Witchblade #174

By Ron Marz, Laura Braga & Betsy Gonia

Witchblade has been a fascinating series from Image imprint Top Cow and it’s something that has been hitting consistent levels of quality ever since Ron Marz rejoined the series earlier this year. It’s been fun and has some great quality moments within the issue that keep fans coming back for more in the run up to the mega sized #175 special issue, which should be very awesome indeed.

Sara has been a very interesting character to follow over the course of the series so far. As a reader, I was first introduced to her via the issue that Marz came back on this title, #170, so for me it’s still a relatively new experience. But mostly Marz has been portraying her character very well indeed and the series, as a result, has quickly become one of the best titles on shelves right now, each issue has been knocking it consistently out of the park and this remains a must-read each month.

This issue sees the conclusion of the first arc that has had Marz and Braga working together, delivering a great twist making this book worth your time. Ron Marz has really developed Sara as a character and continues to flesh her out so that new readers will quickly get behind her and her struggles once again – with a strong, intense and dynamic conclusion to the Born Again arc that has carried through the past four issues.

Laura Braga’s artwork is amazing. Each panel looks stunning and helps make this book stand out amongst the hundreds of other books on shelves, and with colours handled by Betsy Gonia, this book really does look fantastic, with some incredible action sequences pulled off very well. Braga has proved that she’s certainly the right fit for this book and hopefully this creative team will remain on the title for as long as possible, because week after week they are continuously putting out a consistent level of high quality stories.

Whilst the book may be predictable, Witchblade still manages to be engaging and fun. It’s one of Image’s better books on shelves right now along with the likes of Saga and The Walking Dead – and you shouldn’t be put off by its high issue count, especially with a brand new jumping on point coming next month following one that came from #170, just four issues ago. It proves that this is a series well worth catching up on and this book should really be receiving the same amount of hype as the likes of Saga and The Walking Dead. Exceptional stuff.