Witchblade #128 review

Witchblade #128
Written by Ron Marz
Art by Stjepan Sejic
Lettering by Troy Peteri
Published by Top Cow

In Part 4 of War of the Witchblades we don't get another showdown between Sara Pezzini and Dani Baptiste. No, this more like the calm before the storm. When we left off, it looked as though Sara had been skewed by the Angelus Sabine, but of course the Witchblade has healing properties and Sara is brought back from certain death, if not still a bit psychotic. To make things worse, Dani has formed a sort of truce/alliance with Sabine and her companions. I'm forseeing some pretty big throw-downs in future issues to come.

The issue has some strong story points and great dialogue. It starts off with Sara's sister Julie getting out of prison and waiting for Sara, who of course never shows and she can't wonder why. Little does she know she has just been impaled and thought dead by fierce Angelus warriors. With Sara dying and Dani unconscious, the Angelus nab them and plan on taking the Balance, aka the Witchblade. All seems pretty smooth until Sara's boyfriend Patrick Gleason shows up and gives a clean headshot to one of the warriors. Gleason attempts to threaten them more, but the Angelus quickly get the ball back in their court by telling Gleason he can only take one wielder, while the other stays with them. Gleason of course chooses the woman he loves, and the Angelus take Dani off. Once the Angelus departs, Gleason wastes no time trying to resuscitate Sara. When she revives, all she can think about is getting the other half of the Witchblade. She is cruel to Gleason and abandons both him and her daughter to go find Dani and restore the Witchblade that she thinks is rightfully hers.

Meanwhile, Dani wakes up and she finds herself surrounded by the Angelus. They lie about why she is there and they assume the role of saviors, explaining if they had not been there Dani would have been killed by the possessed Sara. Dani tells them to stay out of the way of Sara and herself since this is their war. Sabine gives her word that she and her warriors will do so, unless it looks as though Dani would need any assistance. Yeah. Right. People should know by now, just because the Angelus look like "the good guys" does not mean they are.

Cut to the Curator and him receiving an unlikely visitor, Tua'ma. Apparently they are brothers, but we really don't know the full extent or what that really entails. The Curator tells Tua'ma that he will not stop him this time from doing what he feels must be done. Sort of mysterious happenings going on, but the art is especially strong in the last few pages. There are a lot of hints and possibly foreshadowing going on in this issue and it has a lot of steam and build-up. If you haven't picked up this arc yet, give it a try. It's self-contained to the Witchblade universe, so no worries about having to buy a plethora of books, and it is a solid read. Ron Marz is creating a slow burn with this issue that has tons of dialogue that I'm sure will have an explosive conclusion.