Publisher: Image
Writer: Caitlin Kittredge
Artist: Roberta Ingranata
Colourist: Bryan Valenza
Release Date: Out Now!
Price: $3.99

The Witchblade Artifact bonds with its host, always a female, and ‘forges bodies strong as steel…bestows unbreakable will…and turns them into a weapon against the darkness.’ All they have to do is die first so that they can be reborn. Well, that sucks. In return, they do get ‘the gift of sight, visions of the past and the future.’

Pretty nifty, but, in Witchblade #1I think DA Alex Underwood, the Witchblade’s latest host, would have preferred some flowers instead of the recurring PTSD visions of her traumatic past and a death she can’t even remember. Working for the Witness Aid Services Unit, Alex is trying to keep her client, Myra, safe from her wife-beating monster of a husband, Detective Blake Groves. When her visions and an encounter with a scar-faced stranger in an alley cause her to take her eye off the ball, it’s Myra who pays the price. That is until the power of the Witchblade kicks in. Caitlin Kittridge’s latest incarnation of the Witchblade saga zips along with just enough verve and backstory to be an ideal jumping on point for newcomers and provides a warm welcome for long-term fans.

Alex Underwood certainly falls into the category of strong female characters, with a tortured past and a very uncertain future. Witchblade #1 has more hooks than a fishing tackle shop, and I defy anyone not to want to know how the whole thing turns out.

Reviewer: Gary Orchard
Reviews Editor: Steve Hooker