W.I.T.C.H. Part 8: Teach 2B W.I.T.C.H.

Ah, it's been a while, but I was finally called back to the world of W.I.T.C.H.

Last time was the new powers and some changes and new characterizations for the girls. 

This time, they're discovering their new mission and that there's a new big bad out there. 

FIRST ISSUE: We meet Takeda, who's the new bad guy. The company he works for (owns?) does stuff with technology involving the cold. Somehow in the recent past, he used the cold to open a portal into another world. A being from that world fell in love with his daughter, who is now in some sort of "endless sleep." Takeda keeps her in stasis there in the company until he can figure out how to help her. He's angry with everything magical, which of course includes W.I.T.C.H. The frozen being who loves the girl is also there and is given a human form thanks to some sort of formula Takeda created. They seem to be assessing the girls and looking for a weakness. 

Meanwhile, Hay has taken up babysitting, only the second client she meets turns out to be a magical kid. The girls think helping magical children might be their new mission and they consult Yan about this. She gives them a guy named Kandor who will help them with their new magical school. 

Takeda sends a naiad after the girls and she finds Will. The naiad looks like a snake but it's a parasite that takes over the body of her host and drains all their magic and other energies. At home, Takeda ignores his other daughter. 

SECOND ISSUE: Will is feeling ill thanks to the naiad, while Hay finds a boy in her closet. How did he get in her closet? Who knows? But it's the human form of the frozen guy and he calls himself Liam. Hay brings Liam to meet the other girls and he helps them with the naiad. She's drawn out of Will's body by the presence of the strong magic of the other girls. They try to fight, but Liam says only Will's best friend can do it. Thanks to a little flashback at the beginning of the issue, we know this is Taranee. She defeats the naiad and Will is saved, then there's an amusing scene where the girls all bring her gifts to prove they're her friends, too. After this, Hay visits Yan, who gives her the key to the magic school, but doesn't tell her where it is. 

THIRD ISSUE: The girls are on vacation with Taranee's family. They've got their own bungalow, as do Peter and his friends, while Taranee's parents are in a third. So they're in a beachy resort place. I'd forgotten the girls were given new magical weapons to go with their new powers. Cornelia practices with her ribbon, while Taranee's magical volleyball is found by a beach dude. She and Hay are forced to play volleyball with it. Then Hay accidentally uses her fan weapon as a fan and instead it creates a huge wind, which causes a wave that knocks Cornelia and Peter underwater, interrupting their surf lesson. Underwater, they kiss. Will keeps trying to fit the magic school key into everything, gets into some trouble, and then tries out her magic clackers, which have some weird magical effect on the world nearby. At lunch, the girls decide they need to practice with their objects. Irma's is a tambourine. They sound silly, but there's a training sequence that shows what they can actually do as weapons and it's pretty cool. Later, the girls are hiding behind a van and Will tries the key out...and it works. Kandor is inside and he shows them their new magic school, which is a huge pink tour bus that's got all sorts of cool shit inside. 

FOURTH ISSUE: The one has Matt meeting both Liam (he doesn't trust him) and Kandor (apparently Matt was his captain back on Kandrakar). Matt still won't say much about who he really is. A lot of the issue is taken up by Kandor showing the girls their individual classrooms, then Matt fights Liam in the gym, wanting to prove to the girls that he can't be trusted. Instead, Will gets annoyed with Matt. We the magical creature also makes an appearance and he's going to live on the bus with Kandor, much to Kandor's displeasure. He's allergic. 

At Cornelia's house, there's an old man that she keeps seeing. He gives her a note that she takes to her dad and he rips it up. Bitch Grandma is staying in Cornelia's room because this has upset her so much. Talking with her dad, Corny learns that the man is her grandfather, who left the family a very long time ago. He's not sure he wants to see him. 

In the school, Kandor shows the girls the magical power source that creates the school itself. It's called the lumien and it's basically a bunch of elemental energy ribbons. They send out several end pieces of the ribbons and follow them to find more magical kids. Heatherfield is apparently so magical that a lot of younger children and babies are being born with magic. 

Cornelia makes a quick trip home to tape up the note from her grandfather and leave it for her dad, who goes to see him after all. 

This one was interesting, but nothing too special. After so many issues of them hiding magic, the idea of a bunch of magical kids just out there practically in the open is unusual. And all the parents are going to end up knowing about W.I.T.C.H. The villain is a bit lackluster, but I'm also intrigued to learn more about this frozen hidden world and what exactly happened between Liam and Mariko. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

The same. Cornelia is still way out in front and now she's done yet another cool thing by helping her dad. Taranee's helping Will was awesome, but I also just really loved Hay in this volume. 

FIRST ISSUE: At Takeshita, Mrs. Takeda visits her husband and eventually forces him to take her to Mariko, their eldest daughter. he explains about her being trapped in whatever state she's in thanks to her contact with the parallel world that he calls "fast world." 

Cornelia follows a lumien strand to a girl that looks a little bit older than W.I.T.C.H. Leah is a model who can shapeshift into whatever the person she's around needs most, but she's upset because she's forgotten her original face. There's this whole modelling storyline that's not very interesting. It's not Cornelia's best work after her awesome family story last time. I mean, she doesn't do anything wrong. It's just a boring storyline. The other girls take Leah to meet Yan, who helps her rediscover her true self. 

SECOND ISSUE: Taranee's mom senses that she feels lonely without Peter in the house, so they go pick out a dog. Mrs. Cook is thinking a nice, cute, little puppy, but Taranee picks out this huge black dog named Flea. While at the shelter, Taranee meets twins Luna and Sun and realizes Sun is magical. Liam sends monsters to the shelter to kidnap Sun, but she's rescued and recruited by W.I.T.C.H. She has a hand in her own rescue though, as her ability to talk to animals includes ones not of this world. Sun is a bit grumpy, but I like her. At the end, Taranee and her family go back and pick up the little puppy Taranee also liked, so Flea has a friend. 

In a brief side story, Irma attempts to befriend the younger Takeda daughter, Shinobu, but nothing comes of it. 

THIRD ISSUE: Hay notices her parents are having some marital issues, and her mom finally tells her the story of how they got together. Her mom was quite wealthy and her dad was a waiter in their household. Her mom, confronted with a marriage proposal she didn't want, realized she loved Hay's dad and they left to be together. Her father disowned her, but every year he sends a man with divorce papers, because if she signs them, he'll give her his entire fortune. So when he comes this year, Hay's dad says they're all going back with him. They basically go to China just so Hay's dad can have Hay's mom see everything she's given up and she once again declares her love for him and they leave happy. 

Meanwhile, Liam came to stay at Will's house in a ruse to get closer to baby William, who apparently is super magical. Matt follows him back to Takeshita, where he's caught and Takeda freezes him. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Shinobu is wandering around Takeshita. Takeda forces Liam to go kidnap baby William. W.I.T.C.H. has some comic relief teaching scenes. Liam visits Hay to semi-apologize for what he's about to do, then goes to Will's, where he knocks out Susan and kidnaps baby William. Takeda forces him to take William through the portal back into Liam's "fast world." William handles the entire trip just fine because he's just that magical. W.I.T.C.H., led by a furious Will, attack Takeshita. Will knows William is through the portal, so she doesn't listen to the others and goes right in. They follow and then Takeda freezes the entrance shut so they're trapped. His mission was to get the girls and William into the portal so they'd be out of our world and he'd have an easier time ridding Heatherfield of magic. Shinobu confronts her father and injects herself with his formula. He tells her the only way to save herself is to go to fast world. Takeda's robots freeze him while he's trying to protect Shinobu and she creeps into the frozen passage. 

Pretty exciting! The first issue was a bit of a dud, but the other three made up for it. I like the family backstories we're getting for the girls, though it does seem odd that first Cornelia's and now Hay's family have some old secret family drama that's revealed. And it hasn't been that long since the same happened to Taranee. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Taranee's issue had her creeping a little ahead of Hay, but then it was followed by Hay's issue, so they're right back to being tied. I hope Irma gets something to do soon. 

FIRST ISSUE: The girls find themselves in fast world, where they meet the White Queen, who tells them of her war with the Shadow Queen. She tricks them into fighting for her, but the girls realize the White Queen is actually the bad guy in fast world. The Shadow Queen turns out to be Mariko, though she's not always corporeal, her body being back on Earth. Shinobu had found William and both were then found by Mariko, so all three were imprisoned after the battle. W.I.T.C.H. and Liam free them, though Liam sacrifices himself to save Mariko. Everyone escapes and heads back to the portal. 

SECOND ISSUE: They make it through the portal and Mariko's spirit is reunited with her body. But everyone has to flee because the White Queen is on her way, somehow using a scrap of Irma's lamia (how could that even tear?) to track them. The fast worlders are using their speed to suck parts of Heatherfield back into fast world. Hay uses an old lullaby to magically transport all the citizens into an airport bunker. I have no idea how. Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay all sing together to fight the White Queen, who's attacked the bunker. Will isn't with them because she got the people out just in time. Matt breaks free of his icy prison and his voice joins them. Somehow it's his additional voice that conquers the White Queen and breaks the connection between Earth and fast world. Takeda is also freed from ice and reunited with his daughters. W.I.T.C.H. kindly lets him go. Too kindly. 

