The Complete Witchblade Volume 1

The Complete Witchblade #1

by David Wohl, Christina Z., Brian Haberlin

This first collection of the bestselling series created by MARC SILVESTRI, DAVID WOHL, BRIAN HABERLIN, and MICHAEL TURNER equips streetwise cop Sara Pezzini with the mysterious Witchblade, a weapon of prehistoric origin and untold power. As the artifact's bearer, Sara goes toe to toe with a Machiavellian industrialist, supernatural serial killers, and far worse, as the supernatural underworld of New York alters the course of her destiny forever.

Gorgeously rendered and painstakingly assembled as the first in a series of absolute collected editions.

Collects WITCHBLADE #1-19, THE DARKNESS #9 & 10, TALES OF THE WITCHBLADE #1/2 & 1-3

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

624 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 2020

About the author

David Wohl is an American comic book writer and editor.
(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes, this started off really badly. But you'd be surprised what you'll find yourself reading during a global pandemic. I thought this thing might be saved by Michael Turner's art (This is where Turner got his start back in 1995.), but even that was bad to begin with. The women have gigantic boobs and stomachs three times as long as they should be. All the women also must borrow their clothes from their younger sisters because they are at least 4 sizes too small. The panel layouts are excruciatingly bad with text boxes randomly placed all over the page. I was constantly confused where to go next. There's a ton of 2 page spreads both horizontal and vertical. I'm guessing so Turner could keep up with the book. These made the book real fun to read digitally. Try reading a 2 page vertical spread on an ipad. It's always off by 90 degrees so you find yourself tilting your head to the left to try and read it. The art itself is so static. Every shot is posed. There's never a sense of action. For a comic book, that's a problem.

Turner's art really kicks it up a notch around issue 10. He's started to develop the style he's known for. His anatomy has gotten better, although he's still drawing unnaturally large boobs. But comics, especially Image comics in the 90's, were all like this. The storytelling has gotten better as well. The panel layouts flow better although he's still too reliant on two page vertical layouts. Whoever thought those were a good idea should be keelhauled. Textbox placement at least makes logical sense now, so I know what order to read them in.

Editorially, there's some odd things about this book. The book includes Tales of the Witchblade #½, 1-3. The 3rd issue is the first issue of a longer story though. Instead of including it all together here, you only get the first part. It may be a deceiving marketing trick. That one issue is written by Warren Ellis and I've seen his name listed first in the solicitations for this book, even though he only wrote 20 pages outs of 600+. For a big omnibus collection like this, there are surprisingly few extras, just 4 alternate covers. There's at least 50 blank pages in this book so that they could maintain all the 2 page layouts in the issues. I'm sure they could have easily filled those pages with extras and not just some swirling color like they did.

Even though this started out very poorly, the stories at the end were more compelling and I will probably check out the next collection in November.

Received a review copy from Image and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Theediscerning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Taking this as evidence, comics back in the mid-90s were quite messy – people were trying hard to get images in funky, non-gridlike arrangements, and therefore captions and bubbles were all over the shop. Seriously, many of these pages you'll find it impossible to know which order to read things in. The messiness also shows itself in text coming from three sources on the same page, the omniscient narrator, the lead character and more all getting their part of the over-lapping mess of script. But never mind, if you like a comic with all those flaws you want all of it – no? Well, here's a whole hunka book, providing you with hours of messiness. Here's the woman cop, and the baddy with the stupidly powered sidekick (if he's that powered, why is he on the side??) with the alien glovey thing, and here's the origin story of how the woman and the glovey thing met.

Read here in 2020 it's not aged well. All the blokes are boring as hell, the story loses a lot of oomph through too much internal monologuing, and it just seems to have tried too hard (at everything). But I – kinda like the publishers – expect you to know what you're getting, and be in need of it all. So what do we get in these pages? Well, not 600pp of action – a heck of a lot of it is the blank gaps that replaced the single-issue advert pages, and that pad this out to make sure the double-page spreads, formatted vertically or horizontally, land right. (And boy, don't those spreads make this bloody annoying to read digitally.) But we do get the first 19 issues, peppered with the first few 'Tales of the Witchblade' episodes, and ending with the 'Family Ties' four-parter, which brings in bits from the Darkness spin-off, and takes this lump up to the close of 1997. And that's it – a dedicated credits sequence, and a surprisingly small variant cover gallery to close, and nothing else that at all makes this a de luxe edition. This instead relies on your urge to get a heck of a lot of vanilla in one large dose, with the possibility of about nine more of the things.

I won't be back for more – the mash-up of police procedural, with added glamorisation of the mob, yakuza et al, and alien superpoweredness was too ungainly. But it's a thing, and these books are fine ways to experience it.

