Sabrina Spellman is the title character from the Archie Comics comic book Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared in Archie's Mad House #22 in October 1962.
History
Originally, Sabrina was created by her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, from a magic potion that turned out wrong. However, it was later retconned by the 1996 Sabrina sitcom that Sabrina is a "half-witch" (her mother is an ordinary human, or "mortal" as witches refer to them, while her father is a wizard). She lives with Hilda and Zelda (both witches themselves) in the fictional town of Greendale, which is located somewhere near Riverdale, the home of Archie Andrews, while her father is away. Also living with the three women as the family pet is Salem Saberhagen. In the original comic stories Salem was a typical witch's cat who didn't talk. The 1996 sitcom introduced the idea that Salem was a witch who's been turned into a cat as punishment for world domination attempts.[2]
Most of Sabrina's adventures consist of Sabrina either trying to use her powers in secret to help others – witches generally are not allowed to tell mortals about their abilities or existence – or dealing with the day-to-day trials of being a teenager. A recurring theme in Sabrina's stories is her learning more about the proper use of her powers, either through her aunts or from trips to a magical dimension that is the home of various magical/mythological creatures, including other witches. Various names are given to this dimension; the mid-late 2000s comics refer to it as the "Magic Realm,"[3] while the live-action sitcom referred to it as the "Other Realm." These adventures even contained moments where Sabrina had to act as superhero on occasion.[4][5]
Sabrina's primary romantic love interest is her mortal boyfriend named Harvey Kinkle who, like nearly all the other mortals in Sabrina's world, is unaware his girlfriend is a witch.