So these two issues wrap up this storyline. While I didn't hate it, I found the ending very unsatisfying. Liam sacrifices himself to save Mariko and she just briefly cries. Nothing more. Takeda is forgiven way too easily without even thanking W.I.T.C.H. or realizing there's nothing wrong with magic after all. And I have no idea how any of that singing stuff worked. But anyway, it's over. 

THIRD ISSUE: Now it's time for the filler issues. Irma becomes suspicious of Kandor and what he does in his free time, so the girls stow away on the bus and spend all of their Sunday travelling all over the world. It's a fun issue with a lot of comedy. Turns out Kandor likes knitting, so he buys yarn from all over, but he tells the girls he's collecting rare books to hide his secret. 

FOURTH ISSUE: It feels like they just started back up again, but it's apparently the end of the school year. A pianist named Francis is worried about his grades. Taranee knows him and even gives him a kiss on the cheek. I honestly can't remember if we've ever met this guy before. Cornelia and a girl named Sandra were never friends, though they're quite similar, and they decide to walk home together. This is Sandra's last day because she's moving so it's bittersweet for the pair to realize they had so much in common too late for them to be more active friends. Hay isn't in school, as she has chicken pox. The others visit her later. Irma and Stephen attend a party with his friends and Irma feels out of place. Then they have their goodbye moment, as Stephen is going off to college. Will's mom goes to a high school reunion and is reunited with her old boyfriend. Then Dean turns up in time to dance with her. It's cute. Will takes William to a day care for the first time and he totally does not even try to control his magic. He's a hit with the other kids, but I have no idea how that's going to work when Will isn't there to make everything disappear. The girls end the day hanging with Yan in Kandrakar. This was a fun issue with all sorts of storylines going on. 

FIFTH ISSUE: Will is practicing for a swimming competition and then all sorts of weird shit starts happening. It turns out because Will loves swimming so much, she gives the water all her emotions and memories and such, and it's kind of giving them back to her. W.I.T.C.H. steps in and sorts things out. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Still the same! And that wraps up this story arc.

W.I.T.C.H. Part 7: New Power

Now this is what I've been waiting for and it did not disappoint. I stopped importing the W.I.T.C.H. magazines somewhere in this storyline or possibly before. I was reading them online for a bit, too. But it's been so long that I can't remember. 

FIRST ISSUE: A dark seed flies up to Kandrakar and takes root. Yan and Himerish tell the others that Kandrakar is threatened but they don't know any details, so Himerish wants to seal it away from everything. Yan doesn't like this, as it will keep her from Hay. A very determined and forceful Himerish goes to the Vault of Powers and sets loose the elements in their purest form. Meanwhile at night, a stranger enters each girl's room and takes her power away. A very familiar stranger. What the hell is Matt doing? And how? The next day, the girls realize they're no longer magical to a mixed bag of feelings. Cornelia, ever level-headed, is thrilled to no longer be responsible for so many lives. She can just live a normal life now. Irma is distraught because she no longer feels special. At Taranee's, Peter is moving out, while Hay doesn't realize her magic is missing thanks to a series of coincidences. Susan keeps trying to tell Will something, but Matt appears outside and as always, Susan must wait. Or just stop dragging her feet telling her daughter things. She always does this. Matt is completely unresponsive to Will and says they'll talk later. Then why did you go over there? Ugh. At the bookstore, the girls all finally see their powers are gone. We cries. Upstairs, the shop is being turned into a restaurant. Himerish seals Kandrakar off, but Yan leaves a spot open where she can see Hay but not talk to her. Susan blurts out to Will that she and Dean are pregnant and Will runs through a bunch of emotions before settling on happy. The girls all go to Jensen Dance Academy, because for some reason, they're all auditioning together. I don't get why. They're not exactly dancers. They perform their routine for a bitchy new teacher. Beneath the Earth, we meet our big bad for this arc: the Dark Mother. She looks like a pissed off dryad or something. At the end, the girls see five lights shooting through the sky. 

SECOND ISSUE: Cornelia dreams of being a little girl lost in the woods, who found comfort in a circle of pebbles. In the present, the pure elements find their girls. Cornelia isn't happy, but I am. I love the new outfits. They're far more tactical because there's way less bared skin. Cornelia's already long skirt is longer and Hay's loincloth is now a full split skirt. Poor Hay always flew with everyone looking up her tiny skirt. Irma's skirt is longer, too, and all these lengths of fabric are now prehensile. I think Will's sleeves might be, too. Will and Irma sport long black gloves and Hay and Taranee have short ones. Cornelia's top also completely covers her hands. She has zero bare skin except for the neck up and there's something very elegant and Cornelia about it. Their wings have gotten huge, too. Anyway, they look great. They quickly realize they're stronger than ever. Taranee looks like the Human Torch. Matt appears and says they can't control their powers. He says he's been with them a long time, has always known their secret and was instructed not to tell them. That's a pretty big bombshell. Matt's from Kandrakar or at least works for it. Odd considering he had a few solo scenes where he didn't seem to know anything. I wonder if there was a mind block or something. He doesn't explain anything about himself, just says that Kandrakar has sealed itself off, so the Oracle sent him to take their powers and wait for the pure ones to find them. The girls have no control over their abilities. Cornelia is balking but Matt says everyone needs W.I.T.C.H. I think people might wonder why Cornelia is my favorite when she does stuff like this, but while it would not be my choice to be normal, I understand why it would appeal to down to Earth Corny. She's in character. And when she does what she knows she needs to, she's also in character. Matt says he's going to be their coach "of sorts" even though he's afraid of their power potential. Will starts to ask something and Matt says "the past will remain safe in our hearts." And that's all he'll say. Poor Will. Oh, the prehensile, sentient fabric is called...lamia. Interesting name choice. Errrrrr. The next day, the girls struggle with containing their powers. Will goes to the doctor with Susan and learns if they're having a boy or girl. Later, they meet with Matt in their HQ. He's already there. Another thing he already knew. He tells the girls they need to find the root of their power and master it, and thanks to Cornelia's dream, she's first. They go on an underground adventure, fight with Dark Mother's roots and her worm-like hunters and win. While the others have to come back through the sewer, Cornelia is transported to the woods where her dream younger self finds her. She says she feels complete after and her parents overhear and tell her that actually happened when she was little. Matt gives Cornelia the symbol of her power, as she's mastered it. She should be happy but on the way home, she sees her mother with a strange man and they touch hands. The others go to the dance academy, where the teacher accepts them all except Hay. She tries to audition again but the teacher says she lacks the flexibility needed. Hay says she's a costume designer and the bitchy teacher gives her an impossible assignment: to replicate a fancy dress by morning. At the end, Will reveals the baby is a boy. 

THIRD ISSUE: This entire issue is about the guardians' different vacations. The car breaks down for Will's family so they spend the entire vacation try to get somewhere they never reach. Irma and Hay are going to the beach where they meet a cool couple that they have fun with. Taranee is off to some school where she's bullied, meets a cute boy who doesn't speak much English, and conquers the bullies in the end. Cornelia stays at home, thinking she'll be able to be with Peter all the time, buuuuuuut Bitch Grandma. UGH. It's a filler issue but it's a really fun one this time. 

FOURTH ISSUE: This one's a bombshell. I'll skip the exact details, but Taranee learns she's ADOPTED. Pretty major secret for being 78 issues into the storyline. She's upset that her mom kept it from her for so long. She learns that she was rescued from a fire as a baby and Matt tells her this might connect to the root of her power and she needs to learn more. The girls go find the ruins of Taranee's original home, while Cornelia stays in her home and confronts her mother about the strange man she saw her with. Her mother tells her that was a high school boyfriend that she ran into by chance. Cornelia's dad overhears part of the conversation where her mother says he doesn't have as much time for her as he used to, but she told her ex that her family means more to her than anything. Dark Mother's roots attack the guardians, but Taranee masters her power and saves the day. Cornelia's dad whisks her mom away for a surprise vacation. Nice touch, Dad. The last page is Susan being loaded into an ambulance. Looks like she may have been in a car accident. 

Whew! That was a lot. And all of it was good. While Dark Mother isn't an interesting big bad (yet?), the storyline with finding the roots of their powers is great and you can't do that without character development, which I always love. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Cornelia above all the others. She's my favorite by far. Taranee's adoption storyline catches her up to Hay, while Irma and Will remain behind. 

