REVIEW: Witchblade #1 - 2

Writer: Caitlin Kittredge
Artist: Roberta Ingranata
Colorist: Bryan Valenza
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Review: Art Bee

A long time ago in a comic store far, far away…my former LCS sold me the very first issue of Witchblade. This was a time in my teens, mid-90s by my recollection, when my brain was swimming in the newness of the Image lineup and the explosion of new creations pouring onto the comic book shelves. Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow imprint was flowing with interesting titles brimming from his development of the 13 artifacts in which the Darkness, the Angelus, and the Witchblade exist.

For those of you not familiar with the Witchblade, please allow me to pour out a little knowledge.
The Witchblade, being the male offspring of the Darkness and the Angelus, is known as The Balance and must maintain balance at all times. Since it is male, it must always choose a female host. The two become one in their merging with the Witchblade providing power, strength, will, and insight, while the host provides a face and voice. The Witchblade chooses its host, but afterwards the host must accept the artifact or face death. There have been many hosts over time, but the one that began the series in the very first issue was Sara Pezzini.

Witchblade #1 starts off with a reintroduction of the Witchblade and the introduction of the newest host, Alex Underwood. Alex is a former television news journalist who is now working as a victim’s advocate with the DA’s office in New York City. From page one of this issue we know Alex was murdered and resurrected by the Witchblade and these first issues are giving us the why she was murdered. Issue #2 picks up and leads us to the who.
The method Kittredge implements to write this story is sensational. Both issues start a future point to provide a goal for the story while the issue reviews the course of a day or two leading to that moment. My hope is this tool will only last for this arc of the story; otherwise readers will get burned out on the same format. We may have a foreshadowing of that with a quote from page 3, panel 3,
“When I woke up, I had become someone else. Something else.”
Sound familiar? That is very similar to the opening sequence of the TV series, Arrow.

Please be original with this work, Caitlin Kittredge.

Alex seems like a good host for the Witchblade because she mirrors Sara Pezzini so well. This troubles me a little due to the possibility of these creators following the same pattern as the original line. It is a trap of rebooting.

Ingranata’s artwork is very good, but not as good as Michael Turner’s, the original Witchblade artist from the mid-‘90s. Her artwork seems to lack detail in places, particularly in the faces of characters. Turner’s use of detail is legendary, in my opinion, and few people familiar with his work would disagree. The true measure of Ingranata’s artistic ability should be at the point the Witchblade’s power is fully manifested. Then her work should be compared side-by-side with Turner’s for a true critique.
Let’s face it, if someone is going to be following in the footsteps of another they should expect to face the criticism of comparison.

Overall I am excited for this reboot and hope it doesn’t flop. Hopefully we should be in store for a great adventure with a new host and some new trials. It would be nice if all the artifacts were to be in play at the same time. Here’s to hoping.