Let’s be honest, I hate anything even tangentially related to horror.

I’m 30 years old and I still have nightmares about the dementors in Harry Potter. I never actively seek out reading, watching or listening to anything horror related because my overactive imagination is far too much to deal with. Still, the Netfix trailer for the new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina show looked incredibly tantalizing and knowing watching it was 100% out of the picture for me, reading seemed a viable option.

If you are a fan of light horror and a good CW TV show marathon, this is absolutely the series for you. I was shocked at how much I honestly enjoyed this. Robert Aguirre-Sacasa does a great job combining the tales of Sabrina the Teenage Witch we grew up on with a darker, more ominous theme. Enough good things cannot be said about Robert Hack, the artist. He manages to make a story that takes place in the 50s and 60s feel oddly contemporary, even when faced with the task of making witches eons old relatable and fun to look at.

Our story circles around Sabrina Spellman, a near 16 year old raised by her two aunts and the youngest in a family of witches. Her mother was a mortal, her father an incredibly powerful warlock. He defied expectation by marrying Sabrina’s mother, a choice which ends up having dire consequences befall Sabrina. There’s a theme of “sins of the parents fall to the child” throughout this book, and Sabrina is guided through her life with the help of her aunts (her father’s sisters) Hilda and Zelda, as well as her cousin Ambrose and her familiar, Salem. The climax of this story builds to Sabrina’s 16th birthday when she much choose to follow the life of the devil and witchcraft, or stay moral forever.

Many of us who grew up on the Melissa Joan Hart version of Sabrina will be completely shocked by this far darker version. I wasn’t sure what I expected going in, but I was blown away by the story, the world building and the presentation. I think this is a hit for anyone who loves shows like Riverdale (there’s even some cameos in this!), Scream Queens and American Horror Story. If the Netflix show has half the charm this dark graphic novel does, Netflix has a hit on their hands.

Title: The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Author: Rober Aguirre-Sacasa
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
ISBN: 978-1627389877

Three Descriptors: Amusing, Well-Developed, Gruesome

Read Alikes
Afterlife with Archie by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa
Locke & Key by Joe Hill
The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen
Wytches by Scott Snyder