasy, aesthetic ghost stories, and witches of color, and loves being able to create stories for a living. Teo lives with his partner, their two pets – a giant, cuddly pit-bull, and a tiny, ferocious cat – and a small horde of houseplants.
Brooms is out now.
Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall is a historical fantasy about six young witches who fight back against oppressive laws by participating in illegal broom races to earn money for better lives. It was important to us that we didn’t go the usual route of sending these girls to a magical school, especially considering how fraught forced schooling is in actual American history. We also wanted a setting that wasn’t based in Europe, or even in a big city. The word ‘witch’ conjures up certain expectations of a European setting and a vaguely medieval time period, and we decided to sidestep that by setting this story in 1930’s Mississippi. Here are some other great comics about witches that chose to fly outside of expectations:
Snapdragon by Kat Leyh
Snap’s town had a witch. At least, that’s how the rumor goes. But in reality, Jacks is just a crocks-wearing, internet-savvy old lady who sells roadkill skeletons online―after doing a little ritual to put their spirits to rest. It’s creepy, sure, but Snap thinks it’s kind of cool, too.
They make a deal: Jacks will teach Snap how to take care of the baby opossums that Snap rescued, and Snap will help Jacks with her work. But as Snap starts to get to know Jacks, she realizes that Jacks may in fact have real magic―and a connection with Snap’s family’s past.
The Okay Witch by Emma Steinkellner
Magic is harder than it looks. Thirteen-year-old Moth Hush loves all things witchy. But she’s about to discover that witches aren’t just the stuff of movies, books, and spooky stories. When some eighth-grade bullies try to ruin her Halloween, something really strange happens. It turns out that Founder’s Bluff, Massachusetts, has a centuries-old history of witch drama. And, surprise: Moth’s family is at the center of it all! When Moth’s new powers show up, things get totally out-of-control. She meets a talking cat, falls into an enchanted diary, and unlocks a hidden witch world. Secrets surface from generations past as Moth unravels the complicated legacy at the heart of her town, her family, and herself.
Barbarous by Ananth Hirsh and Yuko Ota
Barbarous is the story of Percy, a down-on-her-luck wizard school dropout who finds herself out of her depth when she becomes the assistant to the super at an apartment building full of misfits. Leeds, the super in question, is a secretive monster man that she just can’t seem to get along with. And of course there’s the landlady Cecilia (of Girl With the Skeleton Hand fame), who clearly has some secrets of her own. Barbarous has magic, drama, pasts shrouded in mystery, and more drama. Can Percy make a place for herself here? Will Leeds be able to make room for her? They might be able to help each other out, if they could just get along first…
Salt Magic by Hope Larson and Rebecca Mock
When Vonceil’s older brother, Elber, comes home to their family’s Oklahoma farm after serving on the front lines of World War I, things aren’t what she expects. His experiences have changed him into a serious and responsible man who doesn’t have time for Vonceil anymore. He even marries the girl he had left behind. Then a mysterious and captivating woman shows up at the farm and confronts Elber for leaving her in France. When he refuses to leave his wife, she puts a curse on the family well, turning the entire town’s water supply into saltwater. Who is this lady dressed all in white, what has she done to the farm, and what does Vonceil’s old uncle Dell know about her? To find out, Vonceil will have to strike out on her own and delve deep into the world of witchcraft, confronting dangerous relatives, shapeshifting animals, a capricious Sugar Witch, and the Lady in White herself–the foreboding Salt Witch. The journey will change Vonceil, but along the way she’ll learn a lot about love and what it means to grow up.
Mapmakers by Amanda Castillo and Cameron Chittock
For centuries, the Mapmakers kept peace in the Valley, but they’ve long since disappeared. Now the Night Coats hold power with an iron grip–there are only rules, punishments, and consequences. Until one night, on the run from the Night Coats (again), after breaking another rule (again), Alidade stumbles upon a secret door leading to a magical hideaway that belongs to the Mapmakers. There, she finds a map of her home and accidentally brings to life Blue, a magical creature called a memri who is meant to protect the Valley. Blue needs Alidade’s help to find the Mapmakers and save the Valley from the Night Coats! But the Mapmakers are long gone. Alidade has a choice: leave the Valley like she’s always wanted…or become a Mapmaker and save the only home she’s ever known
Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology edited by Joamette Gil
Power & Magic vol. 1, edited by Joamette Gil collects fifteen comics about queer witches ranging in style, mood, and message. Each comic is by a queer cartoonist of color, exploring ideas of love from intoxicating passionate romances, to finding best friends, to the love of parents and children. Each magical tale is a true gem exploring strong feelings and other-worldly experiences! Standouts include Nivedita Sekar’s use of old fairy tales to tell a story of modern dating; Arianne Hokoki’s exploration of depression and companionship; Ann Xu’s love letter to ancestors; and Naomi Franquiz’s story of chosen family.
Mooncakes by Wendy Xu and Suzanne Walker
Nova Huang knows more about magic than your average teen witch. She works at her grandmothers’ bookshop, where she helps them loan out spell books and investigate any supernatural occurrences in their New England town. One fateful night, she follows reports of a white wolf into the woods, and she comes across the unexpected: her childhood crush, Tam Lang, battling a horse demon in the woods. As a werewolf, Tam has been wandering from place to place for years, unable to call any town home. Pursued by dark forces eager to claim the magic of wolves and out of options, Tam turns to Nova for help. Their latent feelings are rekindled against the backdrop of witchcraft, untested magic, occult rituals, and family ties both new and old in this enchanting tale of self-discovery.
Bytchcraft by Aaron Reese
Three queer Black wytches; one born of hellfire, one born of the omnipotent all-seeing eye, and one of mother earth’s flesh. Their journey into self-discovery is prompted by the emergence of an ancient foe, cloaked in a heavenly façade. Each wytch will be tasked with unlocking secrets of the past, present, and future to prevent the total corruption of magic. God save the wytch.
