Witch
Witch is an Italian Disney - comic . It was developed in 2001 by the illustrators Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa together with the Disney director for girls' publications Elisabetta Gnone. In 2004, WITCH was awarded the Max and Moritz Prize in the category “Best German-language comic book for children and young people” at the Erlangen Comic Salon . The comic is distributed worldwide and in many languages. The comic series was adapted as an animated series , manga , graphic novel , novel series and video game.
Witch is short for Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin , five students in a place called Heatherfield. The 13 to 14 year old girls were chosen as the new guardians of the network. They are supposed to protect the meridian and the earth from evil and in return receive the four natural elements water, fire, earth and air and pure cosmic energy. The work can be assigned to the genres fantasy and action .
action
The five girls Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay Lin from the port city of Heatherfield are the chosen guardians of Kandrakar. They are supposed to protect the world from dark forces and have the four natural elements earth, water, fire and air. Will carries the "Heart of Kandrakar", a mighty jewel with which one can unite the elements.
The fortress of Kandrakar , and Temple of the Brotherhood called, is a place of peace and tranquility. You can only get there by magical teleportation (called here dislocation). This is where the oracle resides , a god-like being that has existed since the beginning of time and rules over the universe. It is surrounded by a council. The fortress consists of several parts. The fortress itself houses the council chamber. The Obliminose cosmos has healing properties. Particularly serious criminals are held captive in the Tower of Fog. The Spirits' Room contains copies of magical items ever given to anyone by the oracle.
- Phobos saga : The Witch, the guardians of the network , a magical barrier between the metaworld Meridian (in the original "Metamoor") and the earth, have to close twelve portals, holes in the network. Meridian is a world that is ruled by the evil prince Phobos. After exploiting and tyrannizing Meridian, he now wants to attack the earth, with the power of his sister Elyon, Cornelia's best friend, who was brought to earth as a baby by loyal servants (their adoptive parents) of the old royal couple, a key role in his Plans should play. Therefore his servant brings Cedric Elyon to Meridian and influences her to the extent that she sees her friends as a threat, which also works at the beginning. Together with the rebel movement among the inhabitants of Meridian, which had fought against Phobos for years, the witch succeeds in defeating him; Phobos and Cedric are captured and taken to the Tower of Mists, Kandrakar's prison, while Elyon is made the rightful ruler of Meridian.
- Nerissa saga : Luba, the guardian of the quasars of Kandrakar, intrigues against the Witch. She considers the girls to be unsuitable, weak and too young. As a result, the seal of the stone coffin breaks in which Nerissa, the renegade ex-guardian of Kandrakar, has been trapped for many years. Nerissa escapes and transforms a dog, its master, lava and ice into her knights of vengeance: Khor, Shagon, Cenere and Tridarco. They kidnap Caleb, but he escapes and is rescued by Luba, who has seen her mistakes. In the ensuing fight, Luba Nerissa sacrifices herself for the guards. Through a trick, Nerissa succeeds in stealing the heart of Kandrakar and thus gaining more power. In the decisive fight in Kandrakar, however, the heart decides for Will and thus against Nerissa by uniting with the "star Cassidys", a replacement for the heart that Cassidy gave Will in a vision. Robbed of her vitality, the witch crumbles to dust.
- Mission in Arkhanta : Taranee rebels against the Oracle and leaves the Witch, whereupon she is replaced by Orube. In the world of Arkhanta, the son of the ruler Ari, little Maqi, suffers from a mysterious illness. Ari had therefore captured the banshee Yua (in the WITCH universe, a banshee is a powerful spirit being that is supposed to grant three wishes for her release when she is caught) and made her his servant in the hope that she could heal his son . But she was unable to do this, as she instead seeks the life of her master, and kidnaps Maqi after the witches had freed her. In the fight against Ari, however, Yua Maqi loses; the little one is seriously injured. Finally, reunited with Taranee, the girls manage to heal Maqi by passing on to him their own gift of regeneration . After realizing that revenge can have dire consequences, Yua returns to the spirit world unnoticed by the others.
