More Weight: A Salem Story

In his impressive first solo graphic novel, animator Wickey (Supper with the Stars) does for Salem, Mass., what From Hell did for London, building layers of history around a crucial act of evil. At the core of the story sits Giles Corey, a victim of the 17th-century Salem witch trials. A cantankerous old farmer, Corey testifies against his own wife, only to be arrested himself, then die refusing to give in to torture. From there, the narrative spirals outward and upward, revealing the cultural context of the witch hunts as well as the future they impact, from modern-day Salem, with its kitschy witch-themed shops and statue of Samantha from Bewitched, to conversations between Massachusetts natives Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Nathaniel Hawthorne. To Hawthorne, the descendant of a judge in the witch trials, Salem is “a haunted town... forever stained with innocent blood and wicked deeds.” Wickey’s art style shifts between period settings; Hawthorne and Longfellow are rendered realistically, while Corey and his contemporaries are caricatured figures reminiscent of Ronald Searle or Ralph Steadman. His linework has the look of woodcuts or scrimshaw, and he ably evokes chilly coastal vistas and the architecture of stern clapboard houses. Shot through with tragedy and dark humor, this ambitious volume makes readers feel the weight of history. (Sept.)