Readers rediscovering 'Witchblade'

"I think we're slowly changing the perception, but it's really one reader at a time. People tend to cling to their preconceptions, no matter how wrong they are, until you prove them wrong. But I have to admit, it's pretty satisfying when someone tries the book and then reports, 'This is nothing like I thought it would be,' " Ron Marz said.

READ MORE.

---

Famous Monsters Reviews Tracker #1

To say Top Cow’s new title Tracker is a werewolf comic doesn’t seem quite fair; it doesn’t really capture the scope of the thing. It would be more accurate to call this a gritty, character-driven police drama… with werewolves in it.

The book, which hits stores next Wednesday, follows Alex O’Roark, an FBI agent who is tracking a mass murderer who appears to be something more than human. When he gets caught in, one of the killers attacks himself, he barely escapes with his life – and leaves part of his humanity behind. Suddenly, Alex finds himself manifesting new abilities and urges of a decidedly animal nature. His sense of smell is super-humanly sharp; he’s got a shorter temper and a lust for violence; he’s agile and durable enough to survive a 5-story leap while tracking his attacker.

What’s nice about this book is that writer Jonathan Lincoln makes us aware of these manifestations, of the change that Alex is going through – but they’re not really the point.

READ MORE.

---

Broken Frontier Previews Witchblade #132

Witchblade #132

(W) Ron Marz (A) Stjepan Sejic (Cov) Sejic, Nelson Blake II

A quiet, romantic weekend in New England turns into a terrifying mystery when Sara and Gleason are pulled into an investigation of missing children. But is this a simple missing persons case or has the Witchblade been drawn to another supernatural crime? Featuring a cover by regular artist Sejic and a variant cover by Nelson Blake II (The Darkness)!

Cover A – Stjepan Sejic
Cover B – Nelson Blake II
Full Color 32 pages $2.99 ongoing series

READ MORE.

---

Writer Ron Marz changes fan perception of Top Cow's "Witchblade"

Lehigh Valley's John Hardick used to think the Top Cow comic book “Witchblade.” was about a scantily clad woman running around New York City fighting generic monsters.

His opinion couldn’t have been more wrong.

“I think the book had a reputation as being a T & A comic, which was probably not far from the truth at certain points in the past,” said series writer Ron Marz in a recent interview through e-mail about the book’s perception.

“I think we're slowly changing the perception, but it's really one reader at a time."

READ MORE.

---

Dynamic Forces Reviews Witchblade #131

To start things off, I’d just like to say that I originally started reading Witchblade with issue 1 up until about the 40 mark and returned to the title with the $5 TPB. Overall, Witchblade has changed from the lightly storied T&A book to a book with an in-depth story which keeps you coming back from month to month.

Issue #131 is the final issue in the "War of the Witchblades" storyline where we see the fall out of Sara and Dani’s fight to control the Witchblade. For a bit of history for those that don’t read the title or didn’t pick up the story line, The Witchblade is the child of The Darkness and The Angelus, which throughout time has been the balance between the light and the dark. When Sara Pazzini found out she was pregnant, she passed on the Witchblade to Danielle Baptiste; however, once she had the baby, Hope, Dani gave half of the Witchblade back to Sara.

READ MORE.

---

Hyper Geek Shares Details about Pilot Season: Demonic #1

Top Cow Productions have revealed details about the latest Pilot Season one-shot, Demonic, written by Robert Kirkman, with artwork by Mark Silvestri.

Pilot Season 2009 will continue with Pilot Season: Demonic #1. Hitting comic book stores December 16, 2009, Pilot Season: Demonic #1 is a 32-page glance into the creative minds of Image Comics partners Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) and Top Cow founder Marc Silvestri (X-Men/Dark Avengers: Utopia, The Darkness).

Written by Kirkman and featuring art from Top Cow alumni Joe Benitez (Soulfire, The Darkness), Pilot Season: Demonic #1 centers on the story of Scott Graves and his inner demon—only his demon manifests itself in his real life. Providing him strength, the demon is only satiated when Scott kills. In a conflicted Faustian bargain, Scott will continue to kill as long as the demon promises not to make him kill his wife and daughter. Stalking the night as Demonic, a vigilante known for savagely slaughtering the wicked, Scott must asks himself how long he can continue living this way and if the demon is in fact real. Pilot Season: Demonic #1 features a cover by co-creator Silvestri.

READ MORE.

---

Free Witchblade for Naysayers

Filip Sablik is causing quite a stir as a guest columnist over at Newsarama. About what? Well his first entry was a plea with the reader to understand that Top Cow is not only a T&A publisher. Sure, Witchblade is one of the hottest heroines out there but she kicks serious ass in addition to looking good. Well that entry created a mini-firestorm of controversy if you will, and Sablik believes so strongly in his views that he's offering a free way to agree or disagree.

Through a partnership with Discount Comic Book Service and InStock Trades Top Cow is offering free copies of the original printings of the Witchblade trades featuring Ron Marz's first two storylines. Now they're not completely free (strings attached and all that). All you have to do is make one additional purchase (that doesn't have to be Top Cow mind you) through InStock Trades and either Volume 10 or 11 will be free. It gets better.

Personally, I don't think Witchblade in particular is any worse than half the other comics out there. Does her attractiveness help sell issues? Sure. Sex sells afterall. But Top Cow isn't predicated on looks alone, and Marz's storylines are actually quite compelling. I could name quite a few other heroines that use sex appeal a lot more than Witchblade (Supergirl has a mammoth-sized chest, Batgirl is a lesbian and just about anything Zenescope puts out is dripping with sex appeal). Rarely though do you have a publisher so willing to put their money where their mouth is.

It's kind of like voting. If you don't vote you have no right complaining about the results. Same thing goes here. If you don't give Witchblade a shot you have no right to say it's all about T&A.

READ MORE.

---