The Voice Said Kill #1 Review

 

Writer: Si Spurrier

Artist: Vanesa Del Rey

Colorist: John Starr

Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Graphic Designer: Emma Price

Editor: Eric Harburn

Cover Artists: Vanesa Del Rey, Christian Ward & Tula Lotay

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 23, 2025

 

A man wanders through the swamp. Plants and trees close in from all sides. Covered in blood, he crouches in the muddy water to drink from an ornate flask. His bloody knife rests in a mushroom-covered tree root. Yet as he walks through the trees, the clouds part, heralding a new day. Who is this wounded man? And why is he bathed in blood? Let’s leap into The Voice Said Kill #1 and see!

 

Story

Sergeant Marie Burgau is holding down the fort. It’s not that the other agents at the Corbeaumort Wildlife Management Area office don’t want to help. But every time they try to leave their homes, they can’t reach their vehicles without growing violently ill. It all started at an office barbecue. While everyone was living it up, Marie was being cautious, being with child and all. When things got out of hand, Marie sent the rest of the team home. But some of them landed in the hospital with food poisoning. It's just as well, Marie took it easy and didn’t eat or drink anything that might upset her stomach.

 

In The Voice Said Kill #1, Marie hopes for a quiet week. It starts like a sad routine, with Mr Norris bailing out the Watters boys. Then Mrs Watters summons her. The uncrowned swampland queen plays the Wildlife agency game. She pays the fines when agents catch her sons and employees poaching. In return, Mrs Watters wants Marie to find one of her sons.

 

Si Spurrier delves into dark waters in The Voice Said Kill #1. Marie is alone and suffering. She struggles with morning sickness, worries about carrying her child safely to term, and quickly grows fatigued. But Marie can't just sit in the office all day. She must respond to requests from her state dispatcher. Marie also has an ex-convict to find. Buck has a violent history, and he is off his meds. And while most of Mrs Watters' workers may spend a night or two in the Corbeaumort Wildlife office’s holding cells, Buck blames the “trash with badges” for sending him to jail.

 

Art

Vanesa Del Rey presents the immensity of the wilderness that Marie and her crew must oversee. The tall, dense foliage offers ample opportunities to hide. The art suggests the toll the rustic setting and the humid air take on its inhabitants. Mrs Watters rules her commercial empire from her RV. Smoke from her cigarette wafts across pages, framing panels, and portraying her majesty and Marie from different angles. But Vanesa Del Rey keeps the camera moving in loosely drawn pages that immerse us in Marie’s daily dilemmas.

 

John Starr weaves a captivating spell over this wonderland of wildlife, where people skate the rules defining legal activity. Textured surfaces show the dirt and grime that invades vehicles and buildings. Bold streaks of sunlight enliven Mrs Watter’s blonde hair, linking her with Buck’s gold, catlike eyes, and the mushrooms adorning the thick aerial roots. The blood covering Buck appears more magenta than crimson. Teal, purple, blue, and pink bring the jungle to life as a mentally ill man seeks revenge on his enemies in The Voice Said Kill #1.

 

Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou places lowercase letters in roughly shaped boxes and spherical balloons. Words grow bold and uppercase for emphasis and shrink for lowered or distant voices. Strong reactions deform dialogue balloons, while the sounds of sickness fill splotches. Sound effects help us hear Mrs Watters punishing her personnel and a barbaric barrage in the bayou. Thanks to Image Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Forced into an impossible situation, a Wildlife Management agent faces an additional dilemma while struggling to perform routine tasks. The Voice Said Kill #1 portrays how the demands of motherhood change women and the thankless task of enforcing rules that most people don't care about.

 

Rating 9/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Witchblade #6 Review

 

Writer: Marguerite Bennett

Artist: Giuseppe Cafaro

Colorist: Arif Prianto

Letterer: Troy Peteri

Editors: Marc Silvestri, Matt Hawkins & Elena Salcedo

Cover Artists: Giuseppe Cafaro & Arif Prianto; Joshua George & John Starr

Publisher: Top Cow Productions & Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 11, 2024

 

After Ian Nottingham trains her to use the Witchblade, Sara Pezzini returns to her job with a renewed focus on finding her father’s killer. The police files yield nothing. Poking around in her childhood home, ditto. But a photo of her father and his late partner takes her to Staten Island. When Joe Siry took her there after her father's death, Paul Pisano refused to talk with her. What secrets might Paul's boarded-up house yield after his death? Let's activate our alien armor, leap into Witchblade #6, and see!

 

Story

Paul Pisano died ten years ago of alcoholism. Yet, he sits on Sara’s couch and tells her about her father. Vince Pezzini trusted their boss more than Paul. Then, he started investigating corruption in the police force. An investigation into a street gang prompted him to research scholarly Catholic texts on the supernatural.

 

Ian Nottingham told Sara about these darker forces and made her fight a creosote ghoul. In Witchblade #6, Sara links the ghoul with Vinter, the human trafficker who visited her apartment after the Witchblade bonded with her at the warehouse. The human traffickers asked for Sara to be their intermediary. Now, she understands why. One of the women Sara rescued from the human traffickers told her that Vinter could change her appearance. After meeting with Paul, seemingly alive after his death, Sara begins to put together the puzzle pieces surrounding her father’s murder.

 

Sara senses an approaching storm in Marguerite Bennett’s story. Despite the protection it offers, Sara has resisted the Witchblade’s power. She doesn't know what her father discovered in his supernatural research. But like him, Sara realizes there is more to this life than most people can perceive.

 

As Sara lacked a family, Michael worked hard to include her in his. Her partner senses that Ian Nottingham is pulling Sara away from him, Janet, and her children. Michael wants to dismiss the creosote larvae that empowered the drug users in Paul Pisano’s house. He wants to ignore that his gun couldn't protect them, and he would have died if not for Sara's Witchblade and Ian Nottingham’s protection. But Sara can’t. Whether she likes it or not, her world is changing, and her relationship with Michael may be a casualty.

 

Art

Kenneth Iron's Iron Spire towers above the other high-rises in New York City. The moonlight streams into his gallery, illuminating ancient statues and sculptures. A woman gazing out of a mirror evokes Sara. As Kenneth passes her, her reflection screams. Giuseppe Cafaro frames scenes inside Sara's apartment with black, oily tendrils. Sara confronts Paul, Michael, and Ian with fire in her eyes. She emerges each time wearing a frown. But after she leaves Paul on her couch, the color drains from his face, and black, oily tendrils emerge from Paul's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

 

While a green couch dominates Sara’s living room, Arif Prianto tinges the apartment with this symbol of vitality. After a confrontation in her beige and brown kitchen, memories and imagined futures fill a trio of deteriorating sepia-toned panels. Green also tinges memories of the warehouse, her training in Ian's Sickle Key stronghold, and an overview of New York City. But Ian foresees a future battling green demons in a scarlet sea.

 

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 Ian's off-camera words as white letters in brown boxes. The large black letters grow bold for inflection, swell for volume, and rarely shrink. Giant red dialogue deforms the balloon of a man who defies nature, while transparent and colored sound effects signal that Sara can no longer cling to her past. Thanks to Image Comics and Top Cow Productions for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

Kenneth Irons dictates the fate of nations from his penthouse apartment in the Iron Spire. He counts the days until the Witchblade controls Sara Pezzini, and she joins the woman trapped in his enchanted mirror. But Sara learns about Kenneth in Witchblade #6, and she doesn’t intend to become another of his eldritch possessions.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

For another cover see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.