Customer Reviews

Witchblade, Vol. 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This graphic novel, a collection of the first 8 issues of the Witchblade comic book, is absolutely superb in its storytelling and artwork. Michael Turner is one of, if not the best comic book artist ever. He and Christina Z. make a terrific pair in making Sarah Pezzini and her surrounding characters come to life

Please ignore whoever write the one star review of this book. Sure, the faint-hearted might find it a bit grusome, but it is worth picking up for the artwork itself. Turner, D-Tron, and JD Smith put together some of the best artwork you will see in comics today (or ever). The story is a bit overcomplex and leaves many open ends, as is to be expected in any comic book. However, it reads like a true cinematic masterpeice, leaving small clues in the artwork and dialouge, leading to a dynamic climax.

If you are are a sequential artist or aspire to be, or just like a well illustrated story, pick up this book.

PS - I found nothing offesive to men OR women!

I loved the Witchblade series on TNT. Recently TNT announced they would be canceling the series. I've never read a comic book before in my life but I thought I would give it a try. I loved this book. I didn't realize that such an interesting story could be told via a comic book medium. I was very pleased with the book and will be ordering Vol. 2 soon. If you aren't sure if you would like a comic book but like the series, rest easy, the comic books are every bit as good as the series. By the way, I am a woman and did not find it offensive.

I first bought into the Witchblade hype in 1996 when Wizard Magazine first did a spread about this comic book. I started collecting the series around issue #11 and by that time the back issues were just way to expensive for a high school freshman. I bought followed the book and kept up with it because of Michael Turner's art and because of Tora No Shi (A character within the story). Eventually I dropped Witchblade around issue 30 because my interest in comics had died down, Tora No Shi had died, and Michael Turner had left.

Fast forward eight years. I walk into my local comic book shop and saw this trade on the shelf. I had always wanted to read the first eight issues to see what the hype was about. This trade is one of the best stories that I have ever read. I do agree with one of the previous reviews saying that Sara had become a whiny girl after being a tough cop in the beginning. But that struggle within Sara was the best part of the story. Michael Turner is top notch. His characters look beautiful, the landscape is amazing, and most importantly the story-telling ability in his art is what carried this book.

I highly recommend this trade paperback for anyone who wants to get started reading the Witchblade. This story is what defined the book, and this was during the golden day of the comic because it brought together the characters and the Witchblade together. In later issues the story would turn into a detective drama and less about the artifact which did not do as well.

In order for the Witchblade to survive as a series, there needs to be a combination between the Witchblade and the characters.

The first eight issues of Witchblade are the best. I wish now that I'd stopped collecting the book after them... but these are worth reading, owning, keeping. Brilliant artwork, writing, storytelling finely crafted.

This is seriously one of THE absolute best comics to come out in the last ten years. I'd grown seriously tired of the cliches and stupidity of comics in the early to mid-nineties. They were becoming stale with all the same design styles and just nonsensical storylines. There were a few exceptions at the time, X-Men being foremost among them but, to get back on the subject- things weren't going well for the comics industry at the time. Along comes Image comics (some of the guys who created some of the problems the comics industry had back then to begin with) and they begin creating a slew of other stories that pretty much have almost nothing to do with super heroes. Witchblade was one of the top-tier titles among this new string of incredible comics. Top Cow Productions has created essentially a crime drama/cop show with some of the super hero trappings. The main character, Sara Pezzini, is a heroine that many people can relate to fairly well. She's got a strong sense of right and wrong but isn't afraid to step over the line if she needs to. She's a very independent and very strong female lead. Not something you see every day in the world of comics. The artwork is incredible, the storyline just as incredible as the artwork and the characters believable. What more could you ask for in a comic? Not much, if you ask me. My reccomendation is to pick up this book and check it out. Unless you're really hard-nosed and stubborn about things, this should be an obvious choice.

I honestly have a very hard time understanding why Witchblade has become such a huge fan favorite after reading this collection of the first eight issues. I realize that this is just the start of the series but it is a very rough start in my opinion. After Watching the Witchblade television series I expected a Sara Pezzini who was a much more mature character but that wasn't to be the case. She goes from being a tough New York cop to being all girly and helpless so often that she comes across as rather unstable. I realize that this is supposed to be because of all she has gone through after being chosen by the Witchblade but we never get a sense of exactly HOW it has turned her life so upside-down. It's all well and good to want to draw out the mystery of the Witchblade but give us something to go on please. Give us some idea of what the Witchblade is and why it chose Sara. Show us just how much the two of them are merging on more than just an outward level. The characters are not developed enough to make me care about any of them. This book is spilling over with Michael Turner's usual doe-eyed, top-heavy super skinny bad girl art, which I can't stand. I felt Turner's art made the women come across as all sex and no substance, while the men all seem to be harsh faced and superior. All his characters tend to look the same to me and convey very little, if any real emotion. The stories are rough and poorly constructed with way too much dialogue and narration cluttering up the page. There is a part where Sara is talking with one of the characters that for me sums up how I felt about this trade. She describes him as being full of frustrating vagaries that just threw things out there without pause. I think I know what she meant. I felt the same way about the writers of this book. Maybe the series settled down as it went along into something that was more bearable, but if this were as far as the series had progressed after eight issues I wouldn't have stuck with it any further. Actually to be honest I wouldn't have stuck with this beyond the fourth issue. If a book can't draw me in by then it's not worth a further investment of my time or money. My suggestion to you is to not waste either on this trade.

Just a comicbook? No. Never. The Witchblade is one of the best blends of story and artwork that I have ever seen and believe me when I say I've seen plenty. Christina Z, David Wohl, Michael Turner, D-Tron and Jonathan Smith have truly done a great job and it is a pity that the team broke up. This book is definitely worth every cent!

The Witchblade is a powerful mystical artifact, and it can only be used by women. It also seems to have some sort of mind of its own, and its own ulterior motives, seeking out those whom it wants to be wielded by.

Sara Pezzini is a New York detective. In dealing with her job she has to face the problems that come with being a woman, drop-dead gorgeous, and now stumbling across the Witchblade itself.

Brilliant pencils, brilliant inks, brilliant colours, brilliant story. This is the Sci-Fi Se7en of graphic novels. No little kids please.