Spellbinders is a Marvel Comics miniseries by Mike Carey and Mike Perkins.
When Kim Vesco and her adopted parents move from Chicago to Salem, Massachusetts, weird and potentially dangerous things keep happening to her. She quickly learns that Salem is the home of a large population of honest-to-God witches - who call themselves "wicks" - and not only might she be one of them, but her arrival may have been foretold. Before she can process all this, she finds herself sucked into the world of two clique-ish, feuding covens, and must figure out how to unite them in order to face off against an enemy that has been preying on wicks.
This series contains examples of:
- All Your Powers Combined: The Thief is capable of leeching off the powers of any wick in his vicinity, and can absorb and use multiple powers at a time.
- Alpha Bitch: Mason Kaleema is the leader of the higher-class coven at John Hathorne High and lords her status over the other wicks.
- Hollywood Psych: Foley has a very obvious stutter. He implies that it might be the result of an unspecified neurological condition.
- Ambiguously Human: According to the wicks, their ancestors were refugees from another realm who came to Salem when their homeworld was attacked by the Thief. Exactly what that makes them is unclear, though presumably, they have some human ancestors.
- Animorphism: Renata Lowell's powers allow her to change her shape.
- The Cassandra: Francis Foley is able to see the future, and his predictions usually come true, but his constant stutter means that nobody takes him seriously until it's too late.
- Chekhov's Skill: Kim's sculpting hobby saves her life when she is caught in a burning chem laboratory, as she knows how to create a mora poultice, which has basically the same ingredients as the stuff that gets dropped on a forest fire.
- Fantastic Racism/Fantastic Slurs: The non-magical folks of Salem hate the wicks. The wicks hate them right back, calling them "blanks".
- Forced Transformation: David Knox's encounter with the Thief leaves him stuck in the form of a lizard.
- Necromancer: Kim turns out to be the Necromancer - her job is to send the dead on their way.
- Not So Above It All: When he first appears, Apocaledon seems like a fearsome guardian, but after the kids pass him, he sits down to enjoy a Snickers that LB brought him as an offering.
- Power Stereotype Flip: Mink is a passive guy who dislikes his aggressive ability to cast curses. Lisa is an aggressive girl who dislikes that her power is to weave passive blessings.
- Speech Impediment: Foley has a very obvious stutter that he tries to control by halting his speech.
- Teleportation: Mason's specialty is creating portals.
