Witchblade #1: Before the Darkness comes the Witchblade…

She’s back! One of the longest running female lead superhero comic titles is here, and they’re going to introduce Sara and the Witchblade to a brand new school of comic fans. After nine years of not having a solo title, Sara Pezzini the original Witchblade, is back in her very own series, and I couldn’t be more elated for the fact. Top Cow has been teasing and taunting the fans for the last four years, since the end of the last series headed up by Alex, which felt more like a horror story than a Witchblade series.

Marguerite Bennett is an author whose work I’m not very familiar with. My only experience was her run on Batwoman with James Tynion IV, so I was kinda apprehensive of her work, but she nailed it. The issue is very faithful to the original story, yet was updated for a more modern fanbase. Gone was the over sexualized Sara, and instead we get a woman whose goal is to become the woman who would make her father proud. From the military, to the police academy, to becoming a detective from the precinct that her father belonged to before he was murdered. Where the original series had a hard time actualizing who Sara is as a person, and here if feels like Bennett has taken the time to plot this out before launching this series. She’s assertive, tough, and unapologetically herself.

One thing that appears to be different is Kenneth Irons and Ian Nottingham. Whereas in the original series Irons already possessed the Witchblade, but was in search of the relic. Upon finding it, the Witchblade no longer destroyed the hosts hand, but instead possessed the host and actively searched out for its true wearer. It seems to appear that he’s well aware that only women can be the hosts of the artifact. He doesn’t seem like he’s the public playboy who has lunch with Sting, but he appears to be like Jafar from Aladdin. I can’t speak on Ian Nottingham, as he’s only in a couple panels, but one thing is consistent-he’s still a smoldering hottie boom-bottie.

Giuseppe Cafaro is the artist, and this is my first impression of his style. It’s a mix of a bunch of current artists, like Jocopo Camagni, or Lorenzo Tammetta, but you can definitely see the Marc Silvestri inspiration in every panel. His art here reminds me of the Top Cow “house style” that the company had in the late 90’s. Boasting such talent as Michael Turner (RIP), Billy Tan, or Joe Benitez, giving us a flair for the familiar. The action scenes are kinetic, and evokes movement within the frame. It doesn’t look like people are just posing in every panel, it feels more realistic. Sara is depicted as attractive, yet not exploited, like some fetishized doll. Sara’s world feels dirty, and corrupt, and she seems she’s willing to do anything, and everything within her power to take back the night. This is just the beginning, but the team makes me want to come back for more.