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Witchblade (1995-2015) #1-50
Witchblade Compendium Volume 1
First 50 Issues of Witchblade! There's nothing like going back to the beginning and reading it all over again!
Issue #1-50 collected into one trade paperback.
See how the Witchblade chose Sara and threw her into the chaotic world of the supernatural. Get the first appearances of Sara Pezzini, Ian Nottingham, Kenneth Irons and Jackie Estacado in one handy tome!
Issue #1-50 collected into one trade paperback.
See how the Witchblade chose Sara and threw her into the chaotic world of the supernatural. Get the first appearances of Sara Pezzini, Ian Nottingham, Kenneth Irons and Jackie Estacado in one handy tome!
1248 pages, Paperback
First published December 19, 2006
15 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Marc Silvestri
606 books68 followersMarc Silvestri is an American comic book artist, creator and publisher. He currently acts as the CEO for Top Cow Productions.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
April 12, 2015
Collects issues 1-50 of the Witchblade comic series. Finally! This one took me a while to finish, but at over 1200 pages I wasn't surprised. Also, I sort of lost interest for a while and put it down before finally getting back into it.
Overall it's a mixed bag. For one thing, I need to comment on the book itself. The big book format isn't very durable and it actually fell apart as I was reading it. Just too heavy for the binding I think.
As for the content, the early issues are what made the late, great Michael Turner famous. Nobody draws Witchblade like Turner, although I will say it's loaded with sexy art throughout. Unfortunately, at times it's overdone with the cheesecake shots. If that's what you like in your comics, then pick this up for sure.
The writing to me just never gets going. It's jumpy and choppy and just doesn't flow well. It just seems too cliche, almost like a golden age comic.
So overall, it's a mixed bag. Good, sexy art most of the time, but the story is never better than average.
Overall it's a mixed bag. For one thing, I need to comment on the book itself. The big book format isn't very durable and it actually fell apart as I was reading it. Just too heavy for the binding I think.
As for the content, the early issues are what made the late, great Michael Turner famous. Nobody draws Witchblade like Turner, although I will say it's loaded with sexy art throughout. Unfortunately, at times it's overdone with the cheesecake shots. If that's what you like in your comics, then pick this up for sure.
The writing to me just never gets going. It's jumpy and choppy and just doesn't flow well. It just seems too cliche, almost like a golden age comic.
So overall, it's a mixed bag. Good, sexy art most of the time, but the story is never better than average.
April 1, 2012
Literary fiction seems to be my genre of choice, but every once in a while my typically mild curiosity in comics morphs into a full blown interest. When this has happened previously I've checked out Sandman, The Watchmen and other high profile, extremely popular comics. A few months ago I started to pick up some digital comics here and there and I came across a few free issues of Witchblade (published by Top Cow). I tried to find an ongoing series that I could catch up on relatively quickly and follow more recent issues without taking years to expose myself to the series (like I would have to with a lot of the original Marvel or DC series). Witchblade's current issue is 154. I figured that if I read the two released compendium volumes, I'd already be 2/3 of the way through the series. Following this logic, I bought a used copy of Volume 1, not quite sure what to expect.
Yes, Detective Sara Pezzini's ridiculously attractive figure caught my eye initially, but the story arc in Witchblade: Origins, describing how Pezzini came to wield the Witchblade, was pretty engaging. Other story arcs in this 50-issue compendium were equally compelling as Sara struggles to control the Witchblade and learns of its ancient, mystical powers. The primary artists seemed to change every few issues, and while I found myself wanting more consistency while plowing through the issues, in retrospect this revolving art direction probably benefitted the series over time. I felt for Sara as she mourned her dead father and battled the demons of her past as well as those of the present.
I was impressed with the first 50 issues of Witchblade and really enjoyed the characters, the satisfying violence, the not-too-creepy sexuality, and the mystique and intrigue behind the ancient weapon and its wielder over the course of history. The Top Cow universe's Jackie Estacado, Ian Nottingham, Ken Irons and others were fun to follow, too, and I'll probably read The Darkness (which is, conveniently, published in a compendium series, as well).