[ik.ben.henri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought 2 of these complete collections of Witchblade and one from Darkness at once. So a couple of thousands of pages worth of comic material. But damn, this is a though read. The main reason I bought it was of Marc Silvestri and David Wohl, and they are some legendary names? Also, Witchblade and Darkness have some legendary status at Image/Top Cow. I have read Spawn, I like Spawn, in its own nineties way, which is now very mediocre and very edgy, it has some kind of coolness factor I like.

This book is comparable to the edginess of Spawn, but sometimes it goes too far. And it is very confusingly written. The dialogue bubbles are very, very messy, some are not worth reading, some are very important. Sometimes during action, it's not really clear what is happening. Once I thought a character was stabbed to death, but later seemed to be only injured. Every character looks exactly the same. Sometimes two characters that are talking to each other have exactly the same hairstyle and face, but one is clean-shaven while the other has a goatee. There is even a page where the clothes they are wearing is the same color. It's like the whole world is full of twins. There is even a moment when a main character is killed off, and ten pages later I thought he was back alive. But no it was a new character with exactly the same looks.

It's difficult to get into because of these reasons, and the story is told in a confusing way. Sadly the story and plot is paper-thin. So once you get through it, and get to the ending of certain story-arcs, it seemed that everything is extremely paper-thin. Spawn in my opinion can get away with this kind of things since he and his villains are incredibly quirky, but Witch blade takes itself extremely seriously. Especially with the inner-voice monologues, full of internal pain about love and self-doubt. Very, very teenage drama over here.

The upside is that when the quirky edgy characters just make it work, and there are cool moments in the comic. Stuff that could only happen in the nineties. Naked lady-warriors fighting dumb men. Everybody is a stereotype. Women are all dumb, except the female hero, they are all incredibly sexy, they want to wear expensive clothes, look sexy and be loved. Men are all sex-hungry heroes, sacrificing themselves as the noble knights they are. Throwing themselves in the fire. Or they are in the most stereotypical way Mafia guys, police, detectives, villains... It's almost crazy that they reprint this kind of stuff, it's very daring to reprint this in the woke area of the last 5 years.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review)
Whilst I never do spoilers, I can safely say, I cannot spoil this book, as I have exactly no idea what the hell is going on here. This is the least complex, yet most puzzling story I think I've ever read, yet I still find myself somewhat drawn to it, and not getting anywhere near as frustrated or downright pissed as I would be of other titles that were similarly obtuse or hard to follow. There are a few reasons for this. The panel layouts, especially in the earlier issues, are very poorly done. I can't say if this is a staple of nineties comics or not, as I've yet to read many of them, but the text is spread haphazardly all over the page, making it most difficult to follow. Whilst the somewhat ambitious layout choices can look cool from time to time, it dos the story no favours. The writers also grossly overuse the-- cut off method of speech. So many conversations are continually cut shotr, with dialogue often not flowing from one person to the next anywhere near as effortlessly as a good storyteller should aim for. Also, the multiple points of narration, with the characters speech, the character inner monologue, the narrator and the Witchblade itself all communicating with the reader. It gets terribly chaotic and confusing at times. I was continually reading on, absorbing the information, although continuously having to stop and wonder to myself, what in gods name is going on. Sure, its not always so vague, and I'm no dummy now, but it was a major stumbling block towards enjoyment. Not only this, but multiple characters blend together and, adding to the muddled storytelling, makes keeping track of different similar characters additionally hard. I do enjoy the overly wordy nature of the book at times. When all things are firing well enough, it can make for an engrossing few moments, although it unfortunately won't last long. I could dissect the writing of this book further, although I will leave it there for now. It was a frustrating and puzzling read, although there was certainly a lot of interesting story occurring within the pages, if only a more focused, talented storyteller could bring it out.
The art, which I feel is the main reason why the title initially garnered such a popular following. Despite the relative consistency of artists throughout the book, the quality can vary considerably, even within individual issues. As well as this, some of the scans are horrifically done, and made certain pages look unappealing and amateurish. Obviously, not every panel can be front cover quality, although sometimes the quality can degrade to such an extent to make it additionally noticeable, and a bit jarring. Some of this art is drop dead gorgeous, and I'm not just referring to the hyper unrealism of the female and many of the male protagonists (of which I enjoy and have zero problem with). Its half the charm of the title in fact. That being said, there appeared to be a scaling down of this throughout the run of the book. Whether this was intentional or subliminal I couldn't say, although it was something of a detractor as the run continued. If I had no idea what on earth was occurring in the story, at least there would be a fetching lady to look at.
The intertwining of the different books (Witchblade, Tale of the Witchblade and The Darkness) left me a little perplexed as well. Having not read any of these stories before, I can't say whether or not the editor did the best they could or not, but there certainly seemed to be a few holes and inconsistencies in the story, that left me scratching my head, yet again. Of course, It could have been my issues with following, though it did seem to be a little more deep rooted than that.
All in all, my enjoyment of the book mostly surpassed the issues I've mentioned here. This is certainly a flawed collection of stories, but the frequently stellar artwork and scantily clad ladies (what can I say)? keeps this title from the lower score it may have deserved. Here's hoping these problems get ironed out in the second collection which is being released in the next few weeks. 3/5.


