Witchblade Volume 1, Issue #1 - Comic Book Recap

Jun 13, 2024

Sara Pezzini is chosen by the Witchblade:

New York City, 5:45PM. Billionaire entrepreneur Kenneth Irons surveys the thousands of people below from his building with a view that people would literally kill for - and Kenneth Irons has killed for a hell of a lot less. Touted as Fortune Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year”, Irons has used his shrewd business acumen and cutthroat ethics to enable his pet project, Irons Internationes, to rise to the status of Fortune 500 company in no time at all. But his Entrepreneurial Spirit has never stopped there. If you include all the drug trafficking, prostitution, slavery and weapons production amongst all the millions that Irons Internationes has amassed then he’d definitely be included as one of the ten richest men in the world. But sometimes it’s better to fly under the radar.

Moving through his modern-day mansion, Irons is deep in his own thoughts, thinking of the one object he has always obsessed over. An object that he desires but knows he can never truly possess. An object he touched once but that refused him and punished him for it. Somehow, though, Irons knew this would be different as he planned to possess the host of this object and then he would finally possess that which his dark heart desires.

At the exact same time, in Chelsea, Sara Pezzini is getting dressed for the performance of her life. Hair straightened? Check. Pink thong? Check. Skin tight red dress with matching gloves and high heels? Check, check and check. As she’s getting dressed, Sara’s mind wanders, to a time where she would play dress-ups as Starsky and Hutch, when she was a kid. But Starsky never had to wear the type of outfits that would make Sara’s own mother roll around in her grave. Starsky never had to do this to make a bust.

After walking down the street like some kind of high class escort, Sara comes across the place where the deal is about to go down. When Gallo, the drug dealer, asks Sara to prove herself and take care of the rat in their midst (the one with a pony tail), she’s given a piece and rather than shooting him decides that pistol whipping is enough. Just when Gallo is starting to trust her, he recognises Sara as a cop and after a combination of aerial dodges she manages to take out all of Gallo’s guards before slamming his head on the floor. Placing him custody before SWAT rushes in to provide the severely unnecessary assist.

Long Island, 6:41PM at the Rialto Theater. Where wash-up Italian-American crime boss, Tony Cugliani, arrives to pay entry into an upcoming tournament of Irons’ which promises unchecked power to the winner. As Cugliani pays his entry fee he heads deeper into the theater to re-acquaint himself with the structure he’s all too familiar with - when he ruled Long Island and most of New York.

Police Headquarters. 6:42PM. Lieutenant Joe Siry is yelling at Sara in full view of the entire department for dressing like a slut, almost ruining a narcotics investigation and for bringing the entire department into disrepute. Not the Lieutenants proudest moment but certainly a moment that creepy looking Internal Affairs slimeball, Selzer, is looking to sinking his dirty yellow teeth into.

Joe and Sara take this into Joe’s office. He’s worried about her. He’s worried that she’s taking things too far with her vendettas like the one with nailing Gallo. It’s a perfectly dysfunctional father/daughter relationship for an old lieutenant who has no daughter and a surrogate daughter who has no family. Her partner, Michael Yee, who is introduced as the pony tail haired baddie from Gallo’s place, is waiting outside the door to Joe’s office sporting a few more bruises and bumps from the pistol whipping than he’d care to admit. They head to Interrogation Room Two, intent on debriefing Drexler, this white-looking Rastafarian who helped them Gallo. While Yee is content Drex has told them everything, Sara is sure he knows more and has no issues getting violent about it. Even though, it’s quite clear that for now, Drex has no more beans to bill. Good for Yee and Sara because they have another case.

Rialto Theater, 7:15PM. Kenneth Irons is deep in contemplative thought. Thinking of the upcoming tournament that will net the winner his prized possession while his right-hand man debriefs him of more “important matters.” Meeting with the Iraqi President and potentially bedding his daughter seemed like trivial matters compared to unveiling his prize and gazing upon its beauty one last time.

