Publisher: Top Cow
Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Stjepan Sejic
Cover: Nelson Blake II & Arif Prianto
“The Bridge pt 1”: So after almost killing one of her closest friends, becoming possessed by the dark half of the Witchblade, and then finally becoming whole again, it’s time for Sara Pezzini to wind down a bit and fix a few things. And what better place to start than with her relationship with boyfriend and police partner, Patrick Gleason. While possessed, she said some things to him about their relationship that basically kicked him in the nuts, and now that she’s more herself it’s time to salvage what she can with the man she loves.
This is a Witchblade title, so you know things can’t stay normal for too long. While vacationing in Vermont, Sara and Patrick end up helping a local sheriff with a missing children’s case. However, there are things about the case that don’t sit right with Sara, so she and Gleason
come back to the scene of the crimes later that night. Things take a turn for the worse as the two begin to cross a particular bridge in the park, and Gleason disappears when they split up.
This is Ron Marz’s twist on a classic tale from The Brothers Grimm that deals with a creature lurking underneath a bridge, and he has done a good job adapting it to further his story. It doesn’t seem forced or out of place; taking time out to actually focus on Sara and Patrick’s relationship was definitely a good thing. Right after a huge event like War of the Witchblades, you want to slow things down and advance the characters to another level. Stjepan’s art is continuing to win me over and help keep me interested in the book as well. His panel layouts are just great and compliment Marz’s writing on every page.
Towards the end of the book is a brief bio on the origins of some of the fairy tales and The Brothers Grimm by Bryan Rountree. It’s really twisted how graphic and sinister some of these tales are, and considering I thought I knew all of them- the original Snow White story was a new one! Compared to how the tale really went, it’s been heavily watered down to be kid friendly.
On a side note, if you picked up this issue you might want to take a look at the letters page and you’ll see one in particular written by yours truly!
Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Great review Speech! I read the letter you wrote in this issue, which was awesome.
… so who’s the hot chick in the stockings?
That is Sara about to reconcile with her man!
Wow, that lingerie pic is really good.(that didn’t sound too creepy)
Well, she’s actually only wearing thigh high pantyhose. I’d hardly call that lingerie.
You can tell if she has panties on or not?
lol well Billy if you read the story then that question will answer itself, but i’d understand if you were too busy with Strange lol
Nah, she’s just got the sheet draped and bunched up strategically.
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