- Astral twin saga : The astral twins are the doubles of the witches who are supposed to represent them on earth and supposedly have no feelings or wishes of their own. However, it soon turns out to be a fallacy. When the situation threatens to escalate, despite Orube's help, because the girls are also being tracked down by the secret service under the shady and also magical Riddle, the oracle releases the astral twins from their duty and gives them new, own identities and deletes the witch from the agent's memory.
- Endarno saga : Phobos, who has swapped his body with a friend of the oracle, Endarno, takes over power in Kandrakar by making sure that the old oracle is removed and now wants to relieve the witch of her destiny with all sorts of accusations. However, he is seen through by the girls and betrayed by his servant Cedric. When Phobos, after being exiled again in his real body, finds himself cornered, he prefers eternal existence in the infinity of Kandrakar to re-imprisonment. When he is defeated, the oracle Himerish appoints two more oracles: the real Endarno and Yan-Lin.
- The return of the 5 elements : Cedric should prove himself in his human form, who takes up his camouflage as a bookseller again. In an old mansion he finds the talking "Book of Elements", from which he releases terrible magic and draws Will's friend Matt into the book. To free him, the Witch must find the Stones of the Elements. Although this is soon done, the girls with Orube and Cedric are drawn into the book and travel through it from chapter to chapter. It turns out that the book was written by the alchemist Jonathan Ludmoore, a commissioner of Phobos who seeks power. Ludmoore destroys Cedric when he tries to protect Orube. Ultimately, Ludmoore is defeated by Matt by erasing Ludmoore's name from the book and thus destroying him. Everyone soon returns to normal, but Orube suffers badly from Cedric's death and retreats to Kandrakar.
- Ragorlang : Tecla Ibsen, an elderly lady, tries to suck out the vital energy of young people through a being called 'Ragorlang' in order to make themselves young again. Hay Lin also fell into their clutches. Tecla sends Erin, a native of the "people of the wandering", whose village was destroyed by the Ragorlang, to the Witch to sow discord between them and to win Irma on their side. But the girls quickly find out that Erin was influenced by Tecla and help her to find her brother Kader again. Now the destruction of the Ragorlang is a done deal, and soon the Witch will be supported by the Ragorlang hunter Eduard Folkner, who came to the Sheffield Institute as an ophthalmologist. The girls catch the Ragorlang in his Ragorlang box, but Folkner becomes one with the beings, but the girls use a light to destroy the shadow beings. Tecla and her husband Karl are then taken to Kandrakar, where they begin a new life.
- New Power : A new danger emanating from "Dark Mother", a former goddess, threatens Kandrakar, the kingdom in the midst of infinity, through a sown tree. The oracle feels compelled to isolate Kandrakar, also from the earth and the witch. The five guardians, robbed of their old powers by Matt, receive five elementary powers from the oracle, which are supposed to give them a stronger power. However, every witch must first return to the source of their element in order to activate and control this power. Her mentor in her search is Will's friend Matt ...
- Teach 2b Witch : All over the city of the five guardians, people, especially children, with magical powers appear. The witch's job is now to teach them how to do their magic. They look for the children with the help of lumens (light strips) and then teach them in their witch van. Meanwhile, Liam from the "Furious World" appears, who works with her current enemy Takeda Foreman from Takeshita Inc., because his daughter Mariko, Liam's lover, was separated from her body by magic. This is now in a glass case in Mr. Takeda's laboratory. The spirit of Mariko reigns in the "Furious World" as the black queen who, in contrast to the white queen, is on the good side. Although defeated by the witch with the white queen, the girls manage, with the help of their younger sister Shinobu, to bring Mariko back home and defeat the white queen.
- 100% Witch : Starting with issue 97 of the previous saga, each issue has its own story from now on. The guards now face problems in everyday life with school, friends and family. The stories range from their first day back in Sheffield to discoveries about parenting roles and abilities. At the same time, they face new enemies such as the Runers, a group of five vicious wizards who rule the dark forces of the elements, or Nihila, the queen of darkness who seeks to control the fate of every human being.
- Ladies vs. Witch : The new saga introduces several antagonists, including Lady Crash and Lady Byte. The Guardians must find a way to defeat these new enemies without endangering the people around them.
