Review – Witchblade #138

I’ve been looking forward to this issue for quite some time now as we were left with one of the biggest cliffhangers in series history last time. In what will have repercussions throughout the Top Cow Universe, Hope, the daughter of Sara Pezzini and Jackie Estacado, has been kidnapped. To make matters worse, the cyborg assassin Aphrodite IV seems to have killed Sara’s little sister Julie in the process.

This is the lynchpin event that will probably set Artifacts truly into motion and with Hope gone, The Witchblade and The Darkness will likely combine forces to find her. When two of the primal forces in the universe get together and their wielders are out for blood…look out below.

With that said I regret to inform you dear readers that we do not find out what happens next in issue 138. Instead we get a look at a medieval faerie tale. Ron Marz and Stjepan Sejic step back to a medieval time when a great dragon roamed the land and an evil warlord betrayed the king. This isn’t meant to be an alternate universe for Top Cow’s finest heroes and villains, but they're all there. The artifacts band together to fight back against the warlord so that Queen Danielle, looking suspiciously like The Angelus, can reclaim her thrown.

Neither might of arms nor sorcery can overcome this band of artifact wielding heroes. The artwork is pretty awesome and we get a look, albeit a brief one, at the various Artifacts in action using their powers. If you’ve ever wondered what would a battle of swords, sorcery and artifact bearers look like this issue will scratch that itch. The writing has the look of a fairy tale and a similar pace and the issue is really quite beautiful. As usual, Sejic does a fantastic job blending bright and dark environments and making the battles seem truly epic.

Of course this is just a fairy tale after all…and when we snap back to reality for the final scene there is simply a dark and shadowy nursery without a baby, and a note from a sister lost. Only time will reveal what will be left of this small corner of the Universe when Pezzini returns from her current assignment to find them.