OmniBen.

[Javier Atapuerca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Éste es un comentario a la colección, al menos a lo que me he leído hasta ahora, que es el Volumen 3. Pero GoodReads no permite poner comentarios a colecciones (otras opciones, como Whakoom, orientado a cómics, sí lo permiten), así que lo pondré aquí, en el número uno.

En algún lado leí que éste era el cómic que tenías que leer para entender la década de los '90 en los cómics. Ésa afirmación es cierta y falsa a la vez. Éste es el cómic a leer si quieres ver todos los «pecados» de esa década.

Forma por encima de función. Continente sobre contenido. Epatante dibujo sin asomo de guión coherente.

El dibujo, como corresponde a una obra de Image de la época (recién fundada por los dibujantes más top del momento), es espectacular. Ahora bien, a veces es tan, digamos fan service, que da vergüenza ajena. Pero el guión... el guión no tiene ni pies ni cabeza. Intentaré no poner nada que destripe la historia, pero en los dos primeros volúmenes parece que quien escribiera no tuviera ni idea de los procedimientos policiales; personajes aparecen y desaparecen sin ningún sentido; las personalidades cambian de un número al otro... Hay una iglesia-secta al estilo de la cienciología que dirige los argumentos durante una serie de números y de repente desaparece de golpe, sin razón ni justificación. Un personaje tiene algo parecido a la WitchBlade, y se lo cargan y nunca más se supo. Demonios, un personaje es responsable de una importantísima muerte para la protagonista, y de repente es como si nunca hubiera pasado.

A mediados del volumen 3 (y sí, eso son muuuchas páginas antes a leer), el guión mejora. Se nota que alguien aprendió procedimientos policiales, la protagonista parece una policía de verdad y no una adolescente caprichosa, y le dan un aire de misterio sobrenatural que mejora mucho la historia. Por ejemplo, el cómic del suicidio de los niños es soberbio, y aunque el resto está un poco por debajo, es mejor que lo de antes.

Pero oye, los he leido. Placer culpable, supongo. Y es una parte de la historia de los cómics que no se puede o debe obviar. Pero doy gracias por la mejora en el tercer volumen 😅.

[FrontalNerdaty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember picking up random issues of Witchblade when I was younger and thinking it was bad ass. It had hot chicks, buff guys and a ton of action! 11 year old me was in my element...
By 2020? It’s a tougher read for a few reasons.
Image in the 90s was a hot bed of trying to break the norm and embracing aspects that the ‘main two’ wouldn’t. Witchblade is sort of the epitome of this. Sara Pezzini is the hero of this tale. She’s a police officer come super powered being and the stories attempt to wove in her work with plots about Yakuza, mob bosses and under age modelling. It’s... a lot.
The stories are decent enough but are hampered by a lot of interior monologuing from characters, and not always just Sara. The plots either move at break neck speed or terribly slow with no one style winning out.
The art is both the highlight and downfall of this tome. Turner is known for his style and here it’s on full display. Sara is thin with large breasts, a tight butt and plumped lips. This is the main way all the women (and worryingly an under 18 girl all too often) are drawn and the men are nearly all drawn laughably muscular with long hair. This is the most 90s thing about the comic.
For the time I see why Witchblade was immensely popular and why it’s remained celebrated. In a more modern context? It’s sort of bad. But if you embrace it and enjoy it for what it offers and not what it lacks there’s lots to enjoy.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Complete Witchblade Volume 1 collects several of the early volumes of the series and related series. As such, it is as much for collecting as reading.

It is not only disingenuous to criticize the work for "being dated" or for showcasing an artist's early growth, it shows a complete lack of self-esteem that you feel the need to try (and fail miserably) to demonstrate your intelligence by making asinine statements. If you don't like or can't appreciate artwork from the period, then don't read it. It was done then, not now. Just pretend you know how to think.

