''The Witching Hour'' is an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

horror

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

published by

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

from 1969 to 1978.

Publication history

The series was published for 85 issues from February–March 1969 to October 1978. Its tagline was "It's 12 o'clock... The Witching Hour!" and was changed to "It's midnight..." from issue #14 onwards. The series was originally edited by

Dick Giordano Richard Joseph Giordano (; July 20, 1932 – March 27, 2010) was an American comics artist and editor whose career included introducing Charlton Comics' "Action Heroes" stable of superheroes and serving as executive editor of DC Comics. Ear ...

, who was replaced by Murray Boltinoff with issue #14.

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was induct ...

was the cover artist for ''The Witching Hour'' for issues #1–6, 11–12, 15–16, 18–52, and 60. Stories in the comic were "hosted" and introduced by three witches, Mordred, Mildred, and Cynthia, initially designed by artist

Alex Toth Alexander Toth (; June 25, 1928 – May 27, 2006) was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera through ...

. After ''The Witching Hours cancellation as a result of the "

DC Implosion The "DC Explosion" and "DC Implosion" were two events in 1978 – the first an official marketing campaign, the second a sardonic reference to it – in which American comics company DC Comics expanded their roster of publications, then abruptly cu ...

", the title was merged with '' The Unexpected'' until issue #209. The witches were later revived along with the hosts of the companion series '' House of Secrets'' and ''

House of Mystery ''The House of Mystery'' is the name of several horror comics, horror, fantasy comics, fantasy, and mystery fiction, mystery comics anthology, comics anthologies published by DC Comics. It had a companion series, ''The House of Secrets (DC Comi ...

'' as important characters in

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

's '' The Sandman''.

Vertigo limited series

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

published an unrelated ''The Witching Hour'' limited series by writer

Jeph Loeb Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III () is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series ''Smallville (TV series), Smallville'' and ''Lost (2004 TV series), Lost'', writer for the films ''C ...

and artists

Chris Bachalo Chris Bachalo (; born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics' ''Shade, the Changing Man'' and Neil Gaiman's two Death (Sandman), Death series. C ...

and

Art Thibert Arthur Thibert () is an American comic book artist, primarily known as a freelance inker, although he has a substantial résumé as a penciler and has even written some comics. Thibert is best known for his work as an inker for Marvel Comics on t ...

in 1999–2000.

2013 one-shot

''The Witching Hour'' title was revived for a one-shot anthology by Vertigo in 2013.

2018 crossover storyline

''Wonder Woman & Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour'' is a five–part weekly crossover storyline published in two one-shots and the main ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

'' and ''

Justice League Dark Justice League Dark, or JLD, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team made their debut in ''Justice League Dark'' #1 (September 2011). The team features some of the more supernatural characters in t ...

'' series. The crossover featured

and Justice League Dark teaming up to defeat Hecate. The entire crossover received positive reviews.

Critical reception

According to Comic Book Roundup, the 2018 series received a score of 8.2 out of 10 based on 98 reviews.

Collected editions

* ''

Showcase Presents ''Showcase Presents'' is a line (comics), line of black-and-white paperback books that were published by DC Comics (from 2005 - 2016) at an average rate of two per month. Much like Marvel Comics' ''Essential Marvel'' volumes, each book usually incl ...

: The Witching Hour'' collects ''The Witching Hour'' #1-19, 544 pages, March 2011,

References

External links

* *
''The Witching Hour''
an
''The Witching Hour'' vol. 2
at Mike's Amazing World of Comics {{DEFAULTSORT:Witching Hour 1969 comics debuts 1978 comics endings 1999 comics debuts 2000 comics endings 2013 comics debuts 2013 comics endings 2018 comics debuts 2018 comics endings Comics anthologies Characters created by Alex Toth Comics by Arnold Drake Comics by Bob Haney Comics by Carl Wessler Comics by Dennis O'Neil Comics by George Kashdan Comics by Gerry Conway Comics by Jeph Loeb Comics by Marv Wolfman Comics by Neal Adams DC Comics one-shots Defunct American comics Fantasy comics Horror comics Fiction about witchcraft