What I Bought 11/4/2023 - Part 3

I knew the store in town wouldn't have this, but the online store I usually buy from at the end of each month came up empty, too. Had the 4 books we looked at last week, just not this. But with Alex was in the next town over at the end of the previous week, had an excuse to try the store there and viola!

Midnight Western Theatre: Witch Trial #2, by Louis Southard (writer), Butch Mapa (artist), Sean Peacock (colorist), Buddy Beaudoin (letterer) - Damn dapper gents, making the rest of us look bad.

The issue starts with how Sarah first met Corson in 1691, all honeyed words and offers of assistance behind a pleasant smile. In what passes for the present in this story, Sarah is working with the Plague Doctor to figure out where Corson is. The answer, wooing Ortensia with pretty dresses and creepy proclamations a woman will be happier in a specific role. Namely, wearing pretty white dresses like a princess.

Sarah shows up, tells Ortensia to leave, and shoots Corson in the head. Whoo, problem solved, let's get hammered! Or not. Corson's fine, which Ortensia expected. But he's still far too powerful, and as he brags he's going to take Ortensia from Sarah, it's notable Mapa draws Sarah with her mouth erased. That carries over even to the panel where we see them as they were in 1691, when Sarah was the young girl who got duped by Corson. 

I don't know if it's something Corson is actually capable of, or if it's an illusion reinforced by Sarah's feelings of helplessness. Like Corson only has power over her because she thinks he does, but he did an excellent job building that "reality" in her mind when she was younger. Feels like it'll be relevant before this is done, much the same way as the ceremony to bind Horse to Ortensia, even beyond death, will probably be relevant.

So that's where we are. Corson's a demon who disguises that he's shackling a girl within "elevating" her. Putting her on a pedestal, something to sit and look pretty, but never move or speak or think. I'm assuming he chooses women he can sense power inside, and then uses them like a battery. Or maybe it's just for kicks. He wears white, immaculate suits and hats. He talks sweet, puts on manners and offers gifts. All bullshit, but classy bullshit, so people fall for it. Sarah did once, and she's still scarred from it. Ortensia is now, we'll see how that goes.