The self-promoting text on the back cover makes its motives sound so pure: "A respectful incorporation of the Wiccan tradition, this trade paperback will be enjoyed by practicing witches and lovers of fantasy adventure alike." With Wicca popping up (with varying degrees of success) in a variety of movies, television shows and books, it seemed worth checking out.

But Jim Balent's book Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose is little more than a fantasy geek's wet dream, if volume 4 of the collected series is any indication. Balent's "respectful" portrayal of witches includes lots of detailed nudity, lots of sex and a broad range of mystical powers. The women all have breasts that are either extremely large or bigger still, and it's apparent that Balent's witches, fairies and goddesses all, um, shave. (Except for the one called Medusa, and she has very tiny snakes. Cute.)

And through it all, Balent preaches tolerance for witchcraft. As he, writing as the witch Tarot, explains in one scene:

"A deafening roar of intolerance bellowed! Its sheer volume tried to deny me of my very existence as a person and as a witch! ... I felt like every witch who stands in the craft -- naked, exposed to the prying eyes of the world. Our curves and crevices being probed by their judging stares, trying to find a weakness within us -- a flaw. All so they can use it to discredit and desecrate our chosen spiritual path."

Through it all, of course, both Tarot and her demonic tormentor are nude, although Tarot modestly wears a horned mask so you can't see her nose and cheekbones.

Remember what I said about a geek's wet dream? Balent, whose work I so admired back in his Catwoman days, has used his clout in the comics world to market soft-core fantasy porn as a statement for religious tolerance. Instead, all he's created is some colorful "private time" material for adolescents who manage to sneak these "mature reader" books past inattentive comic-store cashiers.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
24 February 2007