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Review: “X” #14

Published

10 years ago

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The “Better Off Dead” arc continues into part 2 this week. After promising to never fail his beloved Arcadia again X is thirsty for vengeance. He’s got his signature suit back and with a short stop at an abandoned police station he’s got his arsenal back. Now all he needs to deal with are Carmine Tango, Gamble, Deathwish, the police, Leigh’s brainwashing, and the mysterious new gang in town. X sure has his work cut out for him.

25668 (1)WRITTEN BY:Duane Swierczynski

ART BY: Robert Atkins

PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics

PRICE: $2.99

RELEASE: June 11, 2014

Reviewed By: Torbin Chimners

After being introduced at the end of the last issue the new gang in Arcadia take centre stage this month. That being said we learn very little about who they are and what they want. On the surface they seem like your general Aryan-master-race assholes you’d expect to see in a city like Arcadia. We do however get one little tease, with potentially far reaching implications, about their motivations.

Meanwhile Leigh and Ruidoso’s stories take a back seat, especially the latter who only gets a page with some pointless exposition. Leigh continues to act very cool and collected for someone who was just brutally brainwashed. You’d think, at the very least, there would be some kind of change in her personality or tone but she seems to be completely herself except for the fact that she hates X now. This is honestly a bummer. I’ve been really looking forward to the repercussions of her horrific trauma at the hands of Tango, but I don’t see that coming to light until after this arc.

Robert Atkins’ rough and gritty pencils continue to adequately capture X’s world but I still find myself missing Eric Nguyen’s excessive splotchy blood and line heavy handed shadows. There was something really unique about it that I think fit X’s world better. Atkins feels a bit tamer, like comparing the gritty, almost unpolished cinematography of Hellraiser to something more straight-forward and plain like The Conjuring. Both have merits but I believe that X should have the filthiest of the filth, grime in every crevasse, downright nasty art.

This week is a slower paced issue that continues to set the stage for a grand finale. Whether that finale is satisfying or not remains to be seen, but I’m hopefully this is just a momentarily lull for X and won’t be the norm going forward.  X #14 isn’t in itself all that exciting but the little threads it’s laying down for the future are promising.

Torbin Chimners AKA Torin Chambers is a rad dude from the nineties who does film stuff or something. Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite transformer. Find him on Twitter@Vulgar_Rhombus 

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

Published

2 days 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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