Top Cow Productions, in conjunction with Image Comics, has created several popular characters and properties, such as Cyber Force, Aphrodite IX, and The Darkness. Their biggest success, however, has inarguably been Witchblade. The series, known mostly in the 1990s for its cheesecake art style, was an immense success for the company.

Created by Marc Silvestri and originally running from 1995 to 2015, Witchblade was one of the longest continually running comic books starring a female superhero, sans Wonder Woman. The protagonist herself has also teamed up with several other heroes, including Wonder Woman, Wolverine, and Lara Croft. The series has gone on to be adapted into a live-action TV show, as well as an anime and manga. Now, Top Cow is collecting the original stories in The Complete Witchblade, Vol. 1, allowing old fans and newbies alike to look back at the mystical heroine's adventures. For those who may have read some of the books before, but are looking for a bit of a primer, here's a retrospective that will get you up to speed on the story of Sara Pezzini.

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Witchblade's Beginning

Witchblade comic

The protagonist of the original Witchblade series was Sara Pezzini, a NYPD detective investigating a mysterious case at a local theater. The situation is revealed to be caused by the machinations of her rich former flame, Kenneth Irons. This leads to her becoming mortally wounded on the case, but not before she is noticed by the mystical Witchblade. This magical artifact saved her life by sharing its power with her, making her one in a long line of women who had been selected to wield it. These former wielders include such women as Joan of Arc. In times of stress and need, the Witchblade gauntlet transforms into armor and protects Sara. This comes in handy in the initial storylines, where the heroine is a frequent target of both Irons and the mob.

Further investigation into the Witchblade's origins uncovers a hidden world of mysticism, with Sara facing off against demons and even the Bogeyman. This puts Sara in the middle of a cosmic religious battle between Heaven and Hell, very similar to fellow Image Comics character Spawn. She is also befallen to tragedy, such as when her boyfriend Jake McCarthy died after being put in a coma by a demon. Despite the roadblock in her love life, she mysteriously finds herself pregnant. This child is the result of her unwitting union with The Darkness, and conceived to create a balance between the light and darkness within the world. Sara eventually passes the Witchblade to Danielle Baptiste, but Baptiste returns it to Sara in order to save her life.

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Modern Witchblade and the Top Cow Reboot

After Witchblade #150, the Top Cow Universe would undergo a "rebirth." This wasn't a true reboot so much as a fresh start for their IPs, particularly Witchblade and The Darkness. Sara had now moved to Chicago to become a private investigator. The Tim Seeley penned series would see Sara trying to tie up loose ends in her life, all amid new crises such as Jackie Estacado becoming completely possessed by The Darkness. She would eventually return to New York and give up the Witchblade for good.

The Witchblade had a harder reset with the 2017 revival, wherein the book was given a completely new cast. Though nominally in continuity with the previous series, the book now focuses on investigator Alex Underwood, the new wielder of the Witchblade. And while set in New York, there is next to no tight connection to the previous series. There is also a conscious redirection away from the franchise's titillating art, with much of the art in the new series being far more subdued and less exploitative. The new volume has been running since 2017, with the third trade paperback planned for a late April release. For those wanting to dive into the franchise's origins and see the development of one of comics' strongest heroines, however, check out The Complete Witchblade to experience the '90s magic firsthand.

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