An Interview With ‘The Wicked Trinity’ Writer Sam Maggs

Three against one might not make for great odds, but they do make for a wicked new coven to shake up the balance of power in Sabrina’s hometown of Greendale. They’re called The Wicked Trinity and in writer Sam Maggs and artist Lisa Sterle‘s new one-shot, Amber Nightstone and her friends are taking center stage as they attempt to cast a spell they might not be prepared to cast. With colors by Ellie Wright and letters by Jack Morelli, find out what Maggs had to say about these teenage witches in the interview below:

Rachel Bellwoar: While this is the Wicked Trinity’s first one-shot, Amber Nightstone debuted in the Sabrina Anniversary Spectacular while Jade Kazane and Sapphire Gill made their first appearances in the Sabrina The Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular. Since they are still relatively new characters was it difficult finding the right balance of reintroducing them but also pushing their stories forward?

Sam Maggs: Honestly, this was one of my favourite parts of working on this project! Archie really wanted to flesh out the Wicked Trinity more with this book, including diving into their individual personalities and relationships with each other. Getting to expand on these already-interesting characters was such a joy, and I’m always excited to have the opportunity to put my stamp on things when working in IP. I loved how much room there was to explore here; I wasn’t beholden to years of continuity, and that’s always super cool, too.

Bellwoar: One of the reasons I ask is because I loved the brief backstories we were given for each of them (especially Sapphire’s). Do you think we’ll ever get the chance to dive deeper into their backgrounds?

Maggs: Thank you so much! Much of their backstories had been created by my editor, the great Jamie Lee Rotante, and then I got to expand on things from there. I think we’re all really hopeful that folks will connect with the Wicked Trinity and want to see and hear more from them, because I’d love to expand on each of their own individual issues.

Bellwoar: Other than their teacher, Ms. Hepburn, there aren’t really any other characters in this issue. Did you always want to keep the supporting cast small?

Maggs: I did! I wanted to keep the focus on Amber, Jade, and Sapphire as much as possible. You don’t have a ton of pages in a one-shot (twenty to twenty-two, typically), so you have to focus on what’s important. I also wanted to keep Sabrina as an off-screen antagonist; Amber has built Sabrina up in her mind as her nemesis, but I don’t think Sabrina thinks about Amber that much at all. Keeping Sabrina off-page allowed me to lean in to that idea. (Also, shout-out to my oldest and best friend, Karyn Hepburn, who is a teacher back in Canada and just had her first baby. Immortalized in print!).

Bellwoar: Sabrina has often been Archie Comics’ lone witch but do covens have more fun?

Maggs: Oh, absolutely. Frequent recurring themes in my writing are a) morally-grey complex female protagonists, b) witchcraft, and c) female friendships, so this landed square in the middle of all my very specific interests. I think, as women, we’re often raised to be in competition with each other—the patriarchy sets up a false scarcity narrative that says there’s only ever room for one girl or woman at the table, when really that is completely false. I always love to show female characters working together as a team (even if they’re a little evil) instead of working against each other, especially as teenagers, when that narrative of competition is pushed harder than ever.

Bellwoar: Was there one witch whose voice came easier to write than another’s?

Maggs: I don’t know what this says about me, but definitely Jade. I love that she’s juuuuuust a little unhinged. Society makes me feel that way, too, as a marginalized person. I get her.

Bellwoar:  It might not be in the name, like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, but all three members of the Wicked Trinity are teenagers, too, which comes through in some of their spell choices. Do you think the Wicked Trinity are sometimes too quick to look for magical solutions?

Maggs: Without question. They’re so caught up in the immediate that they can’t even see the long game in order to consider playing it. That extreme of-the-moment mentality is really the core of teen decision-making, to me, and these teens just happen to be able to try to solve their problems with witchcraft. (Spoiler alert: it just may backfire!).

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Sam!

The Wicked Trinity is on sale now from Archie Comics.