FIRST ISSUE: Post-car accident, Susan is fine. On Kandrakar, most of the inhabitants are enjoying the tree, but Yan reminds the Oracle of the tale of Meter, the queen of spring whose desire for power turned her evil. Yep, that's the Dark Mother. Yan suspects the tree grew from one of her dark seeds and shows the Oracle how the other people of Kandrakar circle and protect it. Dark Mother goes after Irma in her sleep, but she wakes up. Stephen is there in the morning. I can't remember if I've already covered this, but while I love the themes of these newer issues, it's so weird to see the old W.I.T.C.H. world eradicated. Since when do all of them have an interest in dance? How did Irma go from stringing Martin along and trying to decide about her feelings for Joel to being ready to be Stephen's serious girlfriend at the snap of fingers? The girls hear noises from their basement HQ and follow them to...randomly meet Stephen who introduces them to U18. That does mean under 18...feet underground. They live fully or mostly in all these spaces underneath Heatherfield. So we've got a crew of totally new characters to randomly take the place of some of the old ones. U18 leads W.I.T.C.H. where they wanted to go, then the girls are able to get rid of them before having to battle some of Dark Mother's minions. Irma finally gets to the place she's been led to and she's forced to choose between love and her magic. Irma chooses love and of course it was a trick, because that was the secret to finding the root of her power. After so many issues of Irma not being ready to be in love, it's nice to see her happy and finally figuring things out, but it still feels rushed because there was no groundwork for her and Stephen. (Another older boy. Sigh.) At the end of the issue, the baby is coming!

SECOND ISSUE: Hay goes to the dance studio to rehearse on her own. There never was a resolution to the bitchy teacher's costume challenge, but it's clear Hay was able to do it and also that she's persisted in keeping up with dance, even though said teacher thought she couldn't do it. There's a lot of comedy  over the baby's birth, but...they decided to name him William? Out of all the names, why pick something so close to Will's? At Taranee's, she sits down with her dad and they discuss the adoption. Taranee's mom looked into her birth family and she has info, but Taranee first asks her to sing a childhood lullaby. It's a cute family moment with some good characterization for Taranee's frequently absent father and in the past been bitchy mother. More comedy about Cornelia visiting Peter and the apartment being a sty. Hay and Laura, the teacher, have some nice bonding moments. She's not bitchy after all. More comic relief with Irma and Stephen. They are cute, but I still want to know what happened to Joel. Maybe I didn't catch something when I was reading. Laura admits she's seeing a dancer that's Hay's idol. (But why does Hay have a dance idol suddenly?) But distance has led them to not speak for a long time. Hay encourages her to call him and a phone rings nearby. Turns out he was coming to see her. The issue ends with everyone being happy and the girls giving a dance recital. 

THIRD ISSUE: The Hay-centric power root issue. She and her family are moving to the suburbs because they're expanding the restaurant and will need the living space. Hay isn't happy about it. Meanwhile, two hurricanes are converging on Heatherfield. The hurricanes arrive much more quickly than anticipated and W.I.T.C.H. take to the air to try to help. I find it funny that they all can finally fly. There were maybe a couple panels addressing that. Why in the world did they always have wings if only Hay could fly? But that's been fixed now. Hay takes on the hurricanes alone, while the others try to cut the power to the city, because that will help lessen the damage. Taranee is reluctant to leave Hay behind, which is really nice, even though she knows Hay has to face finding the root of her power on her own. Dark Mother managed to use lightning to keep the power on, so the guardians' efforts were for nothing. Hay finds the root of her power and creates a third hurricane, but this one sucks up the other two. Hay realizes she loves her new home, which is named Dragonfly, a theme that flowed through the issue. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Will's turn. Of course she's last. Dark Mother plans to lure her to her. At Will's, they're having a party and everyone keeps calling baby William "Will," much to Will's confusion. Then everyone starts calling her Wilhelmina, much to her annoyance. William was a really stupid name choice. Like seriously, why? Will spends most of the issue in a dream state, getting through that while in the real world, she's heading toward Dark Mother. Will finds the root of her power but that also frees Dark Mother and they briefly battle before Will flees. She runs into Matt and the others and everything is momentarily okay. 

As with the first volume, A LOT going on here. I continue to love the character development, but the jarring differences are still hard to get used to. Disappearing characters, unresolved relationships, a sudden team interest in dance. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's the equivalent of all the magical girls spontaneously being able to form a band.  

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Order remains the same with Hay and Taranee in a tie. Though Irma and Will are closer to the rest of the pack than ever.

FIRST ISSUE: Dark Mother sends out a hypnotic eye through television screens. The guardians run to U18 for help, knowing how tech-savvy they are. Stephen pulls Irma aside and he confronts her about how mysterious she and her friends are. She caves and tells him the truth. Irma then spends a few pages doing magic for him in some comic relief. Though that doesn't really  downplay what she did. The others kept their secret from their boyfriends, except for Will and that was mostly because Matt was the focus of multiple attacks. So for Irma to reveal it to her no legwork boyfriend is kinda wild. Dark Mother has created some giant flower that lets her get inside and turn into a perfume that travels to Kandrakar. That's...creative. So she does that and abandons all her followers. One of them has betrayed her and grown more flowers, so W.I.T.C.H. is able to travel the same way. They evaluate how strong Dark Mother is and decide to return to Earth via the flowers and strategize. Hay is against this and mad about it. Matt tells them they can only defeat Dark Mother if they learn to unite their powers. Will finally asks Matt what I've been waiting many issues for her to do: if he loves her. He still does and they finally reconcile. We still don't know Matt's backstory that totally came out of nowhere but at least this is finally resolved. 

SECOND ISSUE: Yan keeps repeating Hay's name in her mind and Dark Mother senses that there's one person she doesn't have control of. In Heatherfield, the no-longer-bitchy dance teacher Laura is randomly replaced by a nasty guy. Hay goes to visit Laura who is apparently...sick? There's a South Asian lady with her. I can't tell if she's supposed to be a maid or a nurse or what. Laura gives Hay a nice pep talk and then asks her to deliver a letter for her. The girls all get together in Peter's old room to study. They have both tests and a dance recital on the same day. Seems unrealistic, but sure, why not just keep inventing added pressures for these poor teens? Stephen, Peter and Matt provide annoying (to the girl they're not paired with) distractions. Will is taking charge and trying to organize everyone, but they're all tired by the end of the day. Hay suggests they all go deliver Laura's letter. It's to a capoeira instructor and the girls fall in love with it. After being given a book on the movements and some songs, they decide to try it out in Peter's old room. The next day, tests are done and it's time for the recital. The girls combine capoeira with actually displaying their magic, though it appears to be special effects. Not that anyone could figure out how they did any. Everything goes great. Except on Kandrakar, where Dark Mother created doubles of the girls to trick Yan into revealing that she's the one not fully under control. The next day, Hay learns that Laura has passed. Time flows oddly in these issues, because it's clearly been quite a long time, which we know from William's birth, but it still feels very sudden to have Laura there four issues ago and now she was so sick that she's died. Hay does a dance for Laura in Laura's garden and the issue ends. 

THIRD ISSUE: While the people of Kandrakar scream, the guardians fight because they're mad at Irma for telling Stephen. They go to meet Matt and are very cocky about their upcoming fight. I've never seen all the girls be this arrogant, but I suppose mastering your powers will do that. And yet when they go to Kandrakar and decide to split up, exactly what Matt said not to do, they're very easily defeated. Hay is the one left standing and she frees Yan, who yells at her and says she hardly recognizes her. Yan's pep talk wakes everyone up and they're able to join together in time for form a physical representation of their united power. This female figure takes on Dark Mother. She's able to capture Dark Mother in a ball and then turns herself and the ball to stone, forever imprisoning the dark earth spirit. The Oracle is devastated that he failed so badly. And again, I'll address this change. What happened to the triumvirate? Endarno is suddenly not there. The Oracle seems to be the only one with power. At the end, Will deals with baby William...who has wings! 

FOURTH ISSUE: Will is struggling to hide William's magic from his parents. Irma is hiding from Stephen because she suddenly doesn't know how to handle that he knows. Hay wants to be more independent. The guardians are summoned to Kandrakar, where they have to help remove Dark Mother's evil roots. They do so accompanied by Yan and five cables fueled by W.I.T.C.H.'s powers now hold up Kandrakar. Once they return, Himerish reveals that Yan is the new Oracle. They have a celebration and Yan does it with her typical humility and down to earth style. She gives the girls some interesting gifts and restyles Kandrakar with her powers. On Earth, Hay tells her parents she wants a job not in the restaurant, Irma and Stephen are cool, Taranee is the new assistant teacher at Jensen, Peter and Cornelia are cute, and Will is going to teach baby William about magic. Himerish leaves Kandrakar smiling. 

So that wraps up the New Power arc. Definitely one of the strongest ones in terms of character development. If only it weren't for the loose ends, it would hold up with the original two storylines as the strongest. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

W.I.T.C.H. Part 6: Ragorlang

 
FIRST ISSUE: Hay has been seeing a screaming creature in her nightmares, but she tries to forget about it, as she's off to visit Eric. Once there, she meets the Ibsens, an older couple who know Eric's family. Karl Ibsen tells Hay the story of the ragorlang, a creature that sucks the life energy from people and feeds it to its master. Kids have been behaving oddly and disappearing in Open Hill and it does turn out to be the ragorlang. One comes for Hay, who had transformed to investigate a noise in the night. Alerted by the transformation, Will brings the others to fight it off. Hay and Eric spend time together and he mentions a conference Karl Ibsen will be speaking at, along with Dean Collins, Will's new stepdad. Hay is excited because if she and Will tag along, she can see Eric again. They're interrupted by Eric's creepy principal, the world's briefest red herring, because he's nobody. Time jumps and it's a few days later. Will, Hay and Dean are off to the conference, while the other guardians use the portal to keep an eye on things. Dean asks Hay to get him a drink as an excuse to have time alone with Will. He's nervous and he wants her to quiz him. While getting said drink, Hay is approached by Karl Ibsen, who tells her Eric is sick. She stupidly goes off with him and it's then revealed that Tecla Ibsen, his wife, controls the ragorlang, which attacks Hay again. W.I.T.C.H. goes to the rescue and they get Hay back, but Tecla now knows the girls are magical and can be the best source of energy for her. She uses the ragorlang to keep looking younger. 

