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Review: ‘The Owl’ #1

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11 years ago

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A fun reboot, “The Owl” #1 takes a surprisingly smart twist on the vigilante genre. This is a darker and more stylish approach to a caped crime-fighter who has been linked to the 1940s yesteryear. After reading this issue, readers will want to see how a forgotten relic of the past manages in the present-day.

WRITTEN BY: J.T. Krul
ART BY: Heubert Khan Michael
PUBLISHER: Dynamite Entertainment
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: July 3, 2013

After saving the world from a madman, Nick Terry, known as The Owl, has been lost across time for 50 years. Now that he has returned to the same city, Nick will never get those years back. What breaks his heart, Nick will never feel those lost moments with the love of his life, Belle. As hard as he tries, Nick doesn’t exactly fit in with the present day. He is a man who doesn’t belong here and has no one by his side. Yet Nick still puts on the cape and fights crime during the night. It is the only thing that keeps him going now. The Owl has to continue fighting crime because it is the only thing he knows how to do.

Writer J.T. Krul creates a sympathetic and relatable protagonist, who is really a fish out of water. The narrative follows Nick’s wandering stream of consciousness through thought captions. Nick is self-reflective and close to being dangerously burnt-out. The Owl saved the world but Nick doesn’t feel he ever got his reward. He has sacrificed so much and now he has returned to a city that doesn’t want him. The Owl may have been a hero before, but people have just forgotten about him.

Krul has set up interesting storylines for further down the line. Is Nick, who was a decorated police officer, going to start his own private detective agency? Is he going to work outside the law, in order to help others? I did get a kick out of The Owl’s upcoming antagonist, The Shrimp, whose name actually represents his height. In the story, the henchmen, even the other rival gangsters, take the diminutive crime lord seriously.

Artist Heubert Khan Michael does a terrific job creating a seedy cityscape with his glossy and hyper-realistic illustrations. In the opening pages, Michael captures the kicks and swings in medium shots and close-ups. The red cape shifts as if the cloak is meant to support his body, instead of being a parachute.

I really like how Vinicius Andrade uses colors to transition between the past and present. In the present, Nick is wandering across the street, thinking about Belle, the love of his life. To distinguish the different time settings, the flashbacks are always in brown and white tones, with shades of black. Notice the small differences in the panels between the past and present. In the past, Nick is taking Belle out to the movies. In the present, it’s still the same spot, but the theater has closed down.

“The Owl” #1 kicks off to a great start, while setting up more crime-fighting adventures in the next issues to come.

4/5 Skulls

Reviewed by – Jorge Solis

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Comics

‘Witchblade’ is Getting Resurrected This Summer in New Comic Series from Top Cow and Image Comics

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1 day ago

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April 18, 2024

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Witchblade cover

Witchblade, the popular comic series that initially ran from 1995 to 2015 and launched a TV series, is getting resurrected in a new comic series from Top Cow and Image Comics. It’s set to unleash heavy metal, black magic and blood this summer.

Look for the new Witchblade series to launch on July 17, 2024.

In Witchblade #1, “New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini’s life was forever fractured by her father’s murder. Cold, cunning, and hellbent on revenge, Sara now stalks a vicious criminal cabal beneath the city, where an ancient power collides and transforms her into something wild, magnificent, and beyond her darkest imaginings. How will Sara use this ancient power, or will she be consumed by it?”

The series is penned by NYT Best-Selling writer Marguerite Bennett (Animosity, Batwoman, DC Bombshells) and visualized by artist Giuseppe Cafaro (Suicide Squad, Power Rangers, Red Sonja). The creative duo is working with original co-creator Marc Silvestri, who is the CEO of Top Cow Productions Inc. and one of the founders of Image Comics. They are set to reintroduce the series to Witchblade’s enduring fans with “a reimagined origin with contemporary takes on familiar characters and new story arcs that will hook new readers and rekindle the energy and excitement that fueled the 90’s Image Revolution that shaped generations of top creators.”

Bennett said in a statement, “The ability to tell a ferocious story full of monsters, sexuality, vision, and history was irresistible.” She adds, “Our saga is sleek, vicious, ferocious, and has a lot to say about power in the 21st century and will be the first time that we are stopping the roller coaster to let more people on. I’ve loved Witchblade since I was a child, and there is truly no other heroine like Sara with such an iconic legacy and such a rich, brutal relationship to her own body.”

“The Witchblade universe is being modernized to reflect how Marguerite beautifully explores the extreme sides of Sara through memories, her personal thoughts, like desire and hunger, in her solitude and when she is possessed by the Witchblade. So, I had to visually intersect a noir True Detective-like world with a supernatural, horror world that is a fantastic mix between Berserk and Zodiac,” Cafaro stated.

Marc Silvestri notes, “This is brand new mythology around Sara, and I can’t wait for you to fall in love with her and all the twists and turns. Discover Witchblade reimagined this summer, and join us as we bring all the fun of the 90s to the modern age and see how exciting comics can be. I can’t wait for you to read this new series.”

Witchblade#1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, July 17th, for $4.99 for 48 pages. And it’ll come with multiple cover variants.

  • Cover A: Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover B: Giuseppe Cafaro and Arif Prianto (Full Color)

  • Cover C: Blank Sketch Cover

  • Cover D (1/10): Dani and Brad Simpson (Full Color)

  • Cover E (1/25): Marc Silvestri and Arif Prianto, Virgin Cover (Full Color)

  • Cover F (1/50): J.Scott Campbell (Full Color)

  • Cover G (1/100): Bill Sienkiewicz. (Full Color)

  • Cover H (1/250): Line art by Marc. Virgin Cover, Inks (B/W)

Witchblade #1 will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.

Witchblade comic panel Witchblade #1 cover image

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