By Jame LeBeau

So I was going down to pick up my regular titles this week and I got to talking with my comic book dealer (as is always the case when I venture down there). Well, being a closet used cars salesman like he is, he begins to do his weekly pitch to get me to pick up a few extra books. I have to hand it to him, he does this every week without fail and I get suckered into a new monthly title or mini-series at least once a month!

This week, he brings out this trade paperback, knowing how much I love trades, and proceeds to begin his pitch. Right away I can see that it’s a Witchblade tpb, a title I’m familiar with but am not overly thrilled about, but out of respect for the person I get my weekly fix from, I listen…only cringing inwardly. He goes through the specifics; its volume one, collects the first six issues, great art, beautiful inking, yada, yada, yada. But during this I notice that his hand never leaves the lower right-hand corner (as your looking at him), an odd thing but he’s an odd bird himself (his legal name is Crow). He finishes and I begin my familiar excuses “Well, I’m not really into Witchblade…”, “I really don’t have the cash…”, “My wife would kill me…”. You know, the usual fluff reasons I use, but then he gets this twinkle in his eye and slyly moves his hand from the right corner, revealing a $4.99 price. Yes, I said $4.99!

Top Cow, in a bold and impressive move, has released this Volume one of the Witchblade series to the general public for only $4.99….that’s around 85 cents an issue! (I think, in the overall picture, the story featured within it (titled Witch Hunt) is actually Volume 10 but is given the tag Volume 1 because it’s the first arc featuring Ron Marz and Mark Choi.) I, of course, scarfed this sucker up, and couldn’t be happier with my purchase. It’s an excellent pick-up for any comic fan. It gets you started right where you need to be, making sure you get the history of the Blade, and the artwork by Mike Choi is just plain awesome. It really was a bold and genius move by Top Cow to release it this way because not only are they getting a premier title of theirs further out in the public, but they are making some green off of issues that are just sitting around in people’s piles. If you’re a fan of comics AND getting ‘bang for your buck’, check this out because I can almost guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Writer: Ron Marz
Pencils: Ron Choi
Publisher: Top Cow
Cover Price: $4.99

CraveOnline Rating: 7 out of 10