This past weekend Netflix released their highly anticipated Addams Family spin off series - Wednesday - helmed by the creative power of Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands), with Jenna Ortega (X, Scream), playing the breakout member of the Creepy Kooky Family. Combined with the time folx had off for the holiday Wednesday has quickly skyrocketed to the top ranked shows streamed recently on the platform.
If you need a low down we recorded a full Geek History Lesson episode on The Addams Family a couple years ago and we spend a lot of time basking in just how awesome Wednesday is!
If you, like so many of us, tuned in to Wednesday with family or without family over the past week and fell instantly under Jenna Ortega’s spell only to now find yourself itching for something else gothy and femme to occupy your imagination we have curated a list of
5 Comic Books to Read if You Loved Netflix’s Wednesday!
5. The Addams Family: an Evilution
Created by: Charles Addams
Not many people know The Addams Family have roots in the pages of The Newyorker. Charles Addams named the family after himself and highlighted all of the best, most delightful, and macabre aspects in single-panel cartoons. Wednesday, the eldest daughter, jumps off the page for all the whimsy and point of view compounded in one small form. Wednesday, the Netflix show, is packed with Easter Eggs and references from previous shows and movies - and from the pages of this printed collection. If you want the deepest cuts - or the cut right to the heart of who everyone’s favourite goth girl is - this is the collection for you!
4. Emily the Strange: The Lost Days
Written by: Rob Reger
Art by: Buzz Parker
When Professor Ashley was a teenager she was absolutely obsessed with Emily the Strange. Originally a French character Emily migrated to prominence in North America in the early aughts. She’s gloomy, dresses exclusively in the colour black, loves her cat, and plays in a bad. All the cute girl/bad attitude energy Wednesday exudes throughout her eponymous series is exemplified in the pages of this collected edition. For our French-speaking Students, we have the bonus recommendation of this Emily, cahier de l'étrange collection!
3. Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
Written by: Guillermo del Toro & Cornelia Funke
Slight divergence here - we’re actually recommending the AUDIOBOOK version of this story! This story co-written by director Guillermo del Toro embraces all the true fairytale aspects of the original Pan’s Labyrinth film. In much the same fashion, Wednesday has huge swathes of magic and mythology which we wanted to be sure to highlight when putting this list together. If the interactions between Thing and Wednesday have captured your heart above everything else in the show then this is the book for you. The Faun may be the focus of Pan’s Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun this story embraces many of the European folklore traditions from which the movie script spins. Some will be familiar to frequent fantasy readers and some may be new to you - they were to us!
2. Loki: Where Mischief Lies Book 1
Written by: Mackenzi Lee
Art by: Stephanie Haas
Something so many of us love about Wednesday is the wry smirk. The twist of her mouth or the glint in her eye that lets us know even in her silence her mind is always turning. She’s almost always the smartest person in the room and plays the long game like no other character in the Addams Family franchise. Loki: Where Mischief Lies is a series which embraces this same aspect of everyone’s favourite Asgardian misfit. In many ways Wednesday and Loki are kin spirits. They could certainly give each other a run for their money! Like Wednesday, Loki also has an annoying brother to contend with. This is a Marvel prose offering, but you’ll find a lot of recognizable imagery from Marvel Comics throughout the book! In this series he searches for his place in the multiverse the same way we see Wednesday forging her own path at school in the Wednesday streaming service.
1. Teen Titans: Raven
Written by: Kami Garcia
Art by: Gabriel Picolo
Okay, if you’ve kicked around Geek History Lesson long enough you may have expected Raven to rear her head somewhere on this list! As we’ve stated on the podcast before - DC Kids is some of the most exciting comic books DC is putting out right now. Chief among their extensive offering if Kami Garcia nd Gabriel Picolo’s offering: Raven. The goth girl of the Teen Titans has amnesia, has moved to New Orleans, needs to discover the breadth and width of her powers, indigenous magic to the area abounds, as well as a healthy dose of teenage angst. Teen Titans: Raven is excellent comics whether or not you love comic books and manages to heighten the high drama of a teenage girl with all the spooky trappings you could possibly want. This book comes with the bonus suggestions of two further installations in the series including: Teen Titans: Beast Boy and Beast Boy Loves Raven which combine to tell a full and complete arc … while leaving the door open for more adventures!