W.I.T.C.H. Part II: Nerissa's Revenge, Vol. 1

W.I.T.C.H. Graphic Novels #4

by Elisabetta Gnone (Created by), Alessandro Barbucci (Comic art direction), Barbara Canepa (Comic art direction)

In the aftermath of their first adventure, Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin have unleashed a dormant evil... Corrupted by a power greater than herself, the ex-Guardian Nerissa re-emerges to threaten Kandrakar, and only the girls of W.I.T.C.H. can stand in her way!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Middle Grade, Magic, Graphic Novels Manga, Witches

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 30, 2018

About the author

Elisabetta Gnone is an Italian writer. In April 2001, she co-created the Italian comic/magazine W.I.T.C.H. with Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa. The publication was later made into the television series of the same name. Gnone also wrote the children's trilogy Fairy Oak: Il segreto delle gemelle (The Secret of the Twins), L'incanto del buio (The Spell of Darkness), and Il potere della luce (The Power of Light). She expanded the Fairy Oak Universe with four more books, "The four mysteries": "Captain Grisam's love", "Shirley's wizarding days", "Flox smiles in autumn", and "Good-bye Fairy Oak".

information taken from wikipedia.com

Reviews

[Gustė · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much more heart-wrenching and somber than I remember. Irma's chaotic personality remains my all-time favourite though.

'And you think moving again is the solution to every problem?'

[Skaistė]

pasotinau vidinį vaiką ateinantiems 10 metų (?) 🐸

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nerissa's volumes are more darker and scarier than Elyon's

[daria ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i decided to do a bit of a throwback and revisited the iconic magical girl gang of my childhood aka W.I.T.C.H. ✨

https://youtu.be/sWxYq8UjfZo

[Anniken Haga · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great to pick up this album, and I'm so looking forward to reading this arc.
I think the Nerissa—arc us my favorite. I love the dreamy darkness of it, and that we get some more character growth.

This book here is just the first album in the Nerissa story, all the way at the end. But that's OK, 'cause they combined the "epilogue" chapters of the last arc with this one, ad they clearly build up to the Nerissa—arc.

A lot of fun, and I'm feeling that the script is a bit better as well. Not as many stupid comments as in the other books. Strongly sniffing on a 5/5 here

[Bookarune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le meilleur arc commence !

[Daniela González · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️

[Nela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'll need to re-read the rest of the series as well next year, it's been too long and it really feels like visiting old friends 🥰❤️

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/ 5 stars
I have been reading (trying to) the W.I.T.C.H series for over 15 years, this is the first time I made it to part 2 and I am enjoying the plot line. That being said the actually stories themselves feel so different form part one. The first two chapters while tying up lose ends dragged on. If you can I really would suggest skimming them and skipping right into the third chapter.

[Émi (Slavic Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was okay. There was a lot of set-up at the beginning that felt a bit boring. The character are recovering after Part I, and although it's realistic, it's not the most exciting part for me personally. I can see why I enjoyed the story so much when I was younger, as it accurately deals with problems young girls might face and go through. In addition to the magical complications obviously.

The last few pages were the most interesting, and I expected the cliff-hanger ending - the individual arcs (save the conclusion) always have these types of endings. When I was younger, I was more so invested in the arcs that had themes of romance - so I'll probably enjoy revisiting those volumes the most. But the ending also finally delves into Nerissa's story, which I'm very much looking forward to reading about!

[Anne (ReadEatGameRepeat) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cant wait to keep reading this series...this was one of my favorite arcs.

[Bay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good start on a new adventure. It explored subjects as grief and problems with teamwork caused by the aftermath of where we let off, which I really appreciated. A very nice transition. I'm getting into the territory where I no longer really remember anything, so it will almost be like reading it for the first time!

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second chapter in this book is the first W.I.T.C.H. comic issue I ever read/bought and so it will always hold a really special place in my heart. When they're with Irma's family at the vacation house I think it's really enjoyable and sweet to read about especially after the kind of annoying issues when they were all fighting/not talking to each other.

[Elaine Pleunis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love reading the Nerissa stories! Can't wait to read on. ;)

[Jelke · Rating 3 out of 5]

CAWPILE rating: 6.59
actual rating: 3.5 ⭐️

[Ella :3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying these books so far! I can’t wait to see where the story goes and to read the next parts.

[Erika Sarutobi · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are so addicting!

[Kellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars

[Elena-Loredana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nostalgia of old memories and being outside with little to no technology.

[Aqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Note: This review is for all three volumes in Part II (W.I.T.C.H. #4-6) since they are really a set*
A great follow up to the original Meridian storyline, these comics continue to not disappoint. The artwork is consistently beautiful, fully colored, the story progresses in a logical direction, and the guardians continue to grow into their roles. After Meridian was secured in Part I, the guardians feel a bit lost and no longer quite so unified now that their goal has been accomplished. Part II introduces a new villain, and tells the story of the previous generation of guardians, only briefly mentioned by Hay Lin's grandmother in Part I. The new villain challenges the guardians in new ways, and the five girls grow closer and more comfortable in their roles. It's a great continuation and I'm looking forward to more in Part III (coming May 2018).

That attention to detail...
One of the things I love about these comics is their attention to detail. Not only is the artwork consistently great, but there are frequently beautiful backgrounds to look at, and the artwork maintains consistency among its characters. Each of the five girls, and many side characters, have their own unique look and sense of fashion. I rarely see them wearing the same clothes, but their sense of style is always consistent and serves to differentiate the five main girls. They also all have their own unique personalities and thus far I have never thought they acted out of character. They are five distinct characters, and I love them all, which is hard to achieve when you're juggling so many main characters. You can tell a lot of effort went into these characters and this artwork and I love it.

Kandrakar
My one complaint is I'm not the biggest fan of Kandrakar. And they have a much larger role than they did in Part I. I've never liked it much when "chosen one" stories involve these essentially omniscient overseers who manipulate the chosen ones and even though they know all this information, they withhold it. If the Oracle says one more time "all will be revealed in time" or "it is not yet time for me to tell you [insert important plot info]" I swear... At one point the Oracle erases their memories of an incident for a couple months because "they are not yet ready" and the girls live out their lives normally without realizing anything is wrong until their memories are given back. It's weird and heavy-handed and stupid. At one point the Oracle says something like "we cannot interfere with people's decisions" when trying to justify why they are not taking action, when not a few chapters back they had manipulated the girls' memories to literally interfere with their decisions. It's infuriating. I would not miss Kandrakar at all if they were removed from the plot.

Elyon
If you liked Elyon, I know I did, she's a great character, I'm sorry to tell you her role has been significantly reduced. However, she still at least pops up from time to time.

The boyfriends
Just about all the girls have their own boy by this point, and sadly the plot relies on some of the worst tropes to create drama. I have lost count of the number of times one of the girls has seen their boy interacting with or hugging or talking to another girl, and without even asking the boy who they are (they're never another girlfriend of course, it's always a misunderstanding) they just instantly assume the worst and get mad. How did they not learn their lesson the first time, ugh.

[Hawraki · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things are developing in an unpredictable way, I enjoy observing the differences in the girls personalities, interests, choices and lives.

[Sarah Heilman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be the most compelling volume so far in my opinion, aside from the first! I feel like it dealt with some real talk, like grief and how people handle it, having worries and doubts about friendships and showing that it takes work to maintain things like that sometimes, but it's worth it! And the whole conflict with Luba and the Oracle in the Fortress of Kandrakar was interesting. I'm intrigued by Nerissa and can't wait to meet her face-to-face.

This volume just felt like it made a little more sense, and read a little more seriously, than others.

And again, the artwork is beautiful and I love that the girls have varying wardrobes that look age-appropriate!

The series still suffers from inconsistencies in how the magic works, but I don't think the target audience of this book will be too concerned about having a "consistent" magic system haha. For instance: on page 86 Cornelia's earth droplet is floating out of the circle made by the rest of the droplets because she's very isolated at that moment, but when the droplets were first shown to us on page 73, all five of them are floating together, even though Cornelia had been isolated at that time well, since the start of the book. You just have to enjoy the action and the cool elemental powers as it comes!

[Andro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cette partie de l'histoire m'avait déjà brisé le coeur à l'époque et quinze ans après, ça n'a de nouveau pas raté... Je sais que beaucoup n'ont pas aimé cet arc à cause du groupe qui éclate et des tensions qui explosent, mais perso je l'ai vraiment trouvé très chouette : chacune des filles se retrouve à dealer avec les conséquences de ce qui leur est arrivé pendant la première partie, et les auteurs n'ont pas peur de montrer à quel point chacune réagit différemment au traumatisme, et que ce n'est pas toujours très joli ni compatible avec les réactions des autres.

C'est un arc plus réaliste, plus introspectif, pas forcément très original (le groupe de protagonistes qui se sépare un temps pour mieux grandir et ensuite se retrouver plus uni que jamais pour affronter le nouveau méchant) mais solide et intéressant.

[Narra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love diving back into this story.

