Witchblade: Borne Again Volume 1

Witchblade Collected Editions #26

by Ron Marz, Laura Braga (Illustrations), Marc Silvestri (Illustrations)

This first volume in a new series of Witchblade collections provides a perfect jumping-on point! Sara Pezzini has given up the Witchblade and taken up the life of a small-town Sheriff, but her past comes back to haunt her in deadly fashion. Acclaimed writer Ron Marz returns to the series, working with gifted artist Laura Braga to tell the next chapter in the life of Sara Pezzini and the Witchblade! Collects Witchblade #170-174.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Comic Book

128 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2014

About the author

Marz is well known for his work on Silver Surfer and Green Lantern, as well as the Marvel vs DC crossover and Batman/Aliens. He also worked on the CrossGen Comics series Scion, Mystic, Sojourn, and The Path. At Dark Horse Comics he created Samurai: Heaven and Earth and various Star Wars comics. He has also done work for Devil’s Due Publishing’s Aftermath line, namely Blade of Kumori. In 1995, he had a brief run on XO-Manowar, for Valiant Comics.

Marz’s more recent works includes a number of Top Cow books including Witchblade and a Cyberforce relaunch. For DC Comics, he has written Ion, a 12 part comic book miniseries that followed the Kyle Rayner character after the One Year Later event, and Tales of the Sinistro Corps Presents: Parallax and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Ion, two one-shot tie-ins to the Green Lantern crossover, The Sinestro Corps War.

His current creator owned projects include “Dragon Prince” (Top Cow) and “Samurai : Heaven and Earth” (Dark Horse).

Photo by Luigi Novi.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A long time ago I watched this tv show called Witchblade and thought it was cool but, for one reason or another, I never really managed to keep up with the series.



And that's literally all I knew about this character going into this comic - a few random episodes of a tv show that I saw over a decade ago.



So when I found this on Hoopla, I thought it would be a good place to start, what with it being a volume 1 and all. Borne Again kinda sounded like a good jumping off spot for a newbie like myself.



So was it?
Yes and no.
There has been some sort of a reboot that happened, but even so, it's not exactly starting over from scratch. This is more of a new chapter than a new origin, if you know what I mean.



BUT. On the upside, there is an incredibly helpful summary of what has been going on in the Witchblade universe in the back of the comic. It got bonus points for being funny and well-written enough to keep me engaged in reading the entire thing. Plus, it actually convinced me that I might want to keep going with this title, and without it...I'm not so sure I would have felt that way.



Recommended for those (like me) who are curious about this title.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so happy that Sara Pezzini is no longer in Chicago. She never belonged there. That being said, I'm not sure that turning her into a Sheriff in rural New York state is the solution either; however, I'm willing to give it a shot, because this new chapter in the book series definitely starts off with a bang.

[Rachel Nabors · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed it better if there had been more body diversity and better face acting in the women in the cast. They look like they all left modeling school and like the artist was afraid any expression other than "vacant o-face" might make them look "too ugly." (Come on, we can read Jim Balent's works for that!) There is even a scene where I can't tell if the deutero-heroine is anguished or making a joke because the artist has injected her brow with so much Botox. Emote! Emote through your characters! Let their expressions do the acting!

[Nicole Westen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like this, I definitely recommend reading the Coffin Hill series by Caitlin Kittredge.

[Emilio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great beginning !

[Jesse Baggs · Rating 1 out of 5]

lol yikes

[Reyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

reasonable price on comixology, and was labelled as a good jumping on point (after Top Cow apparently reset their universe) so I thought I'd give the comics one more shot. I've tried to read Witchblade Compendium before, mostly due to watching (and enjoying) the Anime from a while back, but I couldn't get into it. This collection just serves to re-enforce that these comics aren't for me.

The art was good, I got a feel for the characters in the first couple pages of dialogue (always a good sign, IMO), and it set up an interesting plot idea: Sara Pezinni, now small town sheriff and artifact-less, is faced with a gruesome series of murders by a more-than-likely supernatural culprit. Can she find the killer before he kills again (or she gets fired by the mayor) and, more importantly, can she stop him in time?

Too bad none of that matters. Pez never gets to display her detective skills, the culprit is handed to her on a silver platter, and she's resolved her apprehension about the Witchblade that drove her to abandon all things related to her former life years ago in less than 24 hours.

I'm sure old fans of the series will probably enjoy this, but I was felt the creators promised something I didn't get, and so I can't recommend this to anyone new to the universe. (There's also a post-story article talking about the history of the Top Cow universe, but after reading it I felt more confused than enlightened.)

[Dracul Draconis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was zur Hölle... die Darkness ist tot? Ich meine offensichtlich sind irgenwie 2 oder mehr Jahre ins Land gegangen seid dem letzten Teil der Witchblade und damit kommen ein paar große Spoiler für Artifacts und vielleicht auch für Darkness (ich lese Darkness nicht). Dementsprechend war ich zu Begin etwas verwirrt das legt sich aber recht schnell. Ich hoffe dennoch, dass die Zeit dazwischen noch ein bisschen mehr aufgehellt wird... vielleicht hilft Aphrodite IX nächsten monat die Lücke zu füllen...

zeichenstil: gewöhnungsbedürftig aber ok

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara Pezzini gives up being the Witchblade – or does she?

It's been a while since I've read any Witchblade so I was relatively out of touch. We find Sara Pezzini as sheriff in Saratoga County, New York State, having given up the Witchblade with Patience's help. However life is not always so easy and it is not long before her old life catches up with he. Lots of surprises follow, including a fight with the Angelus for possession of the Witchblade.

The illustrations are not as refined as in previous series but are still of good quality. Quite good stuff – and now on to Volume 2.

[Dan Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never read any of the Witchblade series, and this was a really good way to get into the story.

It's an entertaining story with some great action.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok start. It has been awhile since I read any Witchblade and it looks like a lot happened.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The artwork looks amazing. It's detailed and expressive. And sexy, thank God.

Sara was deeply affected by a fatal confrontation with Jackie and decides to give up the Witchblade with Magdalena's help. The artifact fought her, but Tom Judge used the Rapture to subdue it before the Magdalena closed it up in a Vatican reliquary. The Angelus recovered part of it.

Sara is now working a case involving a decapitation as the new sheriff in a small town. In the evening, while she is figuring things out, she gets shot. While in hospital, she gets visited by a psycho with a knife, then a warrior serving the Angelus who kills him. Sara saves her deputy by killing the Angelus warrior and recovering a part of the Witchblade from him. Then Sara recovers the rest of the Witchblade from the Angelus in a pretty impressive battle that leaves her clothes shredded. Beautifully shredded...