I'll stick with literary fiction, but I think this volume has convinced me that comic books have a lot of entertainment value to them as well...the good ones, at least.
Yes, Detective Sara Pezzini's ridiculously attractive figure caught my eye initially, but the story arc in Witchblade: Origins, describing how Pezzini came to wield the Witchblade, was pretty engaging. Other story arcs in this 50-issue compendium were equally compelling as Sara struggles to control the Witchblade and learns of its ancient, mystical powers. The primary artists seemed to change every few issues, and while I found myself wanting more consistency while plowing through the issues, in retrospect this revolving art direction probably benefitted the series over time. I felt for Sara as she mourned her dead father and battled the demons of her past as well as those of the present.
I was impressed with the first 50 issues of Witchblade and really enjoyed the characters, the satisfying violence, the not-too-creepy sexuality, and the mystique and intrigue behind the ancient weapon and its wielder over the course of history. The Top Cow universe's Jackie Estacado, Ian Nottingham, Ken Irons and others were fun to follow, too, and I'll probably read The Darkness (which is, conveniently, published in a compendium series, as well).
I'll stick with literary fiction, but I think this volume has convinced me that comic books have a lot of entertainment value to them as well...the good ones, at least.
January 1, 2021
The last book from 2020 a whopping 1248 pages containing the first 50 installments of the Witchblade comic having one Sara Pezzini wearing an ancient weapon called the Witchblade, apparently worn by strong women through the ages, Jeanne D'Arc being one of them.
Police officer Sara Pezzini one strong headed lady chances upon a tournament in which all competitors try to have the Witchblade accept them as their wearers, the weapon having a mind of its own choses Sara. The tournament was a set-up by a wealthy Kenneth Irons who craves the weapon and is sure that he can wield it one day and he and his valet Ian Nottingham have their plans with Sara and the Witchblade.
Pezzini is a reluctant champion of the Witchblade whom brings her unhappiness, violence strange people stalking her for the Witchblade and unanswered questions about the past concerning her fathers death.
When I first encountered this comic I was Wooed by Michael Turners drawings, he made the Witchblade and Sara Pezzini something special, extraordinary way too sexy ladies and smoldering hot males. Of course the drawing in these 50 comics has been done by several artists and they are not all successful capturing Turners skills but overall of the fifty comics only one has been drawn in a less than attractive way. Gerneal beautifull on the eye. The writing is excellent as well which makes the series very interesting. A minuspoint to be mentioned is that this doorstop of a collection does not contain any of the crossovers which means we get part of stories and its solutions which do not always make sense but can be overcome. Top Cow is redoing this compendiums of Witchblade and the Darkness with smaller collections but complete storylines. I am sure to get those as well, even if it means double dipping for the comics (or even triple as I have got the complete Dutch series as well whom stopped somewhere along the line due to sales issues I guess).
The Spawn, Witchblade and the Darkness series were a surprisingly interesting discovery for me away from the regular Marvel and DC series. They showed another world in which writers and artists could let their own creations remain their own. And we got some seriously interesting material away from the Comic behemoths who under the influence of these new titles were forced to change the playing field for writers and other creative folks in a more equal way.
The Witchblade is an exceptional series, even f the newer ones without Pezzini lacked some gravitas and strengths I enjoyed in the early ones.
Well advised and the best wishes for the year 2021.
Police officer Sara Pezzini one strong headed lady chances upon a tournament in which all competitors try to have the Witchblade accept them as their wearers, the weapon having a mind of its own choses Sara. The tournament was a set-up by a wealthy Kenneth Irons who craves the weapon and is sure that he can wield it one day and he and his valet Ian Nottingham have their plans with Sara and the Witchblade.
Pezzini is a reluctant champion of the Witchblade whom brings her unhappiness, violence strange people stalking her for the Witchblade and unanswered questions about the past concerning her fathers death.
