The Coffin Witch lives in the woods and Eve Coffin decides to summon her, but find out what happens when she is released in Coffin Hill Vol. 1.

Coffin is a name with ties to old money and power.  The Coffin’s first came from Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials.  She was the only actual witch in Salem and let the others take the fall for her.   The witch moved and eventually a town was named after her, Coffin Hill, Massachusetts.

In 2003 Eve Coffin, a rebellious teenager, and her friends are dabbling in witchcraft.  They decide to go to the woods to summon the Coffin Witch, mostly to see if they can. Eve and her friends perform the dark ritual with Eve waking up naked, covered in blood, a friend missing, and another sent to a mental institution.

10 years later Eve lives in Boston and is a police officer.  After becoming famous for taking down a serial killer,  she is at a bar celebrating the arrest. When she comes home she finds her roommate being held hostage by the roommates ex-boyfriend.  Eve gets shot in the head but survives.

When Eve leaves the hospital she is no longer a cop and is under investigation by Internal Affairs and has reporters asking her about the serial killer.  Eve decides to go back to Coffin Hill and collect herself. However, when she gets home she discovers whatever she released 10 years prior is taking teens again.

Coffin Hill Vol. 1 was written by Caitlin Kittredge with art by Inaki Miranda and Eva De La Cruz.  DC’s Vertigo imprint published the line in 2014.

When I started reading this I thought it would be like Rachel Rising, with a girl waking up from the dead.  The truth is I don’t know if Eve came back from the dead.  She was shot in the head, but maybe it just grazed her like Carl from Walking Dead style.  It is never explained in the volume.

I did not expect any witchcraft elements and this book is all about witches.  However, the good news is it never explores it. I have no idea how good at witchcraft Eve is and she almost never uses it.  She summons crows, or maybe they just hang around.

Something which kept confusing me was how many people know Eve is a witch.  Eve is not open about being a witch but it seems like a lot of people know somehow.  If everyone knows she is a witch then fine, but the problem is when some know and some don’t.  There isn’t any real rhyme or reason as to who knows and who doesn’t.

When reading this I felt very lost as to the Coffin backstory, and Eve’s.  I felt like I missed a volume of the story. I had a hard time caring about Eve, or any of the other characters for that matter.  The overall premise was good, but the book went nowhere with it. This comic was full of plot holes and missed story opportunities.

If you want a good story about a witch who is a cop then I would suggest something like Black Magick.

Rating:

2/5

 

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