When did Cindy Crawford become the bearer of the Witchblade? I’m telling you that’s her on the cover. Well this issue was different. I get that the series is building towards something and for now it’s very different from what the series has been in the past, but I don’t know if it’s interesting yet. The gist of the issue is that Sara’s in the hospital; the mayor of the small town for some reason thinks he’s still important and the bullet the doctor pulled out of Sara looks like a piece of the Witchblade. In our flashback story we find Sarah giving up the Witchblade after feeling out of control with it. She says after she killed the Darkness it doesn’t make sense for her to have it as the balance anymore… which if you’re thinking about it like I did, makes no sense.
If the Darkness was dead then the Angelus would be out of control so unless I’m missing that part of the story then I don’t buy that the Darkness is gone or that something didn’t take its place requiring balance again. Maybe I’m going to deep with it. As Sara tries to take off the Witchblade and rid the world of it for once and for all it comes to life in a Venom-symbiote type fashion and screams to be “whole” again.
It’s not a bad issue and actually it moves so quickly that it’s over before you really even feel settled with it. There were several small scenes that felt out of place and useless and they all involved the new supporting cast. I can understand wanting the audience to get to know them, but other than the blonde deputy they all suck. The thing about her though is that I can’t trust her. Something about her character is strange. A new sheriff is named and she instantly kisses his ass like he’s the best thing since sliced bread? I don’t buy it. Sure she calls him an asshole when she’s by herself, but otherwise she doesn’t miss a beat with the ass-kissing.
Otherwise the story is just okay. It’s not very interesting and while it’s different than a typical Witchblade story, it’s still contains familiar elements and is introducing more of those elements with each issue. It might be a good place for someone that’s never read Witchblade to start, but for a long time reader like myself it has a long way to go before it’s back on my monthly pull list.
The art is wonderful which is a bummer since I’m not feeling the story. Laura Braga has a great style that reminds me a lot of Pat Lee’s stuff on Darkminds or Luca Erbetta’s Sam and Twitch: The Writer. Her style is beautiful and even the scenes I deemed “useless” are wonderful to look at and distract you from their purpose or lack thereof. Colorist and Editor Betsy Gonia also plays a key role in the look of the book and a large part of the why Braga’s work resembles the aforementioned artists. The art was my favorite part of the issue for sure.
I’m going to try to ride out this first story arc, but I’m hoping for something interesting. I don’t really care that Sara tried to get rid of the Witchblade nor do I believe that she succeeded. That would be like Spawn without the Hellspawn suit, it wouldn’t be interesting for very long and in a way would just be a gimmick like a character death; we all know they return in the end. Again though, if you’ve never read Witchblade you’re not going to be bothered by most of the stuff I listed. You’ll probably still find the supporting cast to be useless and boring, but the other plot devices should be interesting so check it out.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Ron Marz Artist: Laura Braga Colorist: Betsy Gonia Publisher: Image/Top Cow Price: $2.99 Release Date: 12/18/13