When I first encountered this comic I was Wooed by Michael Turners drawings, he made the Witchblade and Sara Pezzini something special, extraordinary way too sexy ladies and smoldering hot males. Of course the drawing in these 50 comics has been done by several artists and they are not all successful capturing Turners skills but overall of the fifty comics only one has been drawn in a less than attractive way. Gerneal beautifull on the eye. The writing is excellent as well which makes the series very interesting. A minuspoint to be mentioned is that this doorstop of a collection does not contain any of the crossovers which means we get part of stories and its solutions which do not always make sense but can be overcome. Top Cow is redoing this compendiums of Witchblade and the Darkness with smaller collections but complete storylines. I am sure to get those as well, even if it means double dipping for the comics (or even triple as I have got the complete Dutch series as well whom stopped somewhere along the line due to sales issues I guess).
The Spawn, Witchblade and the Darkness series were a surprisingly interesting discovery for me away from the regular Marvel and DC series. They showed another world in which writers and artists could let their own creations remain their own. And we got some seriously interesting material away from the Comic behemoths who under the influence of these new titles were forced to change the playing field for writers and other creative folks in a more equal way.
The Witchblade is an exceptional series, even f the newer ones without Pezzini lacked some gravitas and strengths I enjoyed in the early ones.
Well advised and the best wishes for the year 2021.
April 29, 2011
I began reading this Witchblade collection at the behest of my good friend, who swears that this series is the best thing ever published. I do not understand the love. The characters are pretty flat and personality-free, and the plot is un-engaging and utterly failed to keep my attention. At times, reading through the book almost felt like a chore. I'm left with the theory that the thing my friend loves most about this series is watching a scantily-clad woman with a hug ass and breasts run around in anatomically impossible poses. If that's all you care about in comics, then maybe Witchblade is for you.
January 6, 2017
Exagerrated female form? Yes, please. I'll take two. And throw some hot models in there. Ripped clothing. And that dream sequence with the oh-so-thin nightie.
Sara Pezzini accidentally becomes the host of the Witchblade, a powerful artefact which complicates her life as a cop. She decides to use it for good, but she needs to learn how to access its power which seems to fail her at some crucial moments. The comic has spectacular and bloody fight scenes, police procedural moments, but also some boring soul searching midway through when Sara becomes more contemplative. There is a great deal of focus on Sara struggling with the Witchblade.
Sara Pezzini accidentally becomes the host of the Witchblade, a powerful artefact which complicates her life as a cop. She decides to use it for good, but she needs to learn how to access its power which seems to fail her at some crucial moments. The comic has spectacular and bloody fight scenes, police procedural moments, but also some boring soul searching midway through when Sara becomes more contemplative. There is a great deal of focus on Sara struggling with the Witchblade.
March 19, 2012
It's Michael Turner drawing women. What's not to like?
February 4, 2025
Когда Майкл Тёрнер ушёл с позиции художника, по совпадению (?) сценаристка Кристина З. вдруг развернулась и с 26-го выпуска делала вполне неплохую серию (но на кроссовере с Даркнессом, который З. делала в соавторстве, ха-ха, пробила н��вое дно, боже).
А потом пришёл Пол Дженкинс и навёл порядок. Его ран (с 40 по 53 выпуски) великолепен: крутые художники, здоровский мистический триллер-детектив. Реально круто! Пусть в некоторые моменты и спорит с лором, обозначенным в ранних выпусках (ваще насрать, там полный хаос!).
И вот, значит, З. и Дженкинса в тпб, видимо, не издали, поэтому приходится отмечать вот так, целый кекедиум. Зато З./Вола с крайне сомнительными — пусть и не без некоторого шарма, но совершенно бессмысленными — первыми 25 номерами в тпб наиздавали. Ну ёмаё.
Итого по первым 50 номерам:
Выпуски 1-25 — 1,5-2/5.
Выпуски 26-39 — 3-3,5/5. В лучшие моменты даже 4/5.
Кроссоверы с Даркнессом — МРАК/5.
Выпуски 40-50 — 5/5 (каждый и в целом).
Хз, какая тут средняя оценка должна быть.
