In Revelations, the second volume of the Witchblade series, the storyline goes in all sorts of convoluted directions.

First, Witchblade wielder Sara Pezzini has a vision of Anne Bonney, an 18th-century pirate, who was a previous keeper of the mystical weapon. Then, Sara continues to investigate the "microwave murders," learning that the same killer may have been responsible for her father's death many years before, and she begins poking into a high-profile modeling empire to save a young friend from corruption. She's suspended from the force, recruited by the government, sent on an international mission to rescue a handful of superpowered dupes, is nearly killed by same, is rescued by a man she thought was dead and returns to home and work in the midst of a massive gang war.

Throughout, the machinations of the late Kenneth Irons continue to impact on her life, and she runs afoul of Jackie Estacado, bearer of the Darkness (in Top Cow's other top-selling title), a little too often for comfort. In fact, the 2005 reprint includes two issues of The Darkness that were not part of the original Reflections trade. Maybe it's me, but I'm not sure the juxtapositioning of books was handled as smoothly as it could have been, as the action seems a bit jerky at times. For example, Pezzini jumps continents from one page to the next without any explanation of how she got there. And I'm not entirely sure the issue regarding the private club of cop vigilantes was really resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Still, anyone interested in reading the Witchblade series will be lost without knowing the events of this book, and as always there's plenty of action, murder and intrigue, as well as Pezzini and others in trademark Top Cow scanty attire.

by Tom Knapp
Rambles.NET
21 October 2006