SECOND ISSUE: Cornelia and Peter have tension. Still. On the way home, Peter is rear-ended, pushing his car into...Cornelia's bitchy grandmother's. Ugh. In the middle of a talk via the portal, Yan Lin goes missing. W.I.T.C.H. goes to the rescue once again and Hay is the one who saves the day. Peter ends up sending an apology note and flowers, which of course Bitchy Grandma has to approve of. 

THIRD ISSUE: Irma yells at her stepmother, then flees to the attic, where she finds letters from when her stepmom and her dad were dating. Their backstory is cute and Irma feels guilty for her bad behavior. She ends up setting up a day at the lake were Anna, her stepmom, used to live and even tracks down her old best friends, a hyper set of redheaded twins. 

FOURTH ISSUE: The cultural exchange is beginning and Irma is paired with Erin, a gorgeous girl who holds her own against bullies. But as soon as she appears, infighting begins amongst W.I.T.C.H. Erin is actually a magical being that's got a grudge against the guardians. Taranee uses her telepathy to peer into Irma's mind and they see what happened when ragorlangs attacked Erin's home. So they know the ragorlangs are involved and they know Erin is controlling Irma. They realize Tecla is behind this. The other guardians confront Erin and try to make her see that Tecla is manipulating her. They use the portal to bring Erin's superhot brother Kader to the bookstore. He saved all their people from the ragorlangs except Erin, who was separated and mock-saved by Tecla. Kader will stay in the bookstore while they investigate. 

This is an odd volume because the seeds for the storylines are being sewn throughout more separate stories. It was nice to see Hay then Cornelia then Irma have individual problems that were somewhat wrapped up in the course of an issue. Whenever they focus on Irma alone, she always grows a lot as a character. The storyline with Yan Lin's kidnapping was the weakest of the lot, but still nice because Hay got to shine. Erin and Kader are both fun characters and I love their designs. It's always nice to see more magical people. Though Kader is another older guy being semi-paired with girls way too young. I'd like to see more balanced relationships age-wise. These girls almost always end up liking older guys, which is fine, but the guys consistently like them back. Why are you all looking for such young girls? Slightly problematic. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.

Separating Taranee from Hay, she didn't stand out this volume and Hay did, but Hay, Taranee and Irma are really close in ranking. Like just a smidge ahead of each other. 

FIRST ISSUE: Karl Ibsen is in disguise as the guy running the cultural exchange. He sees Uriah and his buddies being bullies, so he gives them special pins in payment for their help. These pins create weaker versions of the ragorlang from their bad side, leaving the boys acting good for once. Cornelia and Irma both flirt with Kader. Irma likes him, but Corny's just doing it for funsies. The three ragorlang created from the bullies attack Cornelia in her room and the others go to the rescue. Superbrat Lilian put a recorder under Cornelia's bed, which taped the entire battle and Cornelia has to pay her to get it back...right in front of her parents. I don't know how they fail so badly with Lilian. Would you let your kid record another and then not punish her? Let the other kid pay money to stop the younger one? I mean seriously. Taranee's mom is a turbo bitch, but Cornelia's parents are the weakest of the bunch. They never stand up to the bitchy grandmother and Lilian is constantly an out of control mini-bully. Kader helps the guardians tie the school bullies to the ragorlangs via the pins they're wearing. There's a battle at an amusement park and they win, but then they say goodbye to Kader and Erin, who return to their people via the portal. 

SECOND ISSUE: The Oracle tells the girls they're now peace ambassadors and have to visit a huge laundry list of other worlds to inform them of this fact and see if they have any needs. These sequences provide random bits of comic relief. Taranee has an audition for a video and Martin is running for class office. Taranee doesn't get selected and is upset about it. The others help Martin campaign except Taranee refuses to do what Sheila suggests because her confidence has been broken and she's mean about it. Taranee is mean to Luke and Sheila in the studio, constantly beating herself up. Left alone, Taranee develops choreography for a performance for Martin's campaign. Her teacher sees her and gives her advice. He says her audition was flawless technically but "it had no soul." The choreography she's working on does. Martin wins. Taranee and the others do her choreography, which ends up on TV, so though she didn't get the audition, she got to shine in public in a far better way, doing something she designed. Irma and Sheila finally get to be friends because Irma stops being stubborn. 

THIRD ISSUE: The Grumpers cause chaos with their school paper, which is a gossip rag with photos and articles of students in unflattering light. Including the principal, who's mad about it, but no one has seen the Grumpers. Hay and the others suspect the new school doctor, who's obsessed with looking at students' eyes, is somehow involved with the ragorlang. They break into his house to investigate and he's clearly involved in supernatural stuff. He has books and artifacts all over. They think he's working with the Ibsens. When he comes home and sits down to watch TV, the guardians stay in their invisible form. That's when everyone sees the Grumpers in a beauty pageant! They lose and the next day they're back at school, causing trouble with another gossip paper. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Hay still struggles with nightmares and when she disappears in school and a ragorlang is briefly seen, the guardians are on the alert. It turns out Hay went home sick. Will meets Neil, a fellow swimmer. Hay realizes she was the ragorlang in the school and runs away. W.I.T.C.H. see that she used the portal and follow it to an old theater where Tecla is...and Hay the ragorlang. The school doctor, Folkner, appears and uses a box to try to capture Tecla's ragorlang. The guardians stop Hay by thinking good thoughts about her and their friendship so when she absorbs them, she realizes who they are. Folkner uses his box to pull the ragorlang out of her. Hay is finally free of it. 

This one was a much weaker volume than the first. The ragorlang story keeps it all tied together, but the side stories aren't nearly as good.   

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.

FIRST ISSUE: Hay is given instructions by Yan not to use the portal or go to Kandrakar that day. A pissed off We (honestly, did we really need a stupid sidekick?) opens it and some of Kandrakar's magic escapes to Earth. All day, everyone's wishes keep coming true with mostly comic consequences. After figuring out what happened, Will uses the Heart to collect the spare magic and return it to Kandrakar. All the wishes are undone with no one remembering anything. Part of the drama is Cornelia and Peter, but he finally asks her out at the end. The downside is that the magic rejuventated Tecla and she managed to keep it instead of it going back to Kandrakar. 

SECOND ISSUE: There's a school trip to learn about sea turtles. The girls are all separated when Tecla arrives to attack. Folkner is on hand to help out. Tecla was able to create five ragorlangs, each with one of W.I.T.C.H.'s powers, and the girls are unable to fight their own power. But duh, they just teleport and swap ragorlangs. But the ragorlangs all join together, centered by the Shadow of the Heart, which is a dark copy of the Heart of Kandrakar. Will uses the Heart to defeat the one giant ragorlang and it also absorbs the Shadow of the Heart. Folkner captures the ragorlang in his trap box, but then he releases all the ones he's trapped...into himself. 

THIRD ISSUE: Karmilla is in town for a concert and Taranee and her dancing friends are performing beforehand. Matt is back in town but he and Will are having difficulty meeting up. Peter and Cornelia are being really awkward, which makes me wonder if they had a pizza date or not. Suddenly, all the other kids stop moving. They're all being attacked at once by powers like the ragorlangs. The guardians transform and it's off to Folkner's house. Battle begins and then Tecla is there, too. She's still bad at first, but then the guardians manage to get through to her, so she helps them see the way to win. It's finally over. (AT LAST.)  Everyone goes to Kandrakar, where the Ibsens will remain to start a new life. Back at the concert, Cornelia finally kisses Peter. Taranee performs her dance and Irma will get to meet Karmilla. Matt and Will finally see each other and everything seems okay. 

And that wraps up the Ragorlang story arc. There were a few strong moments, but overall, this was definitely not my favorite. It felt really dragged out. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Taranee, Irma, Will.

W.I.T.C.H. Part 5: The Book of Elements

FIRST ISSUE: Taranee is nervous about her dance class audition. The girls' powers are going a bit haywire. Orube, for some crazy reason, got herself into university studying journalism. I wonder how many papers they faked to make that work. She's applied for a job writing for a magazine. Not long ago she was clueless about Earth so how can she write stories? Taranee meets a boy named Luke at her auditions. In Kandrakar, the power of the Oracle is going to be shared between Himerish, Yan Lin and the real Endarno. Himerish gives a creature from Basiliade to Orube, then reveals that he's given Cedric a chance at redemption...in Heatherfield. Taranee got into the advanced dance class, but while her friends are thrilled, Nigel is angry they'll have less time to spend together. I remember when Nigel was nice. They really did his character dirty. Eric tells Hay his parents got the positions they wanted and they'll be moving. Instead of staying with his grandfather, he's invited to go with them this time. 

