Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Giuseppe Cafaro
Colorist: Arif Prianto
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Editors: Marc Silvestri, Matt Hawkins & Ryan Cady
Cover Artists: Giuseppe Cafaro & Arif Prianto; Tula Lotay
Publisher: Top Cow Productions & Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 23, 2025
Kenneth Irons made Sara Pezzini feel like an interloper. And it’s true, she has limited the Witchblade’s hold on her. The Witchblade went out of control again when she met Jackie Estacado. Yet, Sara believes the Franchetti crime family's cleaner cannot sense the dark forces swirling around him. Nor did Jackie exhibit knowledge of his family's links with Vinter's human smuggling operation. But then, Sara only senses some of the grander reality that Kenneth Irons calls home.
Can Jackie Estacado help Sara shut down Vinter's human smuggling ring? And can Sara trust Ian Nottingham to protect her from Kenneth Irons' determination to harness the Witchblade’s power? Let's activate our living armor, leap into Witchblade #10, and see!
Story
Jackie sent flowers and a note inviting Sara to The Eye And Oyster. When she arrives, Sara sits at a table with "Mr Smith." The mafia leader used Vinter's human traffickers to increase the Franchetti family's power. But Vinter's activities have drawn too much attention, and the family wants him gone. Sara distrusts a crime lord who can't employ a more believable pseudonym and readily discards his allies. Still, he suggests that Kenneth Irons wants Sara to doubt her abilities. That's a thread Sara can clasp when everything in her life is falling apart.
As Mr Smith dines with society’s elite, Creosote staff wait tables in Witchblade #10. Vinter suspects his relationship with the Franchetti family is on the ropes. The Creosote leader is eager to ensure that his former mafia benefactor doesn’t make Sara the instrument of his destruction. But Vinter isn’t just a human trafficker. He leads the Creosote parasites who inhabit corpses like her father's partner, Paul Pisano.
In Marguerite Bennett’s story, Sara investigated the human traffickers to arrest the cop they paid to kill her father. But she also cares deeply about the homeless and the women used by the human traffickers. Vinter suggests the Creosotes are homeless refugees like the unhoused in New York and the women he brought to the United States. But the Creosotes are parasites that feed off the vitality of others. Vinter attacked Sara in her home twice before burning it down, forcing her to become another member of New York’s unhoused community.
Art
Lights gleam in the wood-paneled restaurant catering to mafia dons, drug lords, and police and government leaders. Amid the oil paintings and chandeliers, men in ties and vests pour wine and serve food on platters covered by cloches. While Sara senses the Creosotes' presence, the only visible sign is the darker shadows on their expressions in Witchblade #10. Panels set in bloody knives and surrounded by snakes hint at the danger lurking in this genteel setting and evoke Sara's fight with Jackie in the Bronx Zoo.
After the browns, greens, and reds of The Eye And Oyster, the green interiors of the commercial kitchen seem a reminder of Sara's former apartment. When Sara pursues Vinter, she discovers another richly appointed world dominated by glowing yellow lights, brown backgrounds, and ivory sculptures. These frameworks of the bodies the Creosotes inhabit form elaborate halls and border scenes of drama and intense fighting in Witchblade #10.
Amid Giuseppe Cafaro’s compelling visuals and Arif Prianto's atmospheric coloring, Troy Peteri reveals Sara's thoughts as black uppercase letters in red-outlined golden narrative boxes. He shows dialogue as black letters in white balloons and Mr Smith's off-camera words as white letters in brown boxes. The large black letters grow bold for inflection, swell for volume, and rarely shrink. Sound effects help us hear burning flesh, gunfire, hand-to-hand fighting, Ian’s “$99 Katana”, and Creosotes chanting an ominous refrain. Thanks to Image Comics and Top Cow Productions for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Jackie Estacado remains Sara’s greatest mystery. Dark forces swirl around him, yet the Franchetti family cleaner seems unaware of them. Nor does Jackie have any knowledge of the Creosotes. All he wants to do is protect his family’s future from the police investigations that could destroy it. While Jackie fights for his family, Sara seeks to avenge hers. Investigating her father's death has cost Sara any joy in life. In Witchblade #10, her battle for justice will demand another casualty.
Rating 9.6/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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