Witchblade #143: Review

By Ron Marz (writer), Matthew Dow Smith (art), Nathan Fairbairn (colors), Troy Peteri (letters)

The Story: Guest stars Mulder and Scully–er, that is, Detective Patrick Gleason and Sheriff Kate Rooney–find themselves under a ghostly siege. Only one person, convicted hitman Vince Petramale, seems to be able to offer any hope of survival.

What’s Good: Ouch. This isn’t usually the difficult part to fill in on an issue of Witchblade, but this month I’m kind of at a loss. Although it held my attention longer than the previous issue–which was mainly setup for the action and payoff in this one–it still felt quite…uninspired, I guess, is the word I would use. While the guest star idea is actually a very good one, especially putting Gleason front and center, and MOST especially at this time, while Sara is (in theory) off dealing with the fallout from Artifacts, the execution just doesn’t work out the way I think anyone intended.

Witchblade Annual #2 – Review

“Stalingrad” by Ron Marz (writer), Tony Shasteen (pencils and inks), Jo Mettler (colors) and Troy Petreri (letters). “Interlude” by Ron Marz (writer), Matt Haley (pencils), Jason Gorder (inks) Michael Atiyeh (colors) and Troy Peteri (letters). “The Devil’s Due” by Matthew Dow Smith (writer and illustrater)

The Story: Like most annuals, this one contains multiple stories. Unlike other annuals, this one actually has a through-line running through (the comic portion) of the stories that ties them together with a broad, overarching theme (in this case, past bearer’s of the Witchblade.) We get a tale of a Bearer who uses the Witchblade to excellent effect during World War II (the Battle of Stalingrad, natch), a story about Joan of Arc, and a non-historical Bearer related prose tale that can’t quite make up its mind what it’s trying to be.

What’s Good: I really enjoyed this issue! I’m always a sucker for putting things (especially ancient, mystical artifacts like the Witchblade) in some sort of historical context, so I love hearing tales of the past Bearers, and the ways they chose to use its exceptional power. Marz does an excellent job bringing his two stories to life (although the Joan of Arc interlude was criminally short…more on that later) and Smith’s prose story was well written and entertaining.

“Stalingrad” is clearly the centerpiece of the book, and it serves that purpose very well. The visuals are appropriately dark, with the occasional otherworldly flare that fantastical stories set in the real world need to be effective and believable. The present-day scenes that bookend the piece are strange (in a good way) and throw the reader just off balance enough to sympathize with Sara without losing the overall thread of the story.