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WITCHBLADE 131
 SEND THIS TO A FRIEND!
 Writer: Ron Marz
Artist: Stjepan Sejic
Letters: Troy Peteri
Reviewer: Damian Smith
To start things off, I’d just like to say that I originally started reading Witchblade with issue 1 up until about the 40 mark and returned to the title with the $5 TPB. Overall, Witchblade has changed from the lightly storied T&A book to a book with an in-depth story which keeps you coming back from month to month.
Issue #131 is the final issue in the "War of the Witchblades" storyline where we see the fall out of Sara and Dani’s fight to control the Witchblade. For a bit of history for those that don’t read the title or didn’t pick up the story line, The Witchblade is the child of The Darkness and The Angelus, which throughout time has been the balance between the light and the dark. When Sara Pazzini found out she was pregnant, she passed on the Witchblade to Danielle Baptiste; however, once she had the baby, Hope, Dani gave half of the Witchblade back to Sara.
Over the development of the "War," we find out that Dani has the Light half of the Witchblade while Sara has the Dark, which sends Sara on a downward spiral to where she isn't able to distinguish friend from foe.
 To cut things short, during the final confrontation between Sara and Dani, Sara reclaims the Witchblade and, as Dani is dying, she has the Angelus take her as its host.
Stjepan’s artwork is some of the best I have been seeing of late which keeps me coming back. Varying from the traditional comic pencils and inks, the art has more of a painted feel to it and the level of detail is just amazing. One thing that I keep being drawn to with it is how it seems he is doing individual strokes for each strand of hair. Also the level of detail that he has put into the Witchblade Bio-armour has taken the concept to the next level. The time it must take to do every scale on it must take forever but we still get a new issue every month.
Ron Marz also brought the storyline to be the driving force in the book. After the "War," we are left with a sense that Sara is no longer in full control of the Witchblade. As if there is a dark side of her that wants to be the influence on what she is doing. This is giving the fuel for what Sara can do to redeem herself after she lost to the dark.
Along with Sara’s redemption, we have for the first time a change of tact by the Angelus where it is not just driving to take out the Darkness and the Witchblade so it can reign supreme. Over the 130 previous issues, we have seen it just as a single minded force who can not work together with anything else in the world to a force that will analyse what is going and to let it’s host take a role in the decisions.
For those who are interested in Witchblade but haven’t found a point to start, I’d say this issue is a good one to see the relationships in it and you will be ready for the start of the next story line in 132.
Damian is a Comic Podcaster, Blogger, Writer and all around Social Network Deviant who wishes for more days in the week so he can find more time for his multiple projects without his wife complaining!
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