Comics Review: Sabrina the Teenage Witch Complete Collection Vol. 1 Part 1

I mentioned picking this book up at Coas Books in August.  This is why you go to used bookstores: you never know what you might find.  And what a find this was!  500 pages of Sabrina!  (This was why it’s taken me so long to do this review.)  Even though it’s a comic book, it still took me a while to read.  Beyond the page count, this is a slightly larger than digest-sized book.  The pages are newsprint and it is in black and white.  The original price on the back was $9.99.  It was a bargain.            

 

The last time I’d written about Sabrina, it was about her Super Special.  (I also did a post on a recent trade paperback.)  I thought what I wrote at the time was a fairly comprehensive exploration of the character.  Then I got this volume.  I didn’t know the half of it.  It was not a straight line from Sabrina’s iconic first appearance and her 70’s Filmation cartoon version that more-or-less became the standard.

 

This volume covers Sabrina’s appearances from 1962 to 1972.  There’s Mad House and T.V. Laugh-Out stories, along with title appearances in Archie Giant Series, and a couple of Christmas specials.  There are even all of the cover appearances on various titles.  (I still think she was the host of a classic Archie Horror comic, but if she was, those stories aren’t reprinted here.)  For this review (spoilers: I’m recommending this), I’m going to be going over some highlights (and weird sidebars) from these early days of Sabrina.  

Here we have the panel that launched the franchise.  How totally irresistible.  Here we have the very pretty teen witch, who’s quite modern and hip compared to her elders.  We also meet her cat and familiar, Salem, and her also glamorous mentor, Head Witch Della.  In the story, Sabrina’s main thing is playing tricks on other teens, since witches are supposed to be bad.  It establishes that she’ll lose her powers if she ever falls in love.  “And that would be bad . . . I think?” 

 

Aunt Hilda makes her first appearance in this one-page gag (more-or-less) in Sabrina’s second appearance a year later.

In the same issue, Della has Sabrina hex the hockey team.  Sabrina becomes infatuated with a player, Donald, but can’t go out with him.  Meanwhile, Della makes out okay. 

 

Della then sicks Sabrina on another girl to break up her relationship with a boy.  She doesn’t tell Sabrina that this girl is also a witch.  This is one thing Sabrina hasn’t had much of in these classic stories: a recurring rival.  The good news for Sabrina is that she’s now allowed to date, which is a positive development for her character.  

 

In recent stories, Sabrina has had to deal with a teen rival and even a trio of rivals.  Actually, Sabrina hasn’t had much in the way of regular girlfriends either.  This may be an unstated intrinsic part of her personality.  Her status as a witch, especially having to hide it, makes having friends difficult.  Hiding it from a boyfriend is different though.  As the character seems to draw inspiration from I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched, it’s a great opportunity for comedy.  (Yes, Sabrina predates both shows, but probably borrowed from them later.)     

 

Now that she can date, the next two stories have Sabrina trying to get with a guy.  We are introduced to Greta, her fairy witch mother.  This character more-or-less gets repurposed into being Aunt Hilda later. 

As you can tell from all these stories, Dan DeCarlo really enjoyed drawing Sabrina.  As if Betty and Veronica weren’t glam enough, he created a sort teen Marilyn Monroe character.   

And here we start getting weird.  Without DeCarlo, Sabrina is just a recurring novelty character in Mad House.

Here’s Dan again on Sabrina.  What a panel!  Here we finally have Aunt Hilda being properly introduced.  

The next section was a bit startling.  Artist Bill Kresse takes over.  This is a very 60’s art style.  Interestingly in these stories, all of Sabrina’s friends seemed to know that she was a witch. 

 

She’s still going out with this Donald guy.  Like from That Girl?  (Again, his introduction predates that show.)  He knows that she has magical powers like in Jeannie and Bewitched.  

 

Then the weirdest thing: this nearly completely off-model Sabrina by Chic Stone.  There’s actually a couple of stories like this.

Here’s another first, its Aunt Zelda’s first appearance.  This does sort of establish that Sabrina’s two aunts are responsible for her, thus implying her parents aren’t around.  That’s another low-key essential part of the character. 

 

In Part 2, we get to a more recognizable Sabrina, but this part was really interesting, because I hadn’t seen most of this material before.