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Creative Team: Marguerite Bennett (Writer), Giuseppe Cafaro (Line Art), Arif Prianto (Colors), Troy Peteri (Letters), Marc Silvestri, Matt Hawkins, and Elena Salcedo
“I Put a Spell on You”
WITCHBLADE Published by Top Cow / Image Comics
FIRST THOUGHTS
The return of the Witchblade and the world that it drags Sara Pezzini into is about to begin, and much like Sara – the reader just has to hold on for dear life.
THE STORY
At this point in the marketing for this series, most fans who have heard of this particular issue know that this is a reboot of a sort for this series. The characters like Sara Pezzini, Kenneth Irons, and Ian Nottingham will be familiar, but new. There is a pull by most people who read the original series to compare and contrast this first issue with what came before it in 1995. If you’re at all interested in this series, park that way of thinking at the door before you dive into this issue. This issue does not retell that first issue. This is a new vision for these characters, and that is a blessing from Marguerite Bennett.
Bennett hits the ground running, literally, about 6-7 pages into the issue and does not slow down until the end of the issue where everyone, including Sara, needs a breather. The pacing of this issue is hard to ignore as the Witchblade makes its move to find a new avatar. Why is it looking? How does it search? Where is it going? All of this happens in this single issue and it is like reading the Roadrunner on crack. That being said, while the pacing is incredibly fast, there are panels and moments that allow the reader to see what’s happening around the Witchblade and its pursuers and start to take in this world. Could this issue have been spread out across more issues to give it time to tell a larger adventure? Sure. You can do a lot of things with more or less pages, but why not run screaming and get the readers’ blood pumping with excitement?
Bennett gives us some history for Sara, why she’s in the situation she’s in. How did she become a cop? What is her background that makes the reader understand why she is who she is? Readers get that in this issue. The term ‘economy of storytelling’ is something I heard someone on a podcast once describe a writer’s storytelling when there’s no wasted space. There’s no fluff in this issue. There’s no time for it, and Bennett understands that this is a character that has a large audience, but one that she has to win over quickly in order to keep them interested and intrigued. She does all of that in this issue.
THE ART
The art in this issue is stellar. Giuseppe Cafaro puts together a monster of a first issue with huge double page spreads and action sequences that are intense, and at the same time have moments of quiet where characters are still for a moment and you feel that moment differently.
Arif Prianto’s colors have to be strong to hold up what Cafaro is putting down on the page, and they do just that with swagger. There are a couple double page spreads that it would be easy to have those be the money shots for the coloring, and they are great. But there is one panel in particular where the camera is looking at Sara in a car as it drives through the city with all of the lights reflecting off the window and it is just amazing.
Troy Peteri is a veteran letterer and has worked with Top Cow for decades. As a long time fan of his work, you put his name on a comic book and I’m confident it’s going to look amazing. This issue gives Peteri a lot to do with narration and dialogue with some complex art to dance around in, and he hits it out of the park.
FINAL THOUGHTS
WITCHBLADE #1 is a solid first issue. As a long time fan, of course I want more because I know these characters so well, but that’s not what this issue is about. Marguerite Bennett has crafted a first issue that has a lot in it for new readers to grab a hold of and possibly become intrigued about and want to come back for more. That’s what a first issue needs to do – make them want to come back for more. This issue has those moments and there’s no doubt readers will want to see more.
RATING – 8 out of 10 stabby things
