Witchblade Annual #1

Witchblade Annual #1
Top Cow Productions/Image Comics
Writer: Jay Faerber
Pencils: Eric Basaluda
$3.99



It seems funny to me that a comic that's been running for over 10 years is just having its first Annual issue, but I suppose that's a product of Annuals falling out of favor in the late 90s and early 2000s.

So, I've always had a passing interest in Witchblade, and I've read the first dozen or so issues, but that's about it. I know the basics - super-hot Sara Pezzini is this generation's chosen bearer of the mystical artifact known as the Witchblade (and when the Withblade activates, Sara goes from being super-hot to almost super-naked). The New York Detective uses the Witchblade to help her solve supernatural cases, and gets her into trouble because there are other people who want to wield the Witchblade for themselves.

I also know that Witchblade is the only superhero comic series with a female lead to run for over 100 issues, with the exception of Wonder Woman and She-Hulk (and I think Catwoman has had about 100 issues total, over various series), which is both impressive and sad. Sad, because that says something about the mindsets of comic readers, and impressive because its one of very few series in 70 years of Superhero comics to have that distinction.

So, without a clearly-defined jumping on point in the series, I thought I'd check out the annual. And, really, it wasn't bad. Armed with just the knowledge that I've given in this review, the lead story totally makes sense, and is easy to follow. Beautiful young women are having short-term amnesiac attacks, and during those periods are committing crimes and murders. Sara Pezzini and her partner do some detective work (imagine that!) and relate all the women to the same plastic surgeon. They question him, and he claims innocence. But after some incongruities in the doctor's story, the detectives realize he's not exactly what he claims, and visit his house. And what they find isn't, well, typical...

Jay Faerber tells a basic, straightforward, one-shot superhero story, told outside the confines of the regular Witchblade title. The artwork from Eric Basaluda has solid storytelling, and his beautiful women are actually beautiful.

I dig it. It's not ground-breaking by any means, but if this is the quality that Witchblade has been experiencing over the last 10 years, then I totally understand why it's lasted as long as it has. I might just need to start checking out the regular series, after this...