А потом пришёл Пол Дженкинс и навёл порядок. Его ран (с 40 по 53 выпуски) великолепен: крутые художники, здоровский мистический триллер-детектив. Реально круто! Пусть в некоторые моменты и спорит с лором, обозначенным в ранних выпусках (ваще насрать, там полный хаос!).
И вот, значит, З. и Дженкинса в тпб, видимо, не издали, поэтому приходится отмечать вот так, целый кекедиум. Зато З./Вола с крайне сомнительными — пусть и не без некоторого шарма, но совершенно бессмысленными — первыми 25 номерами в тпб наиздавали. Ну ёмаё.
Итого по первым 50 номерам:
Выпуски 1-25 — 1,5-2/5.
Выпуски 26-39 — 3-3,5/5. В лучшие моменты даже 4/5.
Кроссоверы с Даркнессом — МРАК/5.
Выпуски 40-50 — 5/5 (каждый и в целом).
Хз, какая тут средняя оценка должна быть.
November 3, 2021
I made it about a third of the way through this collection before giving up on it. The artwork is beautiful and the character designs are cool, but there's very little substance underneath that gorgeous veneer. The origin story, in which Sara acquires the mysterious Witchblade, is eight issues long and is fairly well constructed. After this, she spends the next eleven+ issues being confused and trying not to die while a series of uninteresting villains try to take the item from her. Several potentially cool characters are introduced, but they aren't developed in any meaningful way. I just got bored and had to let it go.
March 6, 2023
Not sure why I tried reading this. Well...I sort of know why. It's because sexy 90's art lol. But I mean...there is nothing here beyond that to care about. And even then, man is it gratuitous lol. Nothing about the story feels thought out, nothing about the characters really stuck out to me, not a damn thing was really piquing my interest beyond the art. I stopped reading this but I read like 20 issues and should have stopped sooner. Very much not for me, but I also don't really know WHO it is for...besides horny teenage boys, I suppose lol
June 5, 2017
Pfú. V živote som nemal tak dlho rozčítanú knihu ako Witchblade. Za mňa super čítanie. Lepšie než som čakal. Hlavná postava je sakra sympatická. Akcií je tak menej než som čakal, ale o to viac sa mi to páčilo. Škoda len, že asi od trištvrtine knihy bol sek, a príbeh začínal skade ruka skade noha. Ale asi k tomu je potrebné Darkness Kompendium 1. Ktoré mám a zanedlho sa do nej púšťam
November 28, 2017
Absolutely loved the art.
I think reading the comics in one volume made it a little difficult. At times, the stories were difficult to piece together. There were, also, minor but glaring editing problems.
Overall, I really enjoyed it.
I'm extremely glad I had the second volume at hand. The cliff hanger would have driven me absolutely crazy!!!
I think reading the comics in one volume made it a little difficult. At times, the stories were difficult to piece together. There were, also, minor but glaring editing problems.
Overall, I really enjoyed it.
I'm extremely glad I had the second volume at hand. The cliff hanger would have driven me absolutely crazy!!!
March 20, 2018
Kind of silly, right now in the beginning :P but I'm hopeful
April 4, 2023
Kresba 4/5
Příběh 3/5
Moc těžká četba... je možné s tím někoho zabít a jako cestovní literatura nevhodné :D
Příběh 3/5
Moc těžká četba... je možné s tím někoho zabít a jako cestovní literatura nevhodné :D
October 10, 2016
3.75 stars
December 24, 2012
ok I am a sucker from strong women with magic powers and big boobs...
so Witchblade does appeal, and the Compendium anyway...
Having said this, reading the various episodes in more or less one go, I frequently felt my self 'loosing the plot'. Actually it gets worth in Volume 2, but same point applies...
maybe I am getting old, maybe I I can't deal with a specific non-linear type of story telling, but a bit more more continuity would have certainly helped me...
I couldn't really say where this is coming from or going to.
In fact, I felt at times that this was just a great idea which was then raped over and over again by self-centred writers who were interested in telling you what they thought and felt, rather than developing story or character...
I might be wrong, but loving the characters and the idea, I felt a bit disappointed by looking at the 'oevre' in its entirety, which left me with a bit of confusion and a sour aftertaste...