SECOND ISSUE: The elements themselves summon the guardians to Kandrakar and the Oracle says change is coming. He says he will answer some of the guardians' questions. First, he shows Will what would have happened if she'd refused the Heart when Yan Lin first offered it. The vision shows that the girls eventually find their way to each other no matter what and they're destined to be guardians. Then he shows Cornelia and Taranee a vision of the future if they choose to give up their powers. Each girl still has some innate elemental ability left and they once again find their way to each other. The Oracle wants them to think about forces larger than themselves and the effect those forces can have. 

THIRD ISSUE: Cedric is in place at Ye Olde Bookshop, where he was during the first story arc. He has encounters with both Matt and Orube. Taranee is unsure about her dance class and arrives late, then pauses before going in. Jensen runs into her on his way out and encourages her to join the class. She feels better when she sees Luke is there. Eric tells Hay he's moving with his parents. After Will accidentally causes an electrical panel to short circuit at school, the girls take the opportunity to meet at Orube's and discuss their power changes. Will is overloading electronics with her energy. Irma is seeing visions in water. Hay can sense emotions through the air and tell when people are lying. Taranee is super-telepathic, more than just with W.I.T.C.H.  now. And Cornelia is a healer. Orube returns home and says she had to leave We, the little Basiliade creature, with her boss. Orube is allergic to him. The girls split off to do different things. Will and Hay go with Orube to talk to Mr. Collins. Orube's first assignment is urban legends and Collins knows Heatherfield's history. He tells the story of Jonathan Ludmoore and his magical Book of Elements. Hay and Will were going to watch a movie, but as soon as they hear Book of Elements, they're in. Collins' story hints at connections to Meridian. Ludmoore ended up disappearing, but the night he did, five streaks of light in different colors were seen shooting from his house. One went to the sea, one the sky, one to a mountain, one "reaching the fiery depths of the Earth" and one into a heather field. These supposedly formed colorful gems, representing the positive essence of the five elements, and if you place them on the Book of Elements, you can unlock it. At the end, Cedric is invited to Ludmoore Manor. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Cedric goes to the manor and finds himself drawn to a particular book. Hay thinks Eric's mother hates her...and she does act super awkward around Hay...and ends up fleeing. The girls, minus Hay, meet and plan to test their new powers. Irma tells about a nightmare she had, but Cornelia and Taranee make fun of her when she thinks it might point to Matt. Will calls him and he's fine. Cedric gets his delivery of books from Ludmoore, including the Book of Elements, then throws a tantrum about being stuck on Earth. Orube begins to befriend Cedric. At the Sunday market, the girls (minus Hay) plan to test their powers, but a strange fire starts. Irma sees the eye from her nightmare and freezes up, unable to help. The fire goes after Matt but Will saves him. Hay comes in and helps save the day. The girls admit Irma's premonition was right. At the bookshop, the book awakens. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will.

FIRST ISSUE: Will's mom struggles to tell Will some news at the same time as Matt and Will over-celebrate their one month anniversary. Cornelia is still awkward around Peter while Taranee and Nigel have problems. Hay is devastated she didn't say goodbye to Eric so Irma teleports them to his new place only to have their magic fail and return them to Heatherfield after mere moments. Haay's behavior with Eric in this story arc and the last really have her position as second favorite being tenuous. She's acting like such a scared baby. It's annoying. Will brings up a package to Hay that was outside and it turns out to be a laptop and a lovely letter from Eric, so now hopefully Hay will be okay. And also hopefully more mature in future dealings with the poor boy. She can't keep running away from her problems. Taranee might have an attraction to Luke but isn't ready to admit it to herself yet. Sheila has turned out to be pretty cool. She, Taranee and Luke are a nice trio of dance pals. Cedric tries to force the Book of Elements open and it embeds itself in the wall of the bookshop basement, warning him that mortals who try to open it are sucked into it. 

SECOND ISSUE: Sheila brings her dad breakfast in bed and we get some insight into her character. She's really a good kid. She was only bitchy because she was reacting to her life's instability, but she realizes she likes Heatherfield. Taranee tries to bring her to a study group with the other girls, but Irma leaves and Cornelia goes along with her, though she does say Irma is being silly. Susan finally is able to tell Will that she and Dean (Mr. Collins) are getting married. Will is thankfully very receptive to it. Martin and his French penpal Michelle strike up a more than friends vibe, leaving Irma to feel left out. Sheila asked Will for a demo from Cobalt Blue and Will tells Matt to give her one. Will is surprisingly cool about their talking and did encourage the interaction, despite Matt referring to Sheila as "super-cute" (really, Matt?) so I'm glad she's so secure in their relationship FINALLY. Nigel however has it out with Taranee. While I do think he's wrong in not liking her taking dance, he did have a point here, because he took her out and she left him (though not sure for how long) to talk to Sheila and Luke. But Nigel goes right back to being an ass because he wants her to give up dancing for him, because she's the most important thing to him and isn't he to her? She says she's not sure anymore and runs away. In Kandrakar, Himerish explains that Ludmoore was from Meridian and went to Earth to try to open the portals. Kandrakar is pretty useless this time because the Oracle says it's the elements themselves that are testing the guardians. Then Cedric manages to trick Matt into trying to open the Book of Elements, which sucks Matt into it. All Cedric's big plot to get the guardians to help him open the book. 

THIRD ISSUE: Cedric calls Will to tell her about Matt and the guardians and Orube go to the shop. Will attacks Cedric but Hay talks her down, saying he's telling the truth. Orube watches over Cedric to see if the book will speak again. Matt is in some sort of empty realm but he's not alone. The girls meet with Endarno and he's not much help, but is able to tell them Matt is alive. He also tells them they have to open the book to free Matt, which means finding the five element stones. In a few comic pages, the girls teleport back and find themselves in some amusing places. Their powers are still wonky. Endarno gave them a scroll tube, which they open and it's the map of the portals from the first story arc. It magically imprints itself onto the wall around the book. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Will's depressed about Matt and Susan worries it's because of her remarriage plans. Matt is still in limbo. Orube and Cedric banter and then she falls asleep after watching him for days. Irma pokes at Taranee about Sheila and Taranee snaps at her. The girls struggle with both Peter and Joel wanting to know where Matt is, so Will and Cornelia get into his email and send out a fake message from Matt, only Peter isn't stupid and knows it doesn't sound like him. He says he needs to get the speakers Matt used for his last show back to the school. The book gives the girls a riddle, which Will ends up solving with some random help. Cornelia and Hay get the speakers from Matt's garage and realize they've got a new problem: Matt's mom just got home from her business trip.

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Hay Lin's issues with Eric lowered her down to tie with Taranee, who's jumped ahead of Irma, thanks to Irma's poor attitude about Sheila. 

FIRST ISSUE: Both Taranee and Will are trying to avoid phone calls. Will has to talk to Matt's mom and uses the excuse they came up with for his absence. Peter lies for Taranee, but when he asks for an explanation and she says she's not sure of her feelings for Nigel anymore, he blows up at her. I hated this moment for Peter. He's usually very understanding, but he says Nigel stood up to their mother and his older brother to fight for their relationship and she'd better have a good reason for breaking up. I'd call Nigel's inability to accept Taranee's dancing a good reason, but sometimes feelings just change and it's really horrible of Peter to make Taranee feel guilty for that. The girls transform and wear human clothes in disguise to visit Siren Island and search for the water gem. It's found after a lot of illusions...

SECOND ISSUE: and an underwater battle which involves Taranee and Irma using their powers together. Irma places the water gem on the book and it unlocks one of the five locks. Irma and Taranee's tensions seem solved. Then Cedric gives them the next riddle, which is for the fire gem. 

THIRD ISSUE: The fire gem is at the Warmwater Hot Springs, which is too expensive for the girls to visit on their own. Cornelia's snotty paternal grandmother is in town and wants to teach Corny to be more ladylike, so she suggests a trip there and I'm still surprised she let the others come along. She's so snobby. You'd think she would have checked them out first. Taranee goes up against the fire custodian and wins the gem. 

FOURTH ISSUE: While the issue covers rarely match the action, the inner main illustration typically does, but sometimes they just make shit up. The illustration for this one is Cedric holding a tearful Orube and there's nothing about them in this issue. In Kandrakar, the transmuting cards the elements communicate by leave suddenly. Elsewhere, Irma and Taranee accompany Cornelia to find the earth gem, while Will and Hay are after the air gem. This story arc is already longer than others, so they've got to combine these somehow. After realizing they're each in trouble, Cornelia and Hay communicate telepathically and realize the solution is for them to swap places. They try teleporting but it fails...mostly. What happens is that their powers swap, so Hay uses Cornelia's healing powers to fix Will and Cornelia has an amusing time trying to master flight. The girls get the gems, put them in the book, and the slot for the fifth element opens in the shape of the Heart. Both Will and the Heart itself don't want to do this and then a magic dragon comes out of the book and pulls everyone inside it. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

This 16th volume of the series only contains three comic issues, unlike the usual four.

