WITCH HUNT

Some series skate around their genre, downplaying and softening anything that could seem strange, but “1602 Witch Hunter Angela” #1 embraces its historical fantasy premise with open, elaborately armored arms. From Marguerite Sauvage’s inviting court farces to Stephanie Hans’ magnetic, dark monsters, this is a fully and exuberantly imagined issue. Despite a tonal shift between Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett’s sections that will jar some readers, “1602 Witch Hunter Angela” #1 is a gorgeous, vivid read. The two-story structure hasn’t always worked smoothly in “Angela: Asgard’s Assassin” but, in this issue, it reads winningly. After a dark opening page, the story transitions to Windsor Castle. Angela and Serah, hunters of the “Witchbreed,” arrive to see the King, and things proceed rather unexpectedly from there. The physicality in Sauvage’s artwork almost approaches farce. Lord Essex’s cries of “Regicide! Traitor! Heresy!” are accompanied by cartoonishly distressed facial express