Witchblade Rebirth, Volume 2

Witchblade Rebirth #2

by Tim Seeley, Diego Bernard

Collects WITCHBLADE #156-#160

THE REBIRTH OF WITCHBLADE CONTINUES! The upstart creative team of Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash, Bloodstrike) and Diego Bernard (The Man With No Name) continues their hot run on Top Cow's flagship title!

Even as Sara Pezzini tries to settle into her new life in Chicago, the Witchblade's talent for seeking out weirdness pulls her into bizarre case after bizarre case. This volume sees Pezzini dealing with mercenary mana-hunters, spirit realms, fantastical steampunk warriors, and the most distilled embodiment of evil she's ever encountered. And that's before the local cops and corrupt political system complicates her life...

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Urban Fantasy, Horror, Fantasy, Action, Graphic Novels Comics

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 21, 2012

About the author

Tim Seeley is a comic book artist and writer known for his work on books such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Dark Elf Trilogy, Batman Eternal and Grayson. He is also the co-creator of the Image Comics titles Hack/Slash[1] and Revival, as well as the Dark Horse titles, ExSanguine and Sundowners. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara Pezzini has left New York, moved to Chicago and is no longer a cop but a PI. She has seemingly moved to Harry Dresden country with similar elements like Elves and trolls. (Yes I am waiting for a new Dresden novel).
Anyhow she has to find her footing in a new reality and even gets to meet a 900 year old former Witchblade carrier who got finaly rejected by the Witchblade itself.
Great art the stories are fun, the textblocks are sometimes difficult to read due to the chosen font.
Nice read before we get the remake of the New Witchblade in comics. Lovely returning to the comic I was in awe with.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine. Great art. Lots more drawings of hot babes (this could be a plus or a minus depending on how you take it). A spinosaurus shows up, which is a plus. On the other hand, some panel progressions were really confusing. I still don’t really understand when the Witchblade gets tired, it’s power limit. The two page all text pages were worse this time as a really difficult to read font is used for some of them.

Altogether okay. Not great.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like her zen having the Witchblade!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of mixed feelings going into Top Cow's Rebirth of The Darkness and Witchblade. while I feel the relaunch has paid off in spades for The Darkness, Witchblade has been less than stellar. It almost feels like Top Cow has no idea what to do with Sara now that her life has literally been rewritten. Rather than delve into new territory, the writers are choosing to rehash old themes in something that reads more like a twisted version of Artifacts than a Witchblade relaunch. First, there are the versions of the Witchblade and Darkness made flesh, and now there's some convoluted storyline that keeps threatening but never quite delivering other players from Sara's old life.

There are also alternate realities accessible by shadow portals, and fantasy worlds with orcs and elves and....dinosaurs. Yep, dinosaurs. Also, something about a mana trade and a subplot about dark magicians that is being dragged out so long that it's ultimately going nowhere.

Witchblade has gone from being a cop drama with elements of the horriffic and fantastical to a flat-out mess, and this compilation is a perfect illustration of how far this series has fallen. I gave the relaunch 10 issues, but will be cancelling my subscription and sticking solely with Artifacts, The Darkness and their new series Think Tank. If I pick it up again, it will only be to see what happens when she realizes how Jackie Estacado has recreated her life, and that Hope is their daughter.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm beginning to see the weakness and indecisiveness of the writer--I wonder if he knows where he's going or if he's just pulling random ideas that sound cool out of his butt. Man, I miss Ron Marz--the steampunk faeries in this volume cemented that longing for Marz's writing. Steampunk faerie land? Seriously, Seeley? What were you thinking?

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first time since Sara moved to Chicago, I'm honestly beginning to wonder if they've run out of ideas already.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life as a private eye in the Windy City is proving to be quite the challenge for Sarah and a good read for the people who follow her adventures. Volume 3 here I come.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can get that Chicago has portals to another world, but a high-fantasy one? Police procedural with supernatural and magical forces is one thing, but fantasy steampunk with elves, orcs, mana trade and weapon smuggling between it and our world is too much. I hoped this arc would add something interesting to the Witchblade universe, but sadly it's so convoluted that I couldn't wait for it to be over.

The whole thing revolves around the assassination attempt on a princess' life. The guards are all paid off to look the other way, including the chief, an ex-wielder of the Witchblade. Do-gooder saves the princess and even has the ex-wielder change her ways. Next she works to find the people involved in the weapon smuggling operation to fantasy land. They have a weird little character as boss who can get people to do her bidding and are planning to kill a politician.