Witchblade Rebirth: Jump in now!

Based on the artwork and reviews I've seen of Witchblade in the past, it seemed like little more than an excuse for a nearly-naked hot woman to be grasped in all her most intimate areas by some kind of arcane creature while they slice people up together, so I hadn't been interested in reading it at all.

So when I was at the Image show in February, I asked this question at the Top Cow booth: "What do you have that's urban fantasy but without blood and guts everywhere?" He handed me Witchblade: Unbalanced Pieces. The look on my face must have made my doubt clear, because he immediately started trying to sell me on it.

It worked.

It wasn't blood and guts, and it wasn't nearly as tawdry as I'd thought it was. Just as important, the "Top Cow Rebirth" series does not require readers to know the entire backstory and all the events of the main character's past. He described it as a jumping off point for new readers, and as a completely new reader to the series, I'd have to say that it works perfectly.

Mention is made of Sara Pezzini's past as a cop, which does come into play during the story arc a number of times. There's some violence and death, but it's not intestines for two pages followed by decapitations and assorted maimings. There's some hot scenes with a bit of fondling, but it's not Batman and Catwoman screwing on a rooftop. The amount of skin actually makes sense considering the circumstances, and Sara does make sure to mention that she's not thrilled about it.

Here we have a heroic, strong female character who's working hard to do the right thing. There's a lack of gratuitous evisceration, for which I'm very grateful. There's more skin than I would like (there's that male 18 to 30 demographic again), but it's not just for the sake of being slutty. There's a timeline at the back in case you want more information about the major events, and a little character "diary" for even more details.

If you've been thinking about giving Witchblade a try, this is the time to do it, starting with Unbalanced Pieces. From there, you can keep reading the new material as it comes out, and get some of the backlist as well if you choose. Overall, a good read with solid writing by Tim Seeley and beautiful art by Diego Bernard. Well done, Top Cow.

Image Comic Expo: A lot to love in this little show

I managed to wrest a day away from the clutches of my writing schedule and my boring mundane stuff to get myself over to the Image Comic Expo, held at the Oakland Convention Center this past weekend, February 24 - 26. I'm extremely glad I did, as this show netted a lot of great people, new contacts, and what must be 25 pounds of comics to review. More about that at the end.

Billed as "A 3-day celebration of creator-owned comics," it was primarily put on by Image, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and most of the signings and panels were focused on their titles, and a lot of that was focused on Walking Dead, which didn't interest me personally as I'm suffering from complete horror fatigue in my choices of entertainment. However, some of the other panels featured topics such as "Womanthology" which discussed not only women in the field of comics, but diversity in general, and "Pro Tips with Todd McFarlane" which offered insights into his creative process.

For me, the real highlight was not the TV stars or the signings, but the people and the tone of this show in comparison to others. Comic-Con San Diego is no longer a place for fans and industry professionals to gather and talk about what they love, it's an epic 50-ring circus where you have to shout to be heard and you risk being crushed in the wall of humanity trying to occupy a finite space. The Alternative Press Expo (APE) show in San Francisco is interesting, but it goes beyond traditional comic books and encompasses art projects, cartoon art, and what used to be called "underground" comics, still done as folded and stapled printouts. Which I respect, but it's not what I'm after.

I was surprised by the high level of participant quality at this show, considering its relatively small size. Image was there, of course, but so was Archaia, IDW, Top Cow, Comicraft and a number of excellent vendors. Artist's Alley was impressively skilled and the level of creativity in the new projects I saw was encouraging. Sure, the usual "show artist" was there, cranking out fan art sketches for the money, as well as the occasional "are they at the right show?" type of vendor, but the Image Comic Expo hit all the right notes for me, the right middle ground which is the current vibrant heart of the comic book industry.

It's about the people who are in this because they love it, not to be part of some mega-corporation who lost touch with what real people want ages ago. Archaia and Top Cow and Image get it. The people who run them understand that not everybody is the same, not everybody wants spandex... but some people do, and that's fine too. These companies at this show understand that talent can be found when you stop to listen and look at what's around you. They're not writing just to the 18-30 year old male demographic as discussed in the previous article. They write for everybody.

This show is inclusive. That makes all the difference in the world.

While there, I met up with old friends, made some new ones, and walked up to booths and said "Talk to me about your best titles." This is because the show is on a human scale, and you can actually talk to people instead of trying to shout at each other for 30 seconds before giving up and rushing off to another panel, signing or party. I never got the vibe of "buy something or get out of the way" as I have at other shows. As a result, I have never walked away with so many fantastic books as I did at this show.

Upcoming reviews will include (in no particular order): Lucid, A Tale of Sand, Elephantmen Volume 4, Invincible Ultimate Collection 1, Locke & Key, The Power Within, Witchblade Rebirth, Silver, Hello My Name Is Asshole, Vescell, Flying Sparks, The Last of the Greats, The Mark of Aeacus, Marineman, and The Pound.

I hope Image does this show every year, because I will be there. I can see it being perhaps twice as large, but no more than that or it'll lose the reason to go and become just another comic book convention. Well done, Image. As my father used to say, "And a good time was had by all."