For those of you who used to read Witchblade and haven’t picked it up lately, like me a couple of months ago, you are really missing a great new chapter in the life of Sara Pezzini. Sara gave up the Witchblade and has been living a quiet happy little life in Saratoga County, New York, far from the hustle and bustle of Chicago. Well, her life has not really been quiet since she is now sheriff and there have been a string of murders that no one has any clues about. But at least the Witchblade is gone, right?
In Witchblade #172, part three of “Born Again” – the current storyline by Ron Marz, Sara is in the hospital after a run in with a psycho wielding some weird gun that shoots bullets made of Witchblade parts… Meanwhile, Rooney, her deputy, is watching over her and the psycho shows up followed by an angel there to do something ominous. Knives, guns, angels, and everything leads back to the Witchblade.
One cool part in this issue is the wrap up of the tale of how Sara got rid of the Witchblade two years before. With the help of both the Magdalena and Tom Judge, it took the Spear of Destiny and the Rapture, two powerful artifacts, to calm the Witchblade and allow Sara to place it in a special reliquary. Sara leaves it behind, but this is not the kind of thing that you can just walk away from. After all, this is the balance between the light and the dark, between the Angelus and the Darkness.
A secondary plot is revealed in these pages – actually it is probably the primary plot now that we understand more of the story. The Angelus wants the Witchblade, since the Darkness no longer exists (yes, because Jackie is dead). If this happens, well, I don’t know what would happen, but it seems like a bad thing.
The angel that showed up stabs the psycho guy to save Rooney, but then attacks Rooney because she serves no purpose to the Angelus. Of course, Sara steps in and puts a bullet in the angel’s head. And, as we all expected, Sara reclaims the Witchblade, which will always be hers, and sends the angel off with its tail between its legs.
I have really enjoyed Ron Marz in everything he has done. The first time I really remember reading something by him was back in the CrossGen Comics days. Since then he has penned a plethora of comics, but his Witchblade stories are always some of the best and, at times, twisty and convoluted. I like not always knowing where I am going and when I get there it’s like, “Cool, I love the way he snuck that one up on me”.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, if you are not reading Witchblade, you really should. As this new Top Cow Universe takes off, there look to be some big changes in the air and you don’t want to miss out. Here are some links, in case you are new to Witchblade or the Top Cow universe.
My Rating: 5/5
i really need to get back into this book. ron marz is amazing.
I’m not going to try to tell you how to write your reviews, but really man, a 5/5 on this!? sure I struggle sometimes with keeping consistency, how to balance how much weight I give to objective analysis vs my personal enjoyment in my ratings, but I save a perfect score for only the best of the best. I’m talking about comics that are flawless in every phase, with distinguishing qualities that make them stand out from, but still be the best of, what you can do with the medium.