- Magical Sovereigns : The very last saga in the Witch universe, which unfortunately was no longer published in German (the last edition published in Austria is number 129, which supposedly follows the discontinuation of the magazine in Italy, but there are ten more editions in English that the "magical sovereigns" saga), gives the guards the choice of either giving up their powers or keeping them. If they did choose to keep them, they would have to pass three tests without using magic to prove themselves worthy. If they are successful, they would be "Magical Sovereigns" (in German, for example: Magical rulers, the highest magical position to be achieved), if not, they lose their powers and have to endure forever in the world in which they are being tested.
Characters
- Will (Willhelmina) Vandom carries the "Heart of Kandrakar". Their special ability is to talk to electrical devices and to use them without electricity. She can also shoot with lightning and after some time as a WITCH she can also astrally project (double). She is with Matt, singer and guitarist of the band "Cobalt Blue", and collects all kinds of frog accessories. She also likes swimming, biology and physics. For a while, Will was helping out Matt's grandfather's pet store and having a pet dormouse. She lives in an apartment on the outskirts of Heatherfield with her mother Susan, her new father Dean (also her history teacher) and her newborn little brother William.
- Irma Lair , the daughter of a Heatherfield cop, is the most humorous of the group. She is often in faux pas, is sarcastic, crazy about boys, often bad at school and likes to invent word games. Your element is water. She can shoot it out of her hands, creating columns and bubbles of water. She is also able to manipulate thoughts and later receive visions. She often fights with her little half-brother Christopher (only called Chris in the TV series), from which she does not always emerge victorious. She loves to bathe for hours (since she can't get washerwomen's hands thanks to her skills) and the singer ›Karmilla‹.
- Taranee Cook is a clever and actually shy girl, who has a very fiery temperament. Her element is the fire, which she was afraid of before becoming a guardian. With her powers she can light up the darkness and use fireballs and rays as weapons. Taranee was with Nigel for a long time. Her big brother Peter is a crush of all girls and loves Cornelia. Taranee can read minds and communicate telepathically with the other witches . She often wears sporty clothes. Her passion is dancing. She learned from her parents that she was adopted as a baby after a meteorite fell on her birth parents' house and destroyed it.
- Cornelia Hale is in a class with Will. She is serious, often finds the right words for her opinion and is very fashion conscious. Your element is the earth. Cornelia can re-bloom plants and grow new flowers. It can also trigger earthquakes, move objects with the power of its thoughts (telekinesis) and has healing powers. She is with Caleb, the rebel leader of Meridian. In the comic, however, Caleb leaves her for his new duties. Cornelia lives in the upmarket residential area of Heatherfield with her mischievous little sister Lilian, her mother, a restorer, and her father, an important businessman at Bank Central Credit.
- Hay-Lin , a young Asian girl, loves sunglasses, everything alien, and Eric, the new student at Sheffield, whom she later gets together with. She likes to draw, design and tailor clothes. Her grandmother, Yan Lin, was a guardian herself in her youth and is now one of the three "oracles" who run Kandrakar. Hay-Lin's element is air. Like the others, she can fly and is the only one in her group able to make herself invisible. Her parents run the Asian restaurant "Silver Dragon". Hay-Lin's family moved because they wanted to expand the restaurant. Now they live in the "Whitemountain" area of Heatherfield.
publication
original
The comic series by Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepader has been published as Witch magazine in Italy since 2001. The comic has been published monthly by Egmont Ehapa Verlag since 2002 . The comic will be translated into over 20 languages. In addition to the series, specials (33 pieces) that tell an independent story are published regularly. The comics have not been produced since 2013, neither in Italy nor in German-speaking countries.
Manga
The original series was not published in Japan . Instead, the series was adapted as a manga by Haruko Iida . The series was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Asuka Monthly magazine and was also summarized in two Tankōbon (anthologies).