Sadly this volume didn't grab me as much as the past ones. The reason for that might be that it mainly just set the stafe to start the new arc. The stories weren't bad but because the villains were all different and had no common purpose it felt more like multiple different stories that are only slightly connected. I'm glad the new arc is now here and that we have a propper vo
Illain for the next volume. Can't wait to contine.

My rating for this volume is 4 stars.

[L'Abri des Pages · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning of an arc always takes at least one volume to set up. Luba member of the Kandrakar Council, tries to reason with the Oracle concerning the inability of the guards to do a correct job. Thus releasing a changeling, the group explodes and releases Nerissa without knowing it. We discover the story of the older generation of guardians, including Hay Lin’s grandmother, who shows that the series is maturing. The girls learn of Cassidy’s death, Nerissa’s descent into hell, Caleb’s torture, Luba’s betrayal and sacrifice, in short nothing very joyful. There is also a complex but interesting part about a constellation that would conceal the soul of the deceased guardian. All this punctuated by new male heads, to remind us that it is still about five teenage girls who sometimes need to return to a simple life.

Cornelia is the most broken because she discovers the pain and then the loss, the powers of the elements disappear, Kandrakar dies, Will risks seeing her life change.. A lot of sadness and yet, almost every chapter ends with a laugh or a smile from our group. This arc sees the gradual but effective change of their maturity, they remain positive at all costs and we have everything to learn from them. Even if I remain mixed about the battle against Nerissa, the story progresses and tell yourself that we are only at the beginning of the collection!

Do you like stories about difficult subjects?

Link to my Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cca9USAoCRa/

[Drucilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review will be for the entire arc (volumes 4-6). This arc definitely has its ups and downs. I think its main problem is that Nerissa just doesn't seem like formidable villain. Her backstory is great, along with her minions and her ability to affect the guardians in their dreams, but that's pretty much it. She hardly ever gets "hands on" with her evil-doing and she comes across as very cartoony sometimes, particularly her dialogue. Maybe if they had had more time to build her up but the balance of this arc was odd, too. The majority of vol. 4 is just the events that lead up to Nerissa's jailbreak (which is annoying to read because it's just the girls getting mad with each other over nothing), vol. 5 is all Nerissa stuff, and only half of vol. 6 is them defeating her. I did like the last chapter of vol. 6 a lot, but Nerissa should have have more screen time, so to speak. Something else that was frustrating for me is the way this series seems to forget the age of its characters, especially when it comes to the girls' romantic relationships. They're only 11-12.

[Katie Umland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as good as when I read the actual books when I was a kid. I think some of the quotes were changed or it could be I just remembered them different. It’s been a while since I read them.

I do have a hard time believing the ages of the characters though. It bugs me the older I get, but if these guys really are 16years old how can Cornelia go around acting like she knows anything about love? She comes across as so desperate and spoiled. I know she lost the guy she had a thing for but she can’t always put the blame on Will for every little struggle the group goes through! Sometimes their conversations get really suggestive too. Maybe it’s just that I’m reading too much into their comments, but Irma has a bad habit of saying things that sound more adult than their ages suggest.

I always LOVED the artwork and the gear icon novel version allows me to compare what I envisioned in my head to what other people saw. Though this also takes away from the flow a little. There are times where the pacing jumps from one situation to another in the panels.

[Lilith · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 /5 stars
[10 /10 stars]

- story [2! /2]
- worldbuilding & consistency [1 /1]
- art [1! /1]
- characters [1! /1]
- length & progress [1 /1]
- ending [1 /1]
- originality [1 /1]
- enjoyment [2! /2]

~quick thoughts~
• I love the dynamic of arguing and teenage angst, it makes the characters so realistic
• Caleb and Cornelia's kiss, Matt and Will's date... I'm fangirling!
• lots of emotionally intense moments in this one
• a great build-up in this book to the actual major plot of the arc

~quick story summary per chapter~
• Chapter 13: the guardians' powers are weakening as Cornelia pulls further away and they struggle to battle the stalking Frost the Hunter
• Chapter 14: Luba meddles with the droplets to test the guardians which creates a changeling, absorbing their powers and transferring them all to Cornelia
• Chapter 15: the guardians strengthen their friendship and Caleb rises again, returning the powers to the guardians as Luba escapes
• Chapter 16: Nerissa rises because of the guardians' powers uniting into one, builds her army and invades the guardians' nightmares, attacking them in the waking world via her army

~long story summary per chapter~
Chapter 13
• Cornelia is inconsolable and doesn't want to hang out with the guardians, skipping school and Taranee starts to wonder if they're real friends, while Will buys Cornelia a cat
• Will finds out her mom is planning on moving them again
• Taranee's house is observed by a suspicious man, plotting revenge
• at school it's Pumpkin Day and Irma shows up with her astral drop, while she's looking like an older version of her and struggles to turn back
• the mystery man kidnaps Peter and calls Taranee to meet up with him, revealing he's Frost and Taranee struggles to contact the guardians telepathically
• on Taranee's trail, Hay Lin turns invisible and struggles to turn back
• the guardians battle Frost without Cornelia, struggling to maintain their power as the Heart of Kandrakar becomes opaque
• arriving to Kandrakar, Hay Lin's grandma tells them their powers are weakening because their bond is weak and Will finally tells them of her potentially moving away

Chapter 14
• Will, Irma and Hay Lin get into a fight and the Oracle observes the auras shrinking in The Room of the Auras as Luba, the custodian of the droplets, decides to take matters into her own hands
• Irma's dad informs her they broke down the wall in Elyon's basement and the guardians decide to infiltrate Will's mom's workplace to get the resignation letter but create a water blob while using their powers, giving life to a changeling, thanks to Luba's meddling
• The Oracle calls Luba out on what she did, telling her he was testing her and she failed, because if the blob finds Cornelia and takes her power, not even he can predict what will follow
• Cornelia's new cat, Napoleon, breaks Caleb's vase, Will finds out they're not moving and Irma overhears Interpol backing off the case, as they deem Elyon and their family to be illegal immigrants
• Irma finds the blob in her room, but lets it escape after the Interpol agent walks into her room and sees two Irmas
• Cornelia finally lets her friends hang out with her again and learns that Napoleon has been protecting Caleb from a crow
• Cornelia hugs blob Will and absorbs all their powers, kicks her friends out and decides to bring Caleb back to life

Chapter 15
• the council decides Luba can have a chance of fixing her mistake, so she intercepts Cornelia as she struggles to bring Caleb back and they get in a magical fight
• Irma joins The Happy Bears club that Martin is a part of and Hay Lin gets Will's help
• Luba teleports Cornelia and growing Caleb to Kandrakar and takes her power away, separating it back into five elements, waiting for new guardians
• the rest of the guardians reunite, trying to find their way to Kandrakar and discussing what powers meant to them and as they start believing in their friendship again, the Heart of Kandrakar lights up
• Caleb resurrects and Luba wants to invoke Khandran as the guardians successfully teleport to Kandrakar, but Caleb argues that it's his fault and he'll stay a loyal servant in Kandrakar, returning powers to Cornelia, which The Oracle accepts
• as they're about to transfer power, Luba interferes and then escapes from Kandrakar via teleportation
• the guardians return home to find out they passed the finals, even while flunking some subjects

Chapter 16
• from her grave at Mount Thanos, Nerissa rises
• the guardians go camping for summer vacation where Will tells the guardians of her date with Matt and reflects on why she's afraid to pursue anything more and is then contacted by Nerissa in her dream
• upon waking, she sees the mark that looks like the Heart of Kandrakar on her wrist and they visit Yan Lin that explains this is Nerissa's mark, takes it off Will and leads them to her memory vault
• Yan Lin tells them Nerissa was her best friend and the previous custodian of the Heart before she usurped it and killed one of the guardians, now rising from her grave because their powers united into one with the changeling
• Nerissa starts building her army of the Four Knights of Revenge and makes Khor the Destroyer, who is spotted around the woods at the camp where the guardians are vacationing and Cornelia uses her earth power to learn more about the monster
• Hay Lin sinks into the sand at the beach and is almost kidnapped by Khor
• when the guardians investigate the beach, Khor successfully kidnap her and takes her underwater, but the guardians follow and fight him in a cave, prevailing, so he teleports away, using the mark, leaving Nerissa's seal behind him

[Hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the first arc was a little rushed with Prince Phobos and everyone became super close friends so quickly (which isnt realistic in most cases) so it was nice to take a whole volume to explore how close they actually are without having some “big bad” to fight to unify them as friends. I also love Cornelia experiencing some mental health issues and seeing her friends rally a little for her while also feeling a little rattled by feeling uncertain of the strength of their friendship. I love Cornelia and Caleb so obviously I loved the ending and I cant wait to see more of them in the future and I think the big bad for the next arc was set up really nicely. Overall, I enjoyed this again even as an adult and I can enjoy the childlike nostalgia I’m feeling while connecting with some of the material even though I’m much older now than I was when I first started this series.