The Wotch is a web comic by "Anne Onymous" and Robin Ericson, who appear as characters in the comic as well as many of their friends. The first daily page appeared on November 22, 2002. The comic has a simple cartoon style, similar to El Goonish Shive although less detailed. Its plots are clearly influenced by Manga, particularly Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi, while the mixture of humour and drama is reminiscent of Jeff Smith's Bone.
Two high school students, Robin and Jason, are curious about Anne, the new girl at school. Jason is particularly smitten with her because of his fetish for redheads. What's more, Anne seems to have magic powers. They think she must be a witch, but when they confront her she tells them she is actually a Wotch. One day while walking in the woods near summer camp she found a box containing a magic flute and was told by a mysterious voice that the flute had given her the magicks of the Wotch which she must use wisely.
In the event her powers have a tendency to go wrong, causing endless chaos for her friends and classmates. Unknown to her, in another dimension the Dark Lord Xaos and his henchmen are plotting to exploit the powers of the Wotch in order to rule the world. Xaos's efforts usually cause Anne's spells to misfire with even more catastrophic results, resulting in strange transformations (Jason frequently finds himself transformed into a girl, which he doesn't mind so much as long as he/she has red hair!), and the appearance of mythical creatures on the school campus.
Meanwhile, Ivan, editor of the school newspaper, is determined to find something interesting to put in the paper, which means that Anne and her friends have to try and prevent him from finding any evidence of her powers while at the same time trying to put right the latest disaster.
In mid-December, 2003 The Wotch site went offline temporarily but has now returned.
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