FIRST ISSUE: Everyone is separated trapped inside the book. Will and Hay are in Meridian's past and find their way out thanks to the transmuting cards. They find Taranee and Orube outside Ludmoore Manor in Heatherfield's past. Then it's off to a random dinosaur-filled island where Irma and Cornelia are. Cedric, in his snake form, confronts them and tries to make Will give up the Heart, but Orube stops her. Ludmoore, who's inside the book, attacks, but Cedric jumps in front and takes the blast to save Orube. Cedric and Orube have a few moments before he dies and everyone else moves on to the book's fnal chapter. 

SECOND ISSUE: They find Matt trapped inside a giant hourglass, writing in a book as ink drops on him and will eventually drown him. Will summons the Heart to swap for Matt, but the Heart itself resists him and frees Matt. Ludmoore transforms into a dragon thing and attacks Matt, while the other guardians also transform. When Ludmoore attacks them with their own elemental energy, he unwittingly returns their full powers to them, turning them into the living embodiments of their elements. They attack him and Will rescues Matt, but that leaves the Heart unguarded so Ludmoore grabs it and rejuvenates. Matt grabs the book he'd been writing in and crosses out Ludmoore's name, erasing him. Then he gets everyone home safely. They celebrate briefly in Kandrakar, then Matt goes home to his mom. In Kandrakar, Orube hangs out with We. Maybe she's not allergic anymore? She's not staying in Heatherfield. It's too painful. Susan and Dean get married. And a portal opens in the bookstore basement. 

THIRD ISSUE: Dean and Susan are off on their honeymoon and Will is staying with Corny. Irma writes a list of Karmilla stuff that Joel doesn't have and also writes Karmilla a fan note that she's going to have Sheila give her (via Taranee). However, Joel grabs the wrong note from Irma's bag and thinks she likes him. Karmilla is in town because her guitarist broke his wrist and she's looking for a replacement. She finds him after Sheila suggests...Matt. Joel makes dinner for Irma and she enjoys it but is also confused so she's glad when a telepathic call comes...because Cornelia's little sister Lilian has found We. He takes them to the bookshop and shows them the portal, which leads to Kandrakar and acts as a communication device, too. They decide to make the bookstore W.I.T.C.H. HQ. I love how they always have a solution. They gave up the astral drops so they had the Breath of Time for a while. They gave up healing and now Cornelia can heal. Without Orube, they don't look right going into the house all the time and now they have a new HQ. At the airport, Will says goodbye to Matt and Susan and Dean come home. Karmilla gives Irma a signed CD and Irma realizes about the note switch. Joel was the one who got it for her. 

So that was another very intense storyline. The girls got some new powers. Orube got some more characterization and got her heart broken. I'm not sure how I feel about that storyline, because I liked her with the musician neighbor. They brought him into the story and that just went nowhere. While We is cute, I really don't think they needed a cutesy mascot. When it comes to magical girl stuff, W.I.T.C.H. is one of the most realistic ones. There are no talking or anthropomorphized animals. Dormouse and Napoleon are/were pets. He doesn't really fit the essence of the story. I like the fluctuations in the girls' relationships. Will and Matt finally got over their myriad problems only to face the new dangers of Matt knowing the girls' secret. He is willing to go on tour partially because it's his dream and partially because he needs to clear his head after what happened to him. I like that Irma takes her own time in deciding and doesn't mind being single. I like that mature Cornelia is still flustered by Peter even though it's been a while. I don't like how much Nigel has changed, but it's natural for feelings to change and it's good to see Taranee being an example of that. I hope Peter gets that through his head. I don't like how weak Hay was around Eric's family, but I'm hoping she gets over that. She's the one that's the heart of the guardians, even though she doesn't hold the Heart itself, so it was annoying to see her so incapable of handling her own feelings and running from her problems. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay/Taranee, Irma, Will.

Taranee's vast improvements in character keep her holding in a tie with Hay. Irma's improved but not enough. And poor Will and her constant trauma remain on the bottom.

W.I.T.C.H. Part 4: Trial of the Oracle

Ah, a new story arc. Yay. This one is pretty intense. 

FIRST ISSUE: The Oracle is challenged to a trial by a man named Endarno. The girls have to testify, which doesn't go very smoothly, especially because Taranee still has a lot of anger. The council votes and the oracle is removed from his role and exiled to his former homeworld of Basiliade. Orube is from there, as well as Endarno himself. The secondary plot this time is revolving around the girls' romantic crises. Will still thinks Matt likes Orube and has fights with both of them. Irma is still being ignored by Martin, so Taranee and Cornelia get the idea to find her someone. Hay talks about Eric and Cornelia is crushing on Taranee's older brother Peter. 

SECOND ISSUE: The best part of this was Irma's heart to heart with her mom. I loved that. Will's still struggling. She's been so angsty again lately. Both Yan Lin and Endarno are up for the role of Oracle, but when the time comes for the announcement, only Hay makes it to Kandrakar. The others ignore her trying to get them to come. Of course Endarno is chosen because otherwise we'd have no villain for this arc. The girls have also been having trouble in school as they no longer have their astral drops, so they've got to do community service. Will is at an animal shelter, while the other four are at the museum. Endarno asks Will for the Heart, but she refuses to give it to him, so she fails his test. He thinks the guardians are too immature. Irma has a disaster date with the boy Taranee and Cornelia picked, while Hay gets her first kiss (on the cheek) from Eric. 

THIRD ISSUE: Endarno is choosing new guardians in semi-secret. Actual warrior women who grew up on worlds that openly know about Kandrakar. I have a feeling Earth is like the only one that doesn't. Endarno pays a visit to the Tower of Mists, the prison he used to run. He visits Phobos and then Cedric...and then reveals to Cedric that he IS Phobos. Phobos managed to body switch with the real Endarno. Irma makes up with Martin. Endarno sends a spell to erase all memory of the guardians from their lives. The spell, in the form of a butterfly, goes to Cornelia's first and she has to deal with her parents and sister no longer knowing who she is. She flees to Taranee's, where Peter also doesn't know her, and then they all meet at Orube's. Hay had an encounter with the butterfly, who was erasing Cornelia from her photos, but the family's guardian silver dragon came alive and captured the butterfly spell. Hay brings it to the meeting and Will uses the Heart to find the origin of the spell. The guardians travel to the Secret Garden of Remembrance, where Cornelia sees visions from her past and regains her life. Meanwhile, Cedric is on his way to Earth to give the guardians even more problems. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Matt wants to have a nice date with Will so they can hash out all their recent difficulties, but it takes him forever to pick where to go. On Kandrakar, Endarno/Phobos decides to go after Meridian. He orders Elyon to give up her crown so that the people can vote for who they want to rule. She refuses after meeting with her council. Endarno sends the guardians to arrest her, but they help her escape to Earth, where she'll hide in Orube's house. Elyon has a cute reunion with her friends, as do Caleb and Cornelia and Corny happily realizes she and Caleb can be friends. He seems to have eyes for Elyon, which is conflicting, as I believe Cornelia's true age was one of the things that broke them up. Matt and Will finally make it out. He got a flyer saying that the old carnival was restored, so that's where he takes Will. Only the entire thing was an illusion set up by Cedric. Will uses the Heart to save Matt, who then saves her from Cedric's energy blast, awakening the Heart's power to protect them. So Matt is going to be let in on the secret of W.I.T.C.H. and he and Will kiss. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will. 

FIRST ISSUE: Karmilla is back in town! Remember the rockstar from the early issues? Matt is trying to handle Will's big reveal after she tells him all their adventures, but she wants him to keep it a secret, even from the other guardians. Elyon is missing her people, but it's cute to see all of them together again. Endarno tells the guardians to bring Elyon to Kandrakar or give up being guardians. Irma and Joel, one of Matt's bandmates, take an interest in each other. 

SECOND ISSUE: Will tells her mom about Matt and she freaks out and says Will can't date. Sometimes she is truly unreasonable. Cornelia has conflicts with her competitive skating and her guardian life. Elyon wants to talk to Endarno, so it's off to Kandrakar, but when she refuses to hand over her crown, he imprisons her. Then he gives Cornelia an hourglass pendant called the Breath of Time, which will stop time on Earth while the guardians are elsewhere. No more need for constant cover stories. Whew. On Basiliade, the old Oracle is taking the first steps toward rediscovering his identity. Then the rift between W.I.T.C.H. begins when they can't decide what to do about Elyon. She gets a visit from Endarno and quickly realizes it's actually her brother Phobos. The guardians go to Meridian to get the crown but learn that it's in a barrier only Elyon can break. The rift between the guardians continues, because Hay and Cornelia want to take action while Will and the others want to wait and plan more. The Oracle remembers his original identity as the warrior Himerish. Will's mom gives her permission to date after some coaxing from Mr. Collins. The steps toward giving Endarno the full powers of the Oracle come closer. 

