Sleepy Hollow: Origins #1

By Mike Johnson, Matias Bergara & Tamra Bonvillain

Sleepy Hollow, the breakout show of the 2013/2014 fall season on Fox, recently got renewed for a third season after a disappointing second, along with a new show-runner (Clifton Campbell) that should hopefully inject new life into the show. However, for fans looking to spend time with Ichabod, Abbie and company whilst the series remains off air, Sleepy Hollow Origins is an interesting start, as it tells several brief short stories that look into several of the main protagonists’ early years, with a mostly solid delivery from writer Mike Johnson, artist Matias Bergara and colourist Tamra Bonvillain.

In this issue, we start with a story looking into Ichabod’s time during the Revolutionary War, a therapy session with Jenny in the psychiatric hospital, Abraham’s transformation into the Horseman and Abbie’s, as she switches sides from a law breaker to a law enforcer. Whilst it’s somewhat interesting to explore these characters previous roles, and an appearance from Corbin (who doesn’t appear in his own story, but in Abbie’s) is always welcomed, it doesn’t really offer anything fresh or new that fans won’t be familiar with already, which is a shame, given the wealth of potential that could have been explored here.

The artwork is supplied by Mattias Bergara on the pencils who does a good job at making the characters look like who they are. It’s great to see a clear distinction between them, and the atmospheric feel of the Sleepy Hollow series is really brought to life in the comic with the help of Tamra Bonvillain’s solid colouring display. It’s worth noting Bergara’s take on the Horseman as well, as it looks visually impressive and is one of the highlights of the book, looking very intimidating indeed.

Sleepy Hollow: Origins then, is a fairly solid book. There’s some decent artwork and the stories aren’t bad, and for the fans who want more of their Sleepy Hollow fix then this book might be right up their street. However, despite being decent, it doesn’t really bring anything that we don’t already know to the table, merely serving as a refresher for fans, with newcomers to the series feeling a little lost as a result of this.