The Witching Hour (DC Comics)

The Witching Hour was an American comic book horror anthology published by DC Comics from 1969 to 1978.

Publication history
The series was published for 85 issues from February–March 1969 to October 1978. Its tagline was "It's 12 o'clock... The Witching Hour!" and was changed to "It's midnight..." from issue #13 onwards. The series was originally edited by Dick Giordano, who was replaced by Murray Boltinoff with issue #14. Nick Cardy was the cover artist for The Witching Hour for issues #1-6, 11-12, 15-16, 18-52, and 60. Stories in the comic were "hosted" and introduced by three witches, based on Macbeth's Weird Sisters: Morded, Mildred, and Cynthia. The witches defined the archetypal Maiden/Mother/Crone—in reverse order—triumvirate of womanhood. A prototype version of the extraterrestrial Psions appeared in issue #13 (February–March 1971).

After The Witching Hour's cancellation as a result of the "DC Implosion", the title was merged with The Unexpected, until issue #209. The witches were later revived—along with the hosts of the companion series House of Secrets and House of Mystery as important characters in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

Vertigo limited series
Vertigo published an unrelated The Witching Hour limited series by writer Jeph Loeb and artists Chris Bachalo and Art Thibert in 1999-2000.

2013 one-shot
The Witching Hour title was revived for a one-shot anthology by Vertigo in 2013.

Collected editions

 * Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour collects The Witching Hour #1-19, 544 pages, March 2011, ISBN 1-4012-3022-9
 * The Witching Hour collects The Witching Hour vol. 2, 160 pages, April 2009, ISBN 1563899450