Graphic novel
As of 2005, eight graphic novels about WITCH have been published in the USA :
- The Power of Friendship (Halloween and The Twelve Portals)
- Meridian Magic (The Dark Dimension and The Power of Fire)
- The Revealing (So Be It Forever and Illusions and Lies)
- Between Light and Dark (One Day You'll Meet Him and The Black Roses of Meridian)
- Legends Revealed (The Four Dragons and A Bridge Between Worlds)
- Forces of Change (The Crown of Light and The Challenge of Phobos)
- Under Pressure (I Know Who You Are and The End of a Dream)
- An Unexpected Return (The Courage to Choose and Nerissa's Seal)
Television series
| Television broadcast | |
|---|---|
| German title | WITCH |
| Original title | WITCH |
| Country of production | United States / France |
| year | 2004 |
| length | 22 minutes |
| Episodes | 52 in 2 seasons |
| genre | Action series , fantasy |
| idea | Elisabetta Gnone |
| First broadcast | December 18, 2004 - December 23, 2006 on ABC Family |
| German-language first broadcast |
September 26, 2005 - February 12, 2007 on Super RTL |
In 2004 Saban International Paris produced an animated series for the comic series. The plot differs slightly from the original (season 2 almost entirely) and some of the girls' names and skills differ. The series first aired from December 18, 2004 to December 23, 2006 in the United States by ABC Family .
The series aired in 40 countries including Australia, Turkey, Poland, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. Usually this was done by the broadcaster Jetix .
In Germany, the first season of the Super RTL television series was broadcast from September 26 to November 3, 2005. The second season followed from January 8, 2007 to February 12, 2007. This was later broadcast by Jetix .
synchronization
| role | English speaker | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Will Vandom | Kelly Stables | Magdalena Turba |
| Irma Lair | Candi Milo | Esra Vural |
| Taranee Cook | Kali Troy | Marie-Luise Schramm |
| Cornelia Hale | Christel Khalil | Anna Predleus |
| Hay Lin | Liza Del Mundo | Carmen Katt |
| Elyon Brown | Serena Berman | Julia Meynen |
| Prince Phobos | Mitchell Whitfield | Marius Clarén |
| Cedric | Dee Bradley Baker | Robin Kahnmeyer |
| Yan Lin | Lauren Tom | Gisela Fritsch |
| Caleb | Greg Cipes | Matthias Hinze |
| Matt Olsen | Jason Marsden | David Turba |
Further adaptations
Novels
Elizabeth Lenhard & Alice Alfonsi
- The Power of Five (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- The Disappearance (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- Finding Meridian (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- The Fire of Friendship (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- The Last Tear (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- Illusions and Lies (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- The Light of Meridian (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- Out of the Dark (Alice Alfonsi)
- The Four Dragons (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- A Bridge Between Worlds (Alice Alfonsi)
- The Crown of Light (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- The Return of a Queen (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- A Different Path (Elizabeth Lenhard)
- Worlds Apart (Alice Alfonsi)
- The Courage to Choose (Alice Alfonsi)
- Path of Revenge (Alice Alfonsi)
- The Darkest Dream (Alice Alfonsi)
- Keeping Hope (Alice Alfonsi)
- The Other Truth (Alice Alfonsi)
- Whispers of Doubt (Alice Alfonsi)
- A Weakened Heart (Alice Alfonsi)
- A Choice Is Made (Alice Alfonsi)
- Farewell to Love (Alice Alfonsi)
- Trust Your Heart (Alice Alfonsi)
- Enchanted Waters (Alice Alfonsi)
- Friends Forever (Alice Alfonsi)
Graphic novel
- The Power of Friendship (Halloween and The Twelve Portals)
- Meridian Magic (The Dark Dimension and The Power of Fire)
- The Revealing (So Be It Forever and Illusions and Lies)
- Between Light and Dark (One Day You'll Meet Him and The Black Roses of Meridian)
- Legends Revealed (The Four Dragons and A Bridge Between Worlds)
- Forces of Change (The Crown of Light and The Challenge of Phobos)
- Under Pressure (I Know Who You Are and The End of a Dream)
- An Unexpected Return (The Courage to Choose and Nerissa's Seal)
Lene Kaaberbøl
Lene Kaaberbøl wrote five novels on comics. These were published in Denmark in 2002 and 2003. They each revolve around one of the five main characters.
- When Lightning Strikes (The Heart of the Salamander)
- Enchanted Music (The Music of the Silencer)
- Heartbreak Island (The Fire of the Ocean)
- Stolen Spring (Green Magic)
- The Cruel Empress (The Gruesome Empress)
- The Stone Falcon
- The Talons of the Eagle
- The Shadow of the Owl
- The Golden Phoenix
Video games
Buena Vista Games published a video game on WITCH for the Gameboy advance.