Fantagraphics recently announced the newest graphic novel from Argentinian-born cartoonist Sole Otero, hailed by Publishers Weekly in 2024 as a “rising star of international comics.” Told in a nonlinear narrative structure, Otero’s Witchcraft is a captivating tale of a sisterhood of witches from the 1700s to today.
According to a press release from Fantagraphics, Witchcraft will be released on October 7, 2025.
Photo Credit: Sole Otero/FantagraphicsBorn in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and now living in France, Otero is a talented comic artist, children’s illustrator, and textile designer. She has also created several graphic novels, including Poncho Fue, Intensa, and her English-language debut, Naftalina (tr. Mothballs), about a young woman who, after moving into the home of her deceased Argentinian-Italian grandmother, reflects on her family history (e.g., escaping Mussolini’s fascism) and the political turmoil of her home country, Argentina.
Otero’s Mothballs has received widespread critical acclaim, securing the Fnac-Salamandra Graphic Novel Award in 2019 and the Audience Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2023. “Critics have also praised Otero’s work,” Publisher’s Weekly wrote, “underscoring the enduring appeal of translated comics that showcase diverse global voices.”
“Sole Otero’s English debut, Mothballs, made a significant impact on the international comics landscape, showcasing her powerful storytelling,” said editor Conrad Groth. “With Witchcraft, she elevates her craft even further, displaying her exceptional creativity, talent, and literary ambition. This book is rich with ideas and meaning, seamlessly transitioning from introspective to eerie to delightfully raunchy, while showcasing an impressive range of artistic and narrative styles. In short, it’s a powerhouse work that boldly advances the comics medium. I couldn’t be happier that Sole’s books are part of the Fantagraphics family.”
This is how Fantagraphics describes Witchcraft:
Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1768. It is a dark and foreboding night when the boat arrives from Europe, bringing three shadowy figures to shore. Before long, the María sisters will take the New World by storm. In the coming years, they wend their way from town to town, assisting women in need and wreaking vengeance against the men who’ve wronged them. At once fiercely righteous and gleefully malevolent, the sisterhood of witches exert their powers across centuries, from the 1700s to the present, leaving a wreckage of shattered and impotent men in their wake.
Told as a fractured narrative, through the eyes of the people whose lives the sisters have cast asunder, Witchcraft is a mesmerizing mystery to piece together. This masterpiece of a graphic novel combines strange magic, absurdist humor, and a fiery undercurrent of female rage, to tell a heady tale of colonialism, feminism, and indigenous folklore. Hand drawn in a playful, kinetic cartoon style, with a vibrant color palette, this experimental, eerie, and hilarious work assures Sole Otero as one of the most dynamic comics artists in South America — and everywhere.
“The release of Mothballs in English has been monumental for me, as I’ve been an admirer of American comics since my teenage years,” Otero reflects in the press release. “I’ve always dreamed of entering this vibrant world of graphic novels and becoming part of it. Witchcraft challenges me to create a mysterious, dreamlike story that encapsulates many of my interests in the form of horror fiction. I aimed to build a universe where not everything is explained, but everything speaks to my environment and my culture.”
Check out some preview pages of Witchcraft by Sole Otero below:
Photo Credit: Sole Otero/Fantagraphics
Photo Credit: Sole Otero/Fantagraphics
Photo Credit: Sole Otero/FantagraphicsFantagraphics will release Sole Otero’s Witchcraft on October 7, 2025.
English (US) · 