Witchblade, Volume 5: First Born

Witchblade by Ron Marz #5

by Ron Marz

First Born, the biggest event of 2007, is collected in this trade paperback along with key subsequent issues of Witchblade. Written by Ron Marz (Ion, Samurai: Heaven & Earth) and featuring art by a hit parade of artists such as Luke Ross, Steve Sadowski, Rick Leonardi, Kevin Nowlan, Stjepan Sejic, and Sami Basri, this volume collects the entire epic storyline which revealed the father of Sara Pezzini's mysterious child, the child's significance, and shook the Top Cow Universe to the core. Collecting Witchblade #110-115, First Born #1-3, and a cover gallery for a massive nine-issue trade paperback.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Action, Horror, Comic Book

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2008

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

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witchblade remains really fun. Mostly due to stjephan art and Marz writing.

This is half small little issues of Sara dealing with being a mom and also Dani learning to live her normal life and balance being a witchblade owner. We also have a crossover event with my boy Jackie from The Darkness series. Right before Sara has her baby heaven and hell are coming to take the baby from her so the fight of the child begins!

Good: art is really stunning when sejic is on. Just glorious painting-like art. I also thought Sara balancing her life as mom and also dating detective Gleason was great. Very banter like dialogue but it sounded real. Dani growing as a character too and even her personal life is becoming more interesting.

Bad: the first born crossover was fun but little overlong.

Overall great stuff. Witchblade is super fun series and see now why Ron Marz considered such a solid writing. A 4 out of 5.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 2 out of 5]

I keep reading these because I own them, and I keep getting disappointed in them. The art is often really amazing, but the story is just so dumb. Basically the forces of darkness and the forces of light are fighting over a baby who came about due to a coupling between the darkness and a human woman (the main character) while she was unconscious in the hospital. Nobody noticed the rape going on. Upon learning this, our hero basically has no reaction whatsoever and just is like, okay. Then we have an epic combat sequence in an underground lair, and it looks like our heroes are all going to die and people get impaled and then--the baby goes nuclear and destroys all the baddies without hurting any of the goodies. In fact, all the goodies apparently recover from being impaled. Somehow.

Then we have dumb romance stuff and an idiotic side story about some ghosts that show up for a few pages and are then vanquished, and there is no explanation of anything. In the middle of all this, the Magdalena (the warrior babe descendant of Christ) for some reason joins with the heroes but absolutely fails to do anything of note in the story before being promptly defeated.

There are a few clever lines, and I like the art, but the cheesecake... man. Every major female character is a total babe, and every scene they are basically posing seductively, or having their clothes torn off by the Witchblade, or just climbing out of bed wearing sexy underwear.

This is one of those books I read and I can't wait to just finish reading because it's so dumb.

[Vaughn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the biggest volume yet, in terms of both impact and page count. The first 6 issues in this book collect the "First Born" storyline, where Sara's baby is born. We learn the origins of her pregnancy and what it means in the war between Light and Dark. Both forces are at war over the baby with Sara stuck in the middle, along with Dani, the Darkness and the Magdalena. Both the story and the art are awesome during these issues. The art by Stjepan Sejic is especially amazing and it's great see his work on the Darkness and Magdalena.

After the First Born storyline, there are three single issue stories with a lot of focus on the characters. We get to see Sara's new role as a mother and her growing relationship with Gleason, while Dani meets a new romantic interest in the mysterious David Worthy.

Great volume! On to the next

[Zec · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all tie-in events, there was mild confusion from someone who didn't bother with the 5 other comic book series that were involved. That being said, the writing is still good, especially for the character of Sara. However, still feel that Dani as a character falls a little flat. With Sara, there is an almost conflict between who she is and who the Witchblade wants her to be. With Dani, I don't really get her struggle.

[John Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas with a pregnant/mother protagonist but having dual-protagonists does a disservice to both.

[Becky O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Art is awesome. Story is meh.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

The First Born has some of the most amazing artwork you can imagine. Colorful and realistic, it stands out as a good complement to the story. We get to see Dani in some skimpy clothing which is always worth it. A war is coming for Sara's baby who will upset the balance between light and dark.

