David Wohl/Christina Z (w) Michael Turner (a)
One of the comics that attracted my interest on returning to the hobby in 1998 was a title I kept seeing on the wall of comic shops at highly inflated prices. This was Witchblade from Top Cow a company whose output I did eventually take an interest in. especially this one and The Darkness which were interconnected.
However these back issues were out of my pay range and I only started reading the comic with #26 which meant I was a little confused about what was going on so instead of spending money I didn't have on comics that by now would be comparatively valueless as the bottom has fallen out of the market I picked up the trade paperback of the first eight issues.
This volume contains the first story arc featuring Sarah Pezzini a rather stunning New York Cop who after encountering the mystical object eventually known as the Witchblade has this knack of losing all her clothes. I don't think in these more woke times we'd see the like but regardless of any ideological niceties I did enjoy this comic which was well written by David Wohl & Christina Z and wonderfully illustrated by the talented now sadly departed Michael Turner.
In this adventure we meet the main protagonists Jeremy irons a rich bastard who also dabbles in men's depravities through drugs, prostitution and slavery. He also has possession of the Witchblade an object of great power that has rejected him but he seeks a bearer through whom he can control the object of his desires.
His right hand man is Ian Nottingham, a loyal and murderous servant of Irons whose role becomes more enigmatic as the story progresses and his hate for Irons grows. A connection is made with Sarah and the plot is afoot as they say.
Turners art really does bring out both the magic and the brutality of the story in a highly stylish manner. I went on to read most of the 187 issue of this run (some of which I will return to in the future) though became less interested in later years as did many others as the "last" issue was published in 2015.
Top Cow seems to have disappeared off the map as have most of the other old Image studios and stars though there has been a recent 12 issue series of Witchblade with a new bearer of the artefact which I have not read but never say never.
Overall if you can pick up a copy of this and the numerous other volumes they are an entertaining read and the Top Cow Universe with Tomb Raider, The Darkness and Fathom (for the first story arc) was place worth exploring for a while.
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