The Cast: Sara Pezzini (Witchblade), Jake McCarthy, Lady Death, Virgil, Quentin Shaw

The Catalyst: Young women are being slaughtered, Sara Pezzini investigates.

The Convergence: A ghost leads Sara to Lady Death who is being drawn to the killings.

The Critique: The first team-up between Witchblade and a very mortal Lady Death happens in this issue and while it could have been a little more exciting, it was an interesting read. When it comes to the latter of the two characters though, it is a little disappointing that the book did not feature the full albino bad girl in all her hellish glory and instead, gave readers the skin-toned, powered-down version. While not as bad as she could have been, Lady Death still made for a fun character to team up with and we see her trying to figure out why the murders happened and what the runes left at the crime scenes are for. She continues to have a nagging feeling about them but she cannot quite figure out what it is. As for Pezzini, she goes from the scene of one slaughter to another with no idea who is behind it all and why. Sara knows that magic must be involved somehow and eventually, it all gets tied to a man named Quentin Shaw who is looking to get himself a little power from the realm infernal, that being Hell. There is little in the way of introductions in this story from David Wohl and that is okay as everybody reading comics at the time of this book’s release would know exactly who these two characters are. He spins a murder mystery with shades of magic and demonology throughout to give his leading ladies something to come together for and they do just that. Unlike many crossovers before and after this, there is no big fight scene where the two misunderstand each other, though the Witchblade that Pezzini wears begins to act funny in the presence of Lady Death. These moments are important to the overall plot and factor into the conclusion of the tale which finds the two ladies fighting a demon, one summoned by the story’s villain. There is a bit of action to be had, mainly during the final act with the rest of the book acting like more of a procedural straight from television, more akin to something like Law & Order than anything else. Given its length and who was starring within, Wohl and artist Francis Manapul delivered a solid tale that should please anyone who picks the book up.

The Credits: David Wohl – Writers; Francis Manapul – Artist, Livesay – Inker, Jonathan D. Smith – Colours, Robin Spehar and Dennis Heisler – Letters

Companies Involved: Top Cow, Chaos! Comics

Chronology: November, 2001