Jackie, the bearer of the Darkness, gets a good portion of his gang burned to a crisp by the Angelus host and seeks Sara's help. Apparently the Darkness used him to impregnate Sara while she was in a coma. Celestine, now as the Angelus, offers Dani an alliance in the coming war. A gorgeous battle ensues and Dani gets away. The Magdalena is also brought into the mix on Sara's side. The whole merry gang comes together and starts duking it out. The level of detail will likely keep you on these pages longer than if they were filled with text. After the battle Jackie takes Sara and Dani to a safehouse. They are joined by the Magdalena who has just finished killing some demons in hell while looking sexy as... hell. The safehouse is underground and the artist has outdone himself again. The Angelus' assault on the safehouse is another visual marvel with Jackie bringing an tentacled monster to the fray. When all seems lost for the good guys, Sara returns with part of the Witchblade and the baby delivers the killing blow.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong storyline crossing over with some of the other "Artifact" characters. The book is hampered by the distracting art changes from chapter to chapter. I'm a big fan of Stjepan Sejic's lush digital art, but the other artist is a much more standard Top Cow style. In particular, the women's outfits change drastically between pages. For instance, around page 88, the Magdalena shows up to the party in Sejic's chapter. She has her midriff showing, but she's otherwise fully clothed. Turn a couple pages and a new artist takes over, and the same character is in a thong fighting a mummy. It's "the same" outfit in terms of color scheme and general appearance, but forgetting to put on your pants is a pretty severe problem for a heroine to have. It's sort of a shame: Marz is really trying to make some interesting realistic characters. His main character is having a baby and dealing with parenthood. But someone (editors? artists?) just can't get past treating the characters as Sex Objects, which ruins the character work.

I'm starting to fear that this book really can't ever get past it's absurdly sexist origin.

Also, apparently none of these artists have ever seen a woman who is 9 months pregnant.

[Batsap · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd only ever read one issue of Witchblade before I picked this volume up, but I still found it easy enough to understand. Probably would have enjoyed it even more if I knew what had gone on before, but as a standalone it was still a fun read. Stjepan Sejic's artwork is beautiful, although when drawing ordinary faces in mundane scenes it tends to look a little flat and artificial. It much better suits the epic fight scenes between the Darkness and Angelus. I thought it quite refreshing that neither the light or dark side were truly good or bad, the Angelus were just as brutal as the Darkness in trying to get their own way. There were also some interesting characters - I liked the Magdalena and Jackie Estacado. Wouldn't mind looking out some more volumes featuring them.

[Jeff Lanter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best volume yet and a fun and epic event volume. In my last review I criticized how every villain lasted an issue or two, well this one spans several and has much more depth. Jackie Estacado (The Darkness) shows up and that is a nice twist. As the title suggests Sara's baby is born which of course does not go smoothly. The art is absolutely beautiful when the main artist is on, but there is one issue where the fill in art is really bad. That is a very minor complain however. This volume is hard to put down and should satisfy fans of Witchblade.

[Matej · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Witchblade paperback collects Witchblade #110-115 and the crossover event First Born.
The Witchblade issues start of kinda weak, but get better, for some reason I really liked the predictable ghost story, and the art is pretty good throughout.
The First Born event looks amazing, the art of Stjepan Šejić looks awesome and it is really a highpoint of the entire collection, even though the plot is a bit stretched out.
Overall, a good read with amazing art.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of an epic, this one. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, being pretty unfamiliar with the characters. I usually like Ron Marz though, and this was his usual dependable fare.I found it both a good introduction to the Witchblade universe, and at times a little too busy and crowded. The artwork was excellent.
Would I read more? Probably not.

[Albert Yates · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible book. The first born event where the Darkness and the Angelus battled for control over Sara's new baby was exactly what I would have wanted it to have been.

I'm intrigued by the Darkness character. I guess that's why the Humble Bundle this was part of included The Darkness Origins books.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like where the series is going, but this volume was too long. It didn't need a ghost story. The art during the First Born issues was incredible.Still good stuff, and I'm really enjoying this character.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork blew me away! Good story line. Overall really liked this graphic novel.