Anyway, as I mention above, this is not 2020 art trying to look like 1990s art, this is the original artwork. If it really bothers you then you may want to avoid it. If you like the history of comics and graphic novels and appreciate what came before and helped to give us what we have today, you will likely enjoy this. In other words, if you buy a Beatles album and complain because they don't make music that sounds like 2020, you'll dislike this, if you buy a Beatles album and think about how what they did helped lead to what you like in 2020, you'll like the book.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

I approached this as a sort of historic study, but ultimately, I couldn't get past about issue #11. This is really pretty bad, for a lot of the reasons others have mentioned. The dialogue boxes all over the place, making it difficult to figure out how the story is supposed to flow (I thought this was a recent problem, but it looks like this has been around for awhile). The two-page spreads that are impossible to read on an iPad or computer screen. The impossibly-chiseled womens' physiques on display (perhaps one of the few reasons to read this is for Michael Turner's artwork, but still). The dangly locks of hair that pretty much every main male and female character possesses. But there are other things, too, like misspelled or misused words ("homocide," "concierto," and "grievance counselor") and floating apostrophes (Iron's, Irons', etc.). But, ultimately, it's a very dull story, with everyone standing around, posturing, and talking. Very little action happens at all. Two stars, and that's being generous, and that's largely for the Turner art--the non-Turner issues just point out how much the story is lacking when there isn't even some decent art to ground things. I wouldn't recommend this.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book to read.

Artwise it felt all over the place. Sometimes I'd like it and other times I didn't. At points the sexualization would get so bad it would pull me out of the action. I'm not talking about parts where the Witchblade would rip off her clothing, but parts where she would have her gun drawn and is supposed to be acting like a police officer, but she's in a stance designed to look sexy and not for shooting. I also struggled to tell the characters apart by their faces. Very few characters had unique faces.

Character wise I found it odd how quickly Sara was pulled under by Ken Irons, however after that arc she felt more stable as a character. Her cowgirl cop angle has not aged well, but they do make a point of showing that there are a lot of cops who are corrupt. Overall I did like Sara's desire to do good.

My favorite parts were the Tales of the Witchblade. I was fascinated by seeing glimpses of the lives of other's who have been its host.

I do think this is worth reading as part of the evolution of female lead characters in comic books, but keep in mind that it is very much a product of its time.

[Michael J. Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy many of the comic books from the 90s. Witchblade was one of them. Sara Pezzini, a detective, becomes the bearer of a superpowered artifact, a gauntlet basically, called the Witchblade that gives her extraordinary powers, as opposed to some of the typical comic books of the time where people get powers by way of radiation or some accident, put on tights, and their superhero name ends with "man" or "woman." I love those books too; I'm a huge Marvel and DC fan after all, but at the the time, it was great to see Image Comics break away from the typical comic book tropes. Witchblade is like urban fantasy, which was unique for the time, so if you like urban fantasy, give Witchblade a try!

Complicated relationships, action and adventure, and mystery make this book a standout read! You also get issues of Tales of the Witchblade, which introduce some of the previous bearers throughout history, all women, because the bearer can only be a woman. The art is great! Yes, the characters, men and women, are drawn very sexy. That was staple of 90s art, which I certainly don't mind.

[Alan D.D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aunque hubo momentos en que ni el guión ni el arte me convencieron (es un producto de su tiempo, definitivamente), la mitología parece atractiva, te mantiene interesado en la historia y hay varios momentos en que realmente disfruté de la lectura. Sin embargo, no puedo dejar de lado el hecho de que los últimos capítulos fueron confusos y que hubo exceso de "spreads" de dos páginas. Aunque no es una mala lectura, se queda un poco corta para la época actual.

Although there were times when neither the script nor the art convinced me (it's a product of its time, definitely,) the mythology seems engaging, it keeps you interested in the story, and there are several times when I really enjoyed the reading. However, I can't ignore the fact that the last few chapters were confusing and that there were excess of two-page spreads. Although it's not a bad reading, it falls a bit short for current times.

[S.C. Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it a lot. There is a lot of action, the characters are sexy, and the premise is solid.

Writing: Writing leaves a lot to be desired. It's hard to make sense of what's going on. The story goes through many arcs that are loosely connected but its hard to see, as of this volume, where the story intends to come together. What's the goal the author has with this work? Can't say I can tell after reading this. Crossover with another called "The Darkness" feels out of nowhere. The side stories "Tales of the Witchblade", are mostly bothersome and get in the way of the main story and add pacing issues. Overall the book is mindless fun.

Art: The art is mostly great. Interesting designs. Cool looking characters and environments. However, characters often look too similar. Some of the guest artists can't hold a candle to the main artist. But the art is overall better than many comics I've read.

I recommend this.