PS
thinking: maybe more a problem of bad publishing than writing...
so Witchblade does appeal, and the Compendium anyway...
Having said this, reading the various episodes in more or less one go, I frequently felt my self 'loosing the plot'. Actually it gets worth in Volume 2, but same point applies...
maybe I am getting old, maybe I I can't deal with a specific non-linear type of story telling, but a bit more more continuity would have certainly helped me...
I couldn't really say where this is coming from or going to.
In fact, I felt at times that this was just a great idea which was then raped over and over again by self-centred writers who were interested in telling you what they thought and felt, rather than developing story or character...
I might be wrong, but loving the characters and the idea, I felt a bit disappointed by looking at the 'oevre' in its entirety, which left me with a bit of confusion and a sour aftertaste...
PS
thinking: maybe more a problem of bad publishing than writing...
June 26, 2013
My first foray back into the world of comics in a while. I picked this up in this compendium as I really liked the Top Cow comics back in the day, and wanted to see how this was after watching the the Anime created from this. The bigger story arcs were pretty good. Some of the later ones so so...with exception of the introduction of the "Pyromancer" villain (think that's what he was called. Decent villain and story arc. Also, liked the cross over with The Darkness, one of Top Cow's other big franchises, which I also planned to buy a compendium of at some point.
The art is top notch for a majority of the issues in the volumne. A few artists that I didn't think did the property justice, and decent writing throughout.
Will plan on getting volume 2 in the future to see what happends as Issue #50, was an End of Days cliff hanger...
The art is top notch for a majority of the issues in the volumne. A few artists that I didn't think did the property justice, and decent writing throughout.
Will plan on getting volume 2 in the future to see what happends as Issue #50, was an End of Days cliff hanger...
October 11, 2015
Loved the TV series, decided I needed to get into the source material. This was a mistake because I like books with plot. If said book also has lots of pictures, wonderful, but it still needs a coherent plot. All the issues the show had with advancing a meaningful plot this grouping of the comics suffered exponentially. It's been forever since I read it straight through, but I recall getting into a few of the arcs only to have a new writer and illustrator take over for the next installment, ignore whatever had been happening or deus ex machina the hell out of it to the point of rendering any actual advancement meaningless. This lack of continuation in comics has really turned me on to manga, because despite all the assistants and editors, one person or team is driving the story, and if the mangaka dies, story over, no one else takes it over and screws it up.
January 21, 2014
I've never read Witchblade before, until I bought this amazing compendium edition. As for the story, what started as a comic focused primarily on a gorgeous body curves of Sara Pezzini turned out to be an actually pretty good action/horror story. I also like the frequent changes of artists. Why should things be always the same? Everything changes and that is also somehow reflected by this. So what's not to love about the book that collects first 50 Witchblades comics into one book available for 40 bucks on Amazon? I can't wait to buy the second compendium..
February 3, 2008
Overall an awesome read. The last dozen or so issues seem to lack focus, the change in artistic direction is drastic and disrupts the feel of the book. Somewhat soap opera-esque (hey, I've a hot sister/whore), get a law and order or CSI feel, everyone has to be beautiful. I don't knock that too much, 'tis a sexy book. The major downfall is the last issues... Everything dealing with Keith, the Darkness, Ian Nottingham and the like are gripping- absolute.
September 11, 2008
Witchblade started out strong, when Marc Silvestri was at the helm. After he left, things start to slide and the story/mythology became lackluster and muddled. Still, Sara Pezzini is a great character, and it's worth reading the earlier issues.
May 18, 2012
It's about time that they put all these books out. Some of us have been wanting to read them for a long, long time.
January 11, 2016
Nádherná kresba, ale pro mě slabý příběh. Navíc krajně nesympatická, nevtipná, nevyrovnaná a nudná hlavní hrdinka - detektivka/modelka. Trochu utrpení přelouskat tuhle 7 kg bichli ale povedlo se. :)
December 23, 2010
enjoyed - but got from library - reading 50 episodes in a month proved a bit much!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews