Witchblade #129

Witchblade #126 (Image Comics/Top Cow)
By Ron Marz, Stjepan Sejic

You’ve gotta give Top Cow credit for trying to bring in new readers. They’ve had some really creative initiatives, including making this issue free at select shopes all over the country (while putting out a limited edition “beefed up” version for the regular readers at the standard price). It’s curious, though, that they would choose to do this with part two of their War of the Witchblades storyline. Fortunately, there’s a “previously” page that brings us up to speed and thrusts us right into the growing conflict between the classic Witchblade wielder, Sara Pezzini, and the more recent bearer of half the blade, Danielle Baptiste. The separation of the blade is having quite an effect on Sara, and Danielle is afraid she’s the one who’s going to have to do something about it. This is actually a pretty good issue. The backstory is intriguing, and watching what’s happening to Sara makes for some good character drama. Stjepan Sejic’s artwork is really great — there’s a bright, almost computerized quality to the art that makes me wonder just how often a fill-in artist must be needed to keep this book on schedule. It looks really good, and the story works for me. I’m not saying I’ll start buying this comic every month, but if Top Cow is out to get people to start paying attention, they’ve succeeded.
Rating: 8/10