THIRD ISSUE: Yan Lin has won a small victory over Endarno/Phobos. She's been voted the new custodian of the Tower of the Mists, so she pays a visit to Elyon, who tells her Endarno is Phobos. Yan was pretty sure already. Will caves and tells the girls that Matt knows their secret and they're very angry, which just widens their rift. Yan comes to Will in a dream and tells her about Phobos. She gives Will the essence of the Light of Meridian, which she can use to get the crown. The dream ends when Yan is attacked by Endarno/Phobos, who spins it to the council that Elyon did it. The good news is that he has to endure a period of magical fasting before being given the full oracle powers, so he'll be sidelined for some time. Hay is very upset when she learns her grandmother is injured and the girls plot to free Elyon from the prison. Orube says there are secret entrances, but only the old Oracle would know them, so she heads to her homeworld of Basiliade. She finds Himerish and they team up. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Cornelia is chosen to represent her school at regionals. Hay gets her braces removed. Will and Matt struggle with the weight of Matt's knowledge. Then Himerish shows up...wearing jeans and a baseball cap. It's pretty hilarious. Cornelia is pulled from a celebration dinner by Will. Will, Cornelia and Himerish go to Meridian to get the crown. Hay makes each guardian a piece of jewelry with one of the elemental symbols Hay had on her braces. It's cute but a little gross, too. Heh. But it's a start at really getting them back together. At the end, Hay goes to Eric's to show him her new smile and meets his mother...who she dropped soup on earlier. But Mom's pretty cool. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will. 

FIRST ISSUE: Hay has met Eric's family and dropped an antique, though Eric's dad caught it. She fled the scene and is now distraught. At Irma's suggestion, she takes them a gift to apologize, but then is called to a guardian meeting and has to run off again. Himerish and the guardians use the power of the elements to break into the Tower of Mists where they're spotted by Cedric. Endarno needs to go see the real Endarno one more time. While at the tower, he runs into Cedric, who tells him the guardians are there. Phobos/Endarno then turns on Cedric and tries to have him imprisoned again, but Cedric escapes. Tibor goes to see Yan Lin and then gets her to the guardians. They finally find Elyon and give her the crown. 

SECOND ISSUE: Back in Heatherfield, the Breath of Time stops working so the girls' absence will be noted now. The reawakened Elyon...turns out to be Cedric. He knocks everyone out and they're imprisoned, then he goes to confront Phobos. He'll continue to help Phobos but he wants Meridian in exchange. Himerish tells the girls how to direct their powers to free themselves. Will is teleported away to Phobos. He tortures her with images of a future where the others all leave her behind in an attempt to break her spirit and get her to willingly give up the Heart. On Earth, Matt covers for Will then goes to see Orube, where they cover for everyone. The others free Elyon. Will uses the Heart to return Phobos and Endarno to their real bodies. Cedric is outed and Elyon goes after him, but he vanishes. Phobos flees from the guardians, leaping off Kandrakar. Kandrakar is in the center of infinity, so he's just condemned himself to fall into nothingness forever. The girls return to Orube's and are thrilled that Matt helped them. 

THIRD ISSUE: This one's got a bunch of time incidents. People from the past keep showing up in the present, like still alive Yan Lin from before she told the girls they were guardians and the entire Brown family. Phobos put a spell on the Breath of Time and when it gets chipped, it frees him. It's not the real him, but a past fragment. For some reason, he has powers but the girls can't hit him with theirs unless he grows more real. A silly accident with the Breath of Time pendant back in Cornelia's room puts a stop to him. It's pretty much a useless chapter. This story just wasn't necessary. 

FOURTH ISSUE: Jensen Dance Academy is opening in Heatherfield, run by one of Karmilla's dancers. Irma is excited to go because she has this crazy idea that Karmilla is the special surprise at the end. Taranee is the only one who wants to go with her, having taken dance lessons in her old town. The guardians are called to Kandrakar where Himerish says he's becoming the Oracle again but will do things differently this time. At the dance academy, Irma and Taranee meet Sheila Jensen, the unhappy daughter of the academy owner. In a preview of one of the classes, Taranee recognizes the song and does a dance from her old school. She catches the eye of Kevin Jensen, the owner, and he tells her she may have what it takes to go pro. Taranee is super happy about dancing again and Peter helps her tell their parents. Her mom is a bitch about it. Will's mom is sometimes bitchy, but Taranee's mom is almost always overprotective, condescending and just plain bitchy. She gives in pretty quickly, but I don't know why her first reaction always has to be Bitch. Irma and Joel realize they both of have younger siblings in the same class. In school, Sheila is courted by the popular kids and wants nothing to do with anyone, whiile Matt is thrilled to have helped W.I.T.C.H.

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will. 

I didn't do a summary of each volume, but this story arc was really good. Old enemies and old friends back. The girls' relationships strengthening and struggling. I loved the changes in Himerish's character and Orube remains really strong. It was good to see the Meridian gang again and I always love Yan Lin. The only bit I really didn't care for was the Breath of Time Phobos after story. Just felt like filler. Some of their filler stories have a lot of character development, but I didn't feel like this story added much. 

The girls remain in their same order, but Taranee might be creeping higher on Irma. I love dancing so her passion for it may help me like her more. (Not that I don't.) I only read these newer storylines once before and it was so long ago that I can't remember what I thought of Taranee and her dancing. But we'll soon find out!

W.I.T.C.H. Part 3: A Crisis on Both Worlds

New story arc! This first volume begins with some daily life stories, then it's off on a new adventure. 

The first issue gives me exactly what I asked for: an Irma story. Irma's father is a cop and she has to take him a folder at work. While there, she meets an old Native American man named Jewell who was taken hostage by a man doing illegal betting. Irma's dad is going to drop Jewell off at a homeless shelter before heading home with her. While Irma is in the backseat with him, he says odd things and she believes he's psychic. He tells her things about her friends, which she then tells them and gets in trouble for it. Granted, Irma's not the most gentle with words, but there's no nice way to tell Will not to get close to her father or Cornelia that ice-skating will help her get over Caleb. 

Taranee confronts her mother about the case against Will's mom, leading Mrs. Cook to go talk to Mrs. Vandom. Probably not the best idea if she still plans on judging the case, which she does. Is this even realistic? They're friends. I don't think she could actually be the judge on this. 

Jewell visits Irma and leaves her a book, which contains the legend of water shadows, elemental creatures made of water. She's concerned about him because the bad guy is out on bail and Jewell has disappeared. So she rallies the girls and they go to the rescue, but who they find is a man named Benjamin Crane, who looks exactly like Jewell. He tells them he's a fisherman who was caught in a storm and saved by a water creature which then took his form. He learned about water shadows and said they can only transform once, so he named the creature Jewell and in return for living with him, Jewell used his psychic abilities to tell Benjamin where to fish. But this caught the attention of the bad guy, who kidnapped Crane and forced Jewell to use his powers to aid the bad guy in his betting. The guardians find the bad guys and Jewell, but he falls off the side of the lighthouse with the head bad guy. Irma catches the bad man's wrist, but Jewell keeps falling, so she's able to use her powers to return him to water, which is what he wanted her to do all along. 

Oh, and the two detectives from the first story arc make a reappearance, talking to another investigator that specializes in weird cases. He's interested in the guardians and he turns up at their school as the new computer science teacher. So he won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

This was a really good and much-needed issue for Irma. She shows how much she cares about people, even though her communication skills are a bit lacking. 

The second issue is all Will drama and it's pretty big drama. Her father has a custody case against her mother and it turns out he's willing to accept a lot of money in exchange for dropping the case. The guardians decide they have to step in, because not only does this involve Will but there are pictures of Will's mom and Taranee's mom talking, so that brings Taranee into it as well. Taranee and Will pay a visit to Kadma, because she knows so much about Will's history. It doesn't go well because Kadma wants nothing to do with anything related to Kandrakar anymore. Cornelia, Irma and Hay try to get their hands on the originals of the photos in the office of the seedy PI guy Will's dad hired, but they fail. Then a call comes in and Will's dad has dropped the case. Turns out Kadma did care after all. She paid him off and he disappears again. Will, her mom and Will's pet dormouse head out in celebration, but the dormouse is hit by a car. They rush him to Matt's grandfather's veterinary clinic/pet shop, but the news is bad. He has to put dormouse to sleep. Will says goodbye and yep, I totally teared up. This is the thing that brings Will and Matt back together, but I really think they could have done it better than having her pet die. I mean, come on. 

