Witchblade #180
Top Cow Productions 2015
Written by David Hine
Illustrated by Gabriel Rearte
Coloured & Edited by Betsy Gonia
Reviewer: Steven Leitman
Summary: Welcome to Darkness Falls: the Death of Jackie Estacado Part 1. DARKNESS FALLS IN WITCHBLADE’S 19TH ANNIVERSARY! In another life Jackie Estacado was Sara Pezzini’s lover and the father of her child. Now he has used the power of the Darkness to endanger the whole of human existence and only the Witchblade can stop him. Here at last is the untold story...the Death Of Jackie Estacado!
Review: It’s been a long time coming for the final showdown between Jackie and Sara. But my real question here is, if it happens in this universe and not the other one will he be alive when the world shifts back or is this the new normal? Usually the Darkness legend says once he/she has an heir the current host dies but Jackie managed to get around that by having a child with the bearer of the Witchblade. Once he took his child to this new world however, all bets were off and without Sara’s influence Hope has embraced the Darkness.
Well we get a glimpse of the deed once it’s done, but honestly we’ve seen Jackie create duplicates of himself before. So I’ll reserve judgment till I know for sure of what’s happening.
I do like how the story gets underway with Aram the Witch-King, former the wielder of the Darkness. Proof that you can live once it leaves, coming to Sara for her help with stopping Jackie from bringing all the Ancient Ones to this plane at one time. Aram is a sneaky lil bastard and he’ll play people like they are pieces on a chessboard but doesn’t like to be directly involved if he doesn’t have to be. Still he’s able to get Sara involved and that’s all it really takes isn’t it.
Since Sara has remembered life before this universe came into being it’s been harder for her to deal with Jackie and knowing he stole her daughter from her, and not only bringing Jenny back to life but making her believe Hope is her child. So going to this house and encountering these people already causing her stress levels to go up and boy, let me tell you one thing. What she goes through in this house is something else entirely. It really needs to be seen to be believed because it’s something that would send a mother over the edge when seeing her daughter and what she does.
Gabriel and Betsy really do a wonderful job of bringing this story to life too. I love the attention to detail here, it’s so refreshing to see this much attention being given to each page and panel so that even the little things being described is seen by the reader. Plus seeing Hope in action and the colours used are amazing.
So far with this mother/daughter reunion, the way it’s gone down should lead into one hell of a confrontation between Sara and Jackie.
It’s been a while since this series has had this kind of focus and direction and it’s absolutely fantastic to see. It’s time to get excited about Witchblade again.
Top Cow Productions 2015
Written by David Hine
Illustrated by Gabriel Rearte
Coloured & Edited by Betsy Gonia
Reviewer: Steven Leitman
Summary: Welcome to Darkness Falls: the Death of Jackie Estacado Part 1. DARKNESS FALLS IN WITCHBLADE’S 19TH ANNIVERSARY! In another life Jackie Estacado was Sara Pezzini’s lover and the father of her child. Now he has used the power of the Darkness to endanger the whole of human existence and only the Witchblade can stop him. Here at last is the untold story...the Death Of Jackie Estacado!
Review: It’s been a long time coming for the final showdown between Jackie and Sara. But my real question here is, if it happens in this universe and not the other one will he be alive when the world shifts back or is this the new normal? Usually the Darkness legend says once he/she has an heir the current host dies but Jackie managed to get around that by having a child with the bearer of the Witchblade. Once he took his child to this new world however, all bets were off and without Sara’s influence Hope has embraced the Darkness.
Well we get a glimpse of the deed once it’s done, but honestly we’ve seen Jackie create duplicates of himself before. So I’ll reserve judgment till I know for sure of what’s happening.
I do like how the story gets underway with Aram the Witch-King, former the wielder of the Darkness. Proof that you can live once it leaves, coming to Sara for her help with stopping Jackie from bringing all the Ancient Ones to this plane at one time. Aram is a sneaky lil bastard and he’ll play people like they are pieces on a chessboard but doesn’t like to be directly involved if he doesn’t have to be. Still he’s able to get Sara involved and that’s all it really takes isn’t it.
Since Sara has remembered life before this universe came into being it’s been harder for her to deal with Jackie and knowing he stole her daughter from her, and not only bringing Jenny back to life but making her believe Hope is her child. So going to this house and encountering these people already causing her stress levels to go up and boy, let me tell you one thing. What she goes through in this house is something else entirely. It really needs to be seen to be believed because it’s something that would send a mother over the edge when seeing her daughter and what she does.
Gabriel and Betsy really do a wonderful job of bringing this story to life too. I love the attention to detail here, it’s so refreshing to see this much attention being given to each page and panel so that even the little things being described is seen by the reader. Plus seeing Hope in action and the colours used are amazing.
So far with this mother/daughter reunion, the way it’s gone down should lead into one hell of a confrontation between Sara and Jackie.
It’s been a while since this series has had this kind of focus and direction and it’s absolutely fantastic to see. It’s time to get excited about Witchblade again.