Fair is foul, and foul is fair

Witches were big business during the 1960s, for reasons that should be obvious to just about anyone. BEWITCHED debuted on ABC in 1964, introducing the world to Samantha Stephens and her creepy world of gender and sexual politics. Angelique made her first appearance in 1967, with stops in between for such programs as I DREAM OF JEANNIE (don't argue with me), Grandmama on THE ADDAMS FAMILY, WINSOM WITCH and probably a few that have been forgotten.

Beating them to the punch, though, was Sabrina Spellman. Riverdale's resident teenage witch made her first appearance in Archie's Mad House #22, with a cover date of October, 1962. While the Comics Code Authority prevented publishers from dabbling too much in the supernatural, Archie Comics somehow managed to introduce an out-and-out witch into their line of books. Sabrina was popular enough to quickly get her own title and animated series before the decade's end. More than 50 years later, Sabrina remains the best thing to come from Archie Comics. (Deal with it, Jughead.)

Meanwhile, HELL HAS FROZEN OVER. Way back in 2014, Amazon solicited a book titled "The Complete Sabrina the Teenage Witch: 1962-1971." It was set for release a few months later but, every time the release date arrived, it was pushed back another six to nine months. Along with the often solicited/never released second volume of Dynamite's DARK SHADOWS comics (which is now set for release in January, 2018) I'd given up any hope that the book would ever be released. So imagine my surprise when a text message from Amazon earlier this morning notified me that the book will be arriving at my doorstep tomorrow!

If you're interested, this is a mammoth book clocking in a 512 B&W pages collecting Sabrina's first stories from 1962-1965. You can order a copy for yourself from Amazon HERE.