Things start to get heavy in the third issue. The school is offering an exchange program with Redstone, a school so far away that it's night there when it's day in Heatherfield. There was a test and Cornelia, Taranee and Hay are going, but Irma and Will are not. The issue has the girls prepping for their departure. While at Cornelia's younger sister Lilian's birthday party, Taranee realizes her former near-sightedness has turned into beyond perfect vision. The girls take a quick trip to Kandrakar to ask why and the Oracle tells them all guardians bear the gift of Xin Jing, the nymph who created the guardians. Constantly changing forms is taxing on the body, so it's basically an enhanced healing power, but it also corrects natural deficiencies in the body, such as Taranee's weak vision. Now I would be grateful for anything that fixed my terrible sight, but Taranee is pissed. She's mad there's yet another thing the Oracle neglected to tell them and what's worse is that this one physically changes the girls. Taranee declares herself on break from being a guardian while she processes things. Again, I feel she's being ungrateful. I do think they should have been told, but it's not an easy thing to have poor vision. Maybe hers wasn't really that awful but I'd love anything to fix mine. It just seems a strange gift to get super pissed about and I don't love her for doing this. I do like that she has enough balls to do it though. 

Asshole Uriah decides to steal the plane tickets for the trip and there's a whole bit with the girls getting them back. Or rather, making him give them back. 

Then the girls part ways. 

We get our first glimpse of Redstone, which is seriously amazing, in the fourth issue. Then the girls are summoned and given their next mission. They must go to a world called Arkhanta, which has been taken over by a man named Ari. His wife died in childbirth and his son is a quiet loner, so he captures a banshee to try to help his son. Banshees here are more like djinn with the ability to grant wishes. When she can't do it, Ari uses a wish to bind her to him and she has to keep granting wishes. He uses her powers to change his world and take it over. He's angry with the Oracle for not helping his son, so he wants nothing to do with Kandrakar and the Oracle sees this as a threat. So he's sending the four guardians (Taranee refuses to help) and their new team member, the catlike warrior Orube, who was Luba's best pupil. The trip does not go well. Orube impulsively acts and Ari won't have anything to do with the girls then. Will questions why they're even doing this, as Ari's people seem to think he changed things for the better. They're forced to return to Kandrakar a failure. The Oracle gives them the key to Ms. Rudolph's house, where Orube will now live in the guise of college student Rebecca Rudolph. The goal is to bond her to the other girls so they'll be more successful. Orube has no idea what it's like to be human...or apparently even what food is...so they've got their work cut out for them. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee/Will.

Definitely some order-changing here. Cornelia didn't get to do too much, but she's still my favorite. Though I didn't care for her questioning magical creatures in the Irma-based issue. It felt out of character, since they've seen so many magical things. But it's not enough points off to budge her from the top. Hay didn't do much either, but she's still Hay. Irma's great showing in that first issue pulled her ahead of Taranee and Will, and she did a great rescue in the last issue. And Taranee's lack of gratitude dropped her into a tie with Will for last place. Will did have a strong showing, especially in the last issue, but if I remember correctly, I do tend to go back and forth on liking her. 

In the first issue here, Orube is not adjusting well to life on Earth, while Cornelia, Taranee and Hay deal with adjusting to Redstone. Cornelia has a popular boy as an admirer, but she's still thinking about Caleb, who we see in a short scene from Meridian where he's talking to Elyon. The guardians and Orube go back to Arkhanta and end up helping out at a festival, but Yua the banshee sends a tornado that destroys a lot of the small village. Orube is still refusing to do teamwork with the others and Irma blames her for their failure. Back in Kandrakar, the Oracle says her assistance wouldn't have changed anything, but also says that the guardians' strength lies in their mental and spiritual unity and that Orube has a long way to go. Back in Heatherfield, Orube is affected by her mistake, but it fuels her to stop hiding in her house and go out to experience Earth. 

The second issue is similar. Will and Irma are helping Orube learn about Earth, while in Redstone, the others are trying to find out more about Sylla, who they know is watching them. Taranee struggles with Cornelia and Hay's astral drops, who clearly have minds of their own, while the others are in Arkhanta again. This time, Orube finds herself possessed by Yua. Taranee ends up using her powers on Sylla to help Hay's astral drop. After being freed from her possession, Orube and Will have some bonding time back on Earth and Orube gives some backstory that explains why she's the way she is. 

The third issue is still dealing with the Sylla problem and Taranee returns to the fold, admitting she was wrong. The six of them go to Arkhanta, where they accidentally find Maqi, leading him to run away. He ends up stumbling into Yua's chambers and she captures him, but Irma gets him back. Yua twists things so Ari thinks the guardians tried to hurt Maqi and they flee back to Kandrakar. 

In the fourth, the Redstone trip is over and everyone is home. We've got a lot more Sylla drama. Taranee also says Nigel told her that they can't see each other anymore but won't say why, and later it becomes clear that Taranee's mom has something to do with it. Sylla and his superiors, one of whom has mental abilities, are watching over the guardians. The guardians and Orube go to a party and there's a huge final confrontation with all the agents that have ever been after the guardians. The Oracle has to intervene, teleporting all the agents and Will's astral drop to Kandrakar, where he erases any memory all the agents have of the guardians. He sends Will's astral drop back, knowing there's going to be a problem there, too. 

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will. 

Things remain pretty much the same in this volume. Cornelia is still awesome. Irma's gotten stronger and is holding her place in front of Taranee, but only just barely. I do really like everyone though, so don't think because Will's last it means I don't like her. She's shown a lot more improvement since she stopped being so angsty all the time. And Orube, who I won't ever count in this list, is improving with every issue. I really love her. She's my favorite secondary character, ahead of Elyon by quite a bit now.

The first issue finally wraps up the Arkhanta storyline with teases for two other storylines: troubles with Nigel and the revolt of the astral drops. The guardians fight Ari and defeat him, then free Yua the captive banshee, who kidnaps Ari's son Maqi. The guardians then team up with him to rescue Maqi, who falls from very high and is injured. The guardians band together and give him their healing gift, which honestly seems like a really stupid thing to give up. (*cough*Taranee, you fool*cough*) Why not try only one of them giving it up first? But this healing gift also makes Maqi verbal and happy again. Not the greatest message there, that it takes magic to heal a mental illness. This is by far the weakest of the early storylines, though I do love the introduction of Orube. 

In the second issue, we get into the astral drop crisis. The drops are beginning to creep forward and affect the girls when they're combined. Will spends a good chunk of the issue blowing off the problem only for it to be revealed that that's Will's astral drop, not her. The real Will had to go on an emergency trip with her mom. When Will returns, the crisis is at a head and the girls are in trouble with the school and various parents and friends. It's all so petty. Yes, the girls abused the astral drops and didn't treat them like they were real people, but the drops didn't try very hard to communicate their issues, instead resorting to petty tricks and stealing. They don't care who they hurt, even Orube, who never did anything to them, so it's hard to find them remotely sympathetic. Meanwhile, Nigel's older brother is back in town and that's why he's been acting like a little asshole. At the end of the chapter, the astral drops have stolen money from Matt's grandfather's store (via a naive Orube) and boarded a train. 

Third issue finds Orube tracking the drops because her senses can detect them. They're in another city, spending the last of their money on a breakfast of hot dogs after spending the night in a park shed. Cornelia's drop aims for the mall, where she's recruited as an emergency fill-in for a short fashion show. The director of the show just wants her to have shorter hair, so we get to see how cute Corny looks with much shorter hair. Unfortunately, Cornelia has been recognized by a former security guard from the bank where her dad works, and that guard got fired for possibly being the inside man in a robbery. There was no proof, but he was the guy after all. So of course, he goes after Cornelia. She and Taranee are kidnapped, but Orube shows up shortly after. She finds the other three drops, while the kidnapper calls Cornelia's house to say he's got her...and tells the real Cornelia, who answered the phone. Using Will's ability to talk to electronics, the W.I.T.C.H. team learn the location of the kidnapped drops and teleport to the rescue. So they've got Taranee and Cornelia's drops, but Orube lets the other three go, moved by their story of wanting to be their own people. 

The final issue of this third part of W.I.T.C.H. opens with a conflicting scene. Cornelia and Taranee's drops are with Orube but suddenly she's mad at them and trying to get them to say where the other three are...but she's the one who let them go at the end of the last issue. The other drops have returned to Heatherfield (with what money?) and are trying to make a plan. So their plan, of course, is to cause more nasty chaos. Will's drop tells Matt that Orube/Rebecca stole money from the shop and he calls the real Will about it later, making her think there's something between them. Irma and Hay's drops just want to rescue the other two, but Will's drop is out for blood, causing problems with Will's coach and her mom. Irma and Hay's drops get themselves caught by Orube, while Will's drop goes to Will's house, where she's now grounded. They fight and the rest of W.I.T.C.H. answers Will's telepathic call. They take the problem to Kandrakar, where the girls agree to free the drops from their bond. The oracle sends them somewhere else, giving them new appearances and new lives, but he does mark them with each girl's elemental symbol, saying that one day he'll call them back to Kandrakar to make a final decision. The issue closes with Nigel going to Taranee's to apologize to her and her family, saying he'll pay for any damages from the vandalism he and his brother committed. Taranee forgives him. 

So this third arc was definitely not my favorite. There were some strong moments, mostly the growth of Orube and Irma, but overall, it wasn't great. Taranee's rebellion was stupid and the astral drops' rebellion, while it made more sense, was filled with petty garbage. I'm glad it's over.

Order of Favorite Guardians: Cornelia, Hay, Irma, Taranee, Will.