Celestial Bodies
creator: Paige Hender
Celestial Bodies is a fantasy comic with a lot of heart and huge potential. This relatively new webcomic follows four friends – two of whom accidentally witnessed some witch butt-kicking by the other two – who are witch hunters. But what happens when they take on a whole coven of witches right on their college campus?
As you can probably tell from the above page (the latest in the comic at the time of this review), Celestial Bodies succeeds with its bold colors and hilariously expressive characters. My two favorites so far are Sol and Ophelia (above); like most great characters, they’ve felt fully formed and bursting through the pages since the beginning. Aristotle and Eyre, our other two main characters, are a little weaker, but there is plenty of time to flesh them out – we’re only on chapter two. Aristotle feels like a “gentle giant” kind of character, and Eyre is clearly more powerful than she lets on – they’re more mysterious for now.
Speaking of characters, it is so refreshing to have people of color and people of different orientations just be main characters in Celestial Bodies, without having to apologize or explain it. We quickly learn that Ophelia (glorious, rocking, unshaven Ophelia) and Eyre are queer but it feels as natural as any part of the story. One of the things I’m starting to learn and love about independent comics is that they authentically reflect the diverse population of comic book readers.
If there’s one thing I want more of from Celestial Bodies, it’s a sense of place. We have great characters and they got me hooked – but what exactly is their college like? A campus that’s home to a coven of witches, and also happens to be where our four witch hunters live, can’t be a huge coincidence, can it? Those of us who have been to college know that campus is like a world of its own – so what kind of world do they live in? I would love to see more backgrounds that situate our characters in a place, maybe even some exposition about the college. CB so far is full of engaging personalities which is great, but I want to be pulled into a whole cohesive world.
Moreover, we have more to learn about the witches themselves. What makes Celestial Bodies’ witches different from the plethora of other witch-villains out there? How do Ophelia and Aristotle train, is there some sort of witch-hunter organization out there? Again, we’re only in the second chapter but giving us more details – perhaps we learn as Ophelia and Aristotle learn – is what will hook me in for the long run.
Reading Art 