Greenwich Village, 7:19PM. Sara and Yee arrive on the scene to see the building surrounded by beat cops who’d been pulled off their usual shifts to guard the entrance. This was a crime scene the police department didn’t want the general public to know about. Ducking under the police tape to enter the building, Sara couldn’t help but imagine what the room and the victim would look like. Was there a struggle involved? Was robbery the motive? Drugs? Did they trash the place? Entering the room, Sara and Yee noticed just how immaculate the place looked. It was almost as if it had been cleaned this morning. But cleanliness hadn’t helped the victim. The victim was a woman, young, beautiful. They say she was burned from the inside out. Kinda like a microwave oven. Yet she was in this odd kneeling position, with her eyes staring vacant up at the ceiling and arms stretched out - almost as if waiting for her lovers embrace. Forensics said the killer put her in this position after the murder. It was an eerie display. Yee couldn’t stop questioning how this was even possible while Sara was doubly sure this was the work of a serial killer.

After leaving the crime scene, Yee lets Sara how he’s feeling. How he thinks it’s unfair for her to put him in harms way for the sake of her own personal vendetta towards Gallo. When she says she was in more danger due to three guns being pointed at her he drops the matter altogether. Just as the Rialto comes into view. Yee protests even bothering if this “lead” but Sara is determined to check out the old and rundown theater and the people attending it because if it was important to Gallo then it’s probably worth checking out.

As an overweight and rich-looking business man is about to be let into the Rialto by the doorman, Sara quickly appears by his side, still wearing this skin-tight Versace dress and the businessman can’t help but bring her inside as his plus one. As they enter the Rialto, Sara recognises many faces from mugshots and FBI wires. Something is definitely going on here. As they move in and take a seat near the stage, Irons’ right-hand man, Ian Nottingham, addresses the crowd in his boisterous accent, before finally revealing “The Witchblade.” It’s this bluish silver-looking gauntlet with jagged edges and an encrusted red jewel. As alluring as it is deadly. Nottingham continues, “the rules of this contest are simple. I’ll call your name and you’ll place your right hand in the gauntlet. You’ll know quickly if you’ve won or not.”

He calls Tony Cugliani’s name first and the washed up gangster steps up the pulpit as Kenneth Irons looks on from a VIP booth, smiling fiendishly. Cugliani slips his hand into the gauntlet and as it starts to become comfortable, electricity ripples all over and throughout the Witchblade, frying half of Cugliani’s arm clean off in a wild crescendo of gore and arcane magic. Witnessing this, Sara is frozen and wide eyed, looking on in terror at what she just witnessed while Cugliani’s screams echo throughout the chamber of the Rialto.

As Cugliani shuffles off, Nottingham’s bring on the next victim from behind the curtains and its Detective Yee. Sara is shocked as Yee tells Nottingham to kill him and get it over with. A request that Nottingham’s men are all too happy to grant. Overcome with guilt that it’s her fault, Sara leaps from her seat, and dives in front of the bullets meant for Yee. Blocking many of the bullets but not all of them - and knocking over the Witchblade from its display case and onto the floor. Mortally wounded and bleeding out on the floor, Sara struggles to breathe.

Sensing she’s nearing the end of her life the Witchblade ripples with arcane energies and two tendrils emerge from just below the knuckle regions of the gauntlet, wrapping them around Sara’s right arm. Now on his feet, Irons roars with laughter as the maniacal entrepreneur watches the Witchblade take Sara as its host. Emanating from the gauntlet, armour forms around Sara’s arms, legs and face. Imbuing her with profound energies and healing her of all bullet wounds within seconds. Standing, Sara holds the gauntlet up as she observes the bright, radiant powers that are wanting to erupt from the palm of the Witchblade. She stretches out her hand, aiming them at Nottingham and his men, unleashing incredible destructive force at them. As she finishes them off, Kenneth Irons, unseen by Sara, discretely disappears behind a curtain before she can see him.

Sara looks around and surveys the carnage she’s wrought. As a child she’d always wished she had the power to mow down those people who could do her harm. Now, she had that power and it scared her. Exasperated gasps for air interrupted her thoughts. Sara looked over to see Yee dying as blood filled his lungs. “I wanted to see if you were alright.” Finally, succumbing to his injuries and passing away.