[Paul Allard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reminder of Image’s early accomplishments

This complete comic collection of Witchblade, some Tales of the Witchblade and the crossover with the Darkness showcases the talent of the artists, Michael Turner, Marc Silverstein and others. If you want voluptuous barely-clad women and hugely handsome men, this is for you. The story, to some extent, is secondary but still interesting. Very enjoyable and entertaining.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Witchblade was a title I remember from my teen years, but I mostly remember Michael Turner’s art, which is why I wanted to read this. I would say this story, and its art, are products of their time, and doesn’t age so well in 2020. Everything is over the top and sexy, and the writing itself is quite shallow. Still, I found this book to be entertaining, and let’s face it — this book is marketed for the nostalgia factor.

[Charity · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. The premise is still really interesting to me, and I know a lot of the issues are a product of their time, but it's just so... 'try-hard.' Not to mention the panels are confusingly laid out, what story there is is hard to follow, and so many characters look exactly like other characters that it's hard to even tell who is in a scene. Doesn't live up to the potential and feels like a slog to get through now.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sara Pezzini, a New York cop, gains the power of the Witchblade.

3.5 stars: this volume had a lot of gorgeous artwork though it was too much cheesecake for my taste. If you think Barbie's waist is bad, check out these where the women would snap in half.

Sara starts out as a cop, tries out secret agent, and goes back to cop. The Darkness guest stars for a few issues. I mostly enjoyed these but I don't feel the need to read more.

[Steven Davis · Rating 1 out of 5]

A plot would have been nice. Deliberately sexist action and drawing, with a simple enough premise and historical side or back-trips that add nothing to the ongoing story. All attempted gloss with no depth or characterisation. Unfortunately, there were so many possibilities here, but the story/drawing just failed all of them. Fail.

[Xroldx · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was able to get this book for less than 10 hours and since Witchblade was the biggest Top Cow title together with Darkness back in the 90's I thought I would give it a chance.

Michael Turners artwork is amazing and some parts of this collection are okay, but it's clear that this is a 90's title where artwork came first and storytelling second.

[Zachary Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit cheesecakey at times and is the epitome of 90s comics. Story starts out pretty slow and overall I prefer the Darkness over this series. The art is fun but the word bubbles can be difficult to follow making this a tough read. I am interested enough in the story to give the next volume a chance.

[Louis Corsair · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took a long time to finish this. It has a ton of 90s cliches and dialogue that can only be found in comics of that era. But it’s likable in it’s own way. The Family Ties crossover was pretty cool and a good way to end this collection.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What do you do when you are a cop and a relic of untold power selects you to be it's bearer? You kick-ass and don't bother with names. And, you go after the meglomaniac who is out to rule the universe!

[Jan Geerling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another teen memory from the 90’s. The artwork is as fancy as I remember. The story is not up to much. A bit shallow, but still a fun read.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

The artwork has aged well, though I wasn’t a fan of the order the comics were in.

[Annette Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the artwork.
The sexism and stereotypes were tedious but I realise they were a product of their time.
The stories were pretty good too.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept, difficult to follow at times and lots of the male characters look way too similar to differentiate them. I had fun though.

[Clarissa Labue-Pham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know a lot of people complain about sexism when it comes to this book, but when I first read it as a kid it rocked my world. A sexy female who was Italian American and a cop. I was enthralled.

All these years later I still love the first series. The art is still gorgeous and I still find myself engrossed when I crack open this book. It's still awesome to see a kickass woman whose beautiful and career oriented. The story isn't brilliant but it's an interesting premise and still is a fun way to pass an evening.

[Eric · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soooooooooo boring. I kept waiting for ANYTHING to happen, and it never did. So, I won't be reading anymore of this.

[Joshua Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too heavy metal/boobage for me but some of the art is cool. almost Geiger esque/Tetsuo the iron man stuff.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is....really, really 90s. Antiheroes and "gritty" subject matter depicted seemingly just to show you how "mature" the comic is might have worked in 1996, bit in 2021 it feels very edgelord. Similarly, the captions often feel cramped and hard to read.

There has doubtless been tons of ink spilled elsewhere about its problematic representation of men as musclebound supermen and women as willowy waifs with waists the size of saplings and breasts the size of basketballs, so I won't add to it, but know that it's true, however much you happen to personally care.

That said, the worldbuilding is pretty good, the colors are vibrant and beautiful, and the story, while a bit convoluted and silly, was interesting enough. I didn't dislike it at all, I just feel that it is very much a product of its time and the medium has developed past it. I'm sure it's got its devotees and I'm not here to say they're wrong, just that I doubt I will ever count myself among them.