School can be a minefield for those of us who feel like they don’t belong or fit in with the status quo. We’re all looking for “our people,” those folks who make us feel as though we aren’t alone. Pop culture is rife with excellent yarns that reflect that insecurity and journey, from The Craft to the X-Men franchise, Harry Potter, and so many more.

The Witches of Silverlake can count itself among those compelling stories. The Legendary Comics book from writer Simon Curtis and artist Stephanie Son pick up that idea of finding your people and add in a healthy mix of merriment, magic, and misfits–just our bag. Books let all of us–kids and adults alike–that we aren’t alone.

I had the opportunity to speak with Simon Curtis a few years back on the idea behind The Witches of Silverlake, the cast we meet, and the influences behind the comic.

Editor’s note: Due to technical difficulties, this interview was never published. Those difficulties have been rectified and the interview is being published here now, edited with considerations of the time that has passed between the interview and today.

FreakSugar: For folks considering picking up the book, what can you tell us about The Witches of Silverlake?

Simon Curtis: The Witches of Silverlake is for anyone who loves the idea of watching a very gay fusion of The Craft, Harry Potter, and Gossip Girl, brought to life by Studio Ghibli. It’s beautiful to look at, spooky, mysterious, sometimes gory, and somehow very cozy, all at the same time. You leave the read feeling like you have a new group of best friends.

 

 

FS: There is such a robust cast in the book. What can you tell us about the characters we’ll meet?

SC: The kids in the coven really are my babies, I love them so much. So many different parts of myself, or people I love or admire went into them. Elliot, the lead, is a sweet, sensitive boy who doesn’t fully understand his own potential, and always second guesses his relationships due to self doubt convincing him that he isn’t worth keeping around as a friend, which is an insecurity I’ve definitely faced myself at times. Alex is my love letter to all the strong, confident girls who’ve taken sensitive gay boys under their wing and offered them a sort of protection and insulation from the world through their own self-assuredness. Tobias is one of my favorite characters in the book—completely fearless in his own self-expression, impervious to the opinions of others, and absolutely his own self at all times. I really love all of these characters so much, and I think you can feel the love for all of them pouring through the pages. 

FS: With the comic centered at a school, did you draw on any of your own personal experiences in creating the story?

SC: I think any writer has to invest a huge part of their soul and story into their work, and Witches is definitely no exception to that. More than any particular experience from my own story, however, I would say that The Witches of Silverlake is filled to the brim with places, people, movies, books, and things that have inspired me. It’s such a casserole of things that bring me joy and have fueled my imagination since I was a child, and reading it now really does feel like comfort food. 

FS: Following up on that, what are some of your favorite tales of witches and warlocks? Have they influenced your story?

SC: Oh without question. The Craft, The Witches (the original film starring Anjelica Huston), Goosebumps, Suspiria (the original and Luca’s re-envisioning), The VVitch, there are so very many. When I was four years old, my sister hand-sewed stuffed animals for my brother and I, and for me, she made a witch. My obsession has been there since birth, and it’s been thrilling to pour all of that into a lore all my own.

FS: The book is such a beauty. What has the collaboration process with Stephanie Son been like?

SC: Thank you so much. I truly could not agree more! Stephanie has been a dream. It’s interesting— I very quickly learned that writing a comic manuscript is more about communicating your vision to your illustrator than writing something suited for a reader, and once I learned our unique language, the process became a constant stream of Christmas mornings. Watching her interpret my words, with her 

FS: Other than being entertained, what do you hope readers take away from The Witches of Silverlake?

SC: If anything, I hope that any young person, or truly any person at all, finishes this book and feels as though they have made a friend. There’s a feeling of found family in this book that is so special, and I’m so grateful to be able to offer that to anyone who might need it. 

FS: If you had one final pitch for the book, what would it be?

SC: The Witches of Silverlake is a lightning-paced read filled with the most beautiful, sumptuous art imaginable. All of the magic of Los Angeles, the horror of nightmares, and angst and hope of high school, wrapped up in such a gorgeous package. It’s one of those books you really wish you could crawl in and just live inside, which, for me, is the best kind of book there is.

The Witches of Silverlake Volume 1 is on sale now from Legendary Comics.

From the official graphic novel description:

Elliot has had a rough year. His dad died, he had to move across the country, and now he’s about to start high school at LA’s prestigious Saint John the Baptist Academy, where his mom has accepted the position of Vice Principal. He’s quickly taken in by the school’s outcasts: the scholarship kids; the queer kids; and the ones who just don’t really fit in with the glossy trust fund babies of SJTBA. They immediately let him in on their little secret…they are witches. Elliot joins them in their world among the crystal stores and occult shops of Silverlake, but just as he feels he has finally found a sense of family with his new coven, a full moon initiation ceremony goes awry and unleashes a demon with a thirst for SJTBA student and faculty blood, whose gruesome killing spree reveals that forces much bigger and darker than their worst nightmares have had their sights set on Elliot all along…

With the fun and games of playing with crystals and candles over, the coven now realize that magic is powerful, real, and that it might be more dangerous than they’d ever imagined.