The Sandman Presents: Thessaly, Witch for Hire

Terrible spin-off of Gaiman’s Sandman. In Gaiman’s Sandman, Thessaly is a young, plain-looking woman whose exterior hides a bloody-minded, cold and ruthless interior of one of the oldest witches alive. In Bill Willingham’s graphic novel, Thessaly seems more like a cutesy, witchy Nancy Drew. She’s drawn like a pin-up girl, always showcasing her hot body, and I was getting intensely irritated that in the half the drawings, she’s puckering her lips like she’s whistling (do men find that sexy?). I don’t want Thessaly to be “cute”. I expect her to be scary, like Gaiman portrayed her. This story was beneath her character – she has to find a way to kill something “unkillable” – and *spoiler* she doesn’t even solve show more it herself. A MAN solves it for her. No way that Gaiman’s Thessaly would ever be such a useless… twit. show less

One of the more enigmatic characters in the unfathomable world that is Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman," Thessaly has also become one of the most endearing. Maybe its because she's a waifishly cute witch of the bookish variety (oftentimes seen wearing fluffy pink slippers) -- at first glance -- but more of the powerful and ruthless type once you get to know her.

Thessaly is your average immortal, powerful witch. She gets up in the morning, goes to the market, and fights off the demons that happen to invade her home. Actually, she's fought off more than 30 demons in the past two years, and she's getting a little tired of trying to explain that to the neighbors.

Everything becomes clear when Fetch shows up. He is her erstwhile suitor, a show more charmingly dapper fellow who looks like a 1940s screen star and is a ghost somehow composed of all the people Thessaly ever killed (and believe me, there's a lot!).

Smitten with Thessaly, Fetch has attempted simultaneously to get closer to her and give her life a little meaning by signing her up for a monster-killing contract without her prior knowledge or consent.

Her general irritation with him grows into actual anger and fear when she learns that they are slated to fight a Tharmic Null–a being composed of nothingness and impossible to beat.

The art is lively and cartoonlike, a nice counterpoint to some of the grimmer elements of the story. Thessaly is slight and girlish; her looks belie her ruthless nature. Fetch is a fantastic contrast for her–jovial and slick where Thessaly is dark and cruel.

The climax of show less

“The Sandman Presents: Thessaly, Witch for Hire”
October 13th, 2009

Another Sandman-related graphic novel, Thessaly, Witch for Hire by Bill Willingham (Fables) and Shawn McManus, revisits a character from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman storyline A Game of You. She’s the last and most powerful of the Thessalian witches, a Greek coven. When an old “friend” turns up, he turns out to be part of the problem. He’s a ghost called Fetch, and he’s called down a series of demons on her that she’s had to dispatch. The problem, though, is that she’s trying to live in peace, after a lifetime of violence. Demon killing is not only NOT peaceful, it’s not low profile, so Thessaly has to keep moving once the neighbors twig to what she’s up show more to. But the biggest and baddest demon of them all is yet to come, and Thessaly has no idea how, or if, she’s going to survive it. She and Fetch give it a go, though, with predicable results.

This is a good one-off story, entertaining and well-drawn by McManus, who created the character along with Gaiman. There’s funny banter, and some mean people get what’s coming to them. Good, but doesn’t scratch much deeper than the surface, and some graphic sex and violence mean it’s for older teens and adults. show less

After reading the Thessaliad (a great series) I was happy to hear that Thessaly was getting another series of her own. At 4/5 stars, I found this a rather enjoyable read. Like the first Thessaly series, our favorite witch has something coming after her and must figure out what it is. Only, this threat is a lot worse than before - a Null, which nothing can defeat. Of course, Thessaly has to figure out how to defeat this. The people who sent the Null after think she has met her match, but as we all know, Thessaly is far more than she seems. The surprising way she defeats the Null and responds to the people who sent it after her make for a satisfying ending to this tale. Definitely a favorite addition to the Sandman universe. Two thumbs up!

Summary: Thessaly - first introduced to readers in The Sandman is the world's oldest and most powerful witch. She thought she could handle anything, until a lovesick spirit named Fetch involves her against her will in a monster-slaying business in a bizzare attempt at courtship. The regular monsters are no problem, but Fetch has accidentally pitted Thessaly against an unstoppable, unkillable agent of Chaos itself.

Review: I'll admit, I didn't know exactly what to expect from the Sandman spinoff series, but I was imagining that while they'd focus on some of the smaller characters, they would at least be Sandman-like in tone - dark, dream-like, musing, whatever you want to call it. Instead, Thessaly: Witch for Hire was more like a show more screwball romantic comedy than the layered drama I was expecting, and it suffered accordingly. Gaiman's Thessaly was an interesting character because she was not only powerful, but mysterious and closed-off about her power. Willingham's treatment of her, however, strips away a lot of the mystery and reveals her to be sort of regularly ruthlessly bitchy, which resulted in me losing a fair bit of interest in the character. I was also not crazy about the way the story ended - not to spoil anything, but the way Thessaly gets out of her jam just felt too convenient and pat.

That all sounds really negative, but the truth was that it wasn't a terrible read. I was just hoping that it would manage to recapture more of the Sandman magic than it actually did. 3 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: You could argue this point, but Thessaly: Witch at Large might actually be best as a cute, fun read for people who *haven't* read the main Sandman series - it's relatively understandable on its own, and they're less likely to be jarred by the major change in tone. show less

Thessaly: Witch for Hire is a sequel to Willigham's own "The Thessaliad," a story in The Sandman Presents: Taller Tales. Looking back, I found that story okay: some great ideas but "the characterization was a little too straightforward" is what I wrote at the time. Well, Witch for Hire is a completely disappointing story. The plot is basically a straight line: Thessaly finds out she's going to die, Thessaly follows a number of fruitless lines to solve the problem, Thessaly wins anyway. Sure, Willigham makes an ironic joke about it by ending the third chapter with "NEXT: No More Talking Heads. It's All Monsters From Here On Out," but it's not the lack of monsters that's the problem, it's the lack of impactful incident. The last chapter show more is no better for having a giant flaming demon stomping through it.

Thessaly was cool in A Game of You because she seemed like a shy, withdrawn, plain girl, but she was actually a completely ruthless murderer (she pulls the skin off a guy's skull, hangs it on the wall with a nail, and reanimates it to get the information she needs!), and Willingham and McManus completely fail to get that. Their Thessaly is pushed around, unassertive, and spends all her time showing off her pouting lips, big butt, and midriff. Can you picture this woman having a relationship with Dream himself? I sure can't.

Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Spin-Offs: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

Another encounter with Thessaly, the "I will survive" Thessalian witch first encountered in Sandman. Fetch, still enamored with her, has set u contracts to destroy various supernatural beings, but inadvertently makes a contract that appears impossible to accomplish.