Potions, brooms, and silver slippers.

   In study of the topic of witches, I read part of Black Maria and the short comic series Thessaly Witch for Hire.
  Aunt Maria interested me for it's interesting perspective on the old witch hag, as well as reflecting upon issues in family relations. Aunt Maria as a character can be seen as a sort of deconstruction to the stereotypical elder family member and the classical witch. In most media, the elderly are seen as frail and slow, but wise and gentle. Aunt Maria takes advantage of this perspective and constantly frames herself as being weaker than she actually is, using this to guilt her family to her bidding. This shows she is in fact the opposite of the stereotypical elder; selfish, physically capable, but still clever. This ties in to the perspective of some real world relations people have with their families. My family has always been taught to do what your elders tell you, particularly our grandparents. If they wanted something done, it was to be done without question. What Black Maria does so interestingly is that it shows three different reactions to this traditional behavior pushed too far. Chris out right speaks his mind, calling out Aunt Maria at nearly every opportunity. He says the things his family wants to but lack the courage to say. Mig shares mutual thoughts with Chris, however she vents her frustration by venting in her journal and speaking about it outside of Aunt Maria's presence. Their mother follows similar behavior to Mig, only seen venting to Mig one night before bed (from what I've read so far.)
  As for the stereotypes of the classical witch, Aunt Maria shares a few similar features. Both are elderly women with selfish motivations. Similar to the Witch from Hansel and Gretel, Aunt Maria uses deception to take advantage of others, over exaggerating her frailty and age to gather guilt. An interesting detail in the book however, is Aunt Maria's hatred for cats. The classical witch is often depicted with a black cat as their companion, riding along on their broomsticks or watching them brew potions. This motif is reverted, Aunt Maria showing surprising disdain for the cat that sneaks into her yard. One of the more amusing details about Aunt Maria the book has shown me so far.
  Thessaly Witch I hold in lesser regard however. The overall story has potential, and the character relations have a good foundation. However these promising traits are not taken advantage of, resulting in a rather uninteresting turn of events. One if it's biggest flaws being it's protagonist. Thessaly falls victim to the same flaws I see in Superman as a protagonistic character. She is a character so unfathomably powerful there is almost no motivation for the viewer to relate to her or her plight. The fact that the major antagonist, the Tharmic Null, is apparently the only thing in existence that can kill her. The Tharmic Null is only capable of this because "nothing can kill it." Not even the "gods and demons and angels of creations" could kill her. Her near invulnerability and far too passive and morally empty personality add up to a bland unrelatable character. The main interest this short series piqued in me all came from the narrator Fetch and the interesting places Thessaly visits in the third volume. Fetch is an extremely unlikable character. Being sarcastic, selfish and giving off some heavy rapist vibes in the first volume, I wasnt expecting him to be the most interesting character. Despite these problems the simple fact he has a personality makes him stand out against the protagonist in a good way. Thessaly Witch for Hire is overall a decent idea but with terrible execution.