• Comics

by Arcee on 01.18.11

Do you really want to know why I am such a huge fan of Top Cow? It is because the stories are so different from the usual superhero stories you find in other company's books that the pace and worlds Top Cow creates really are something all their own. Although all comic books inherently follow the basic formula of a story, it is how the people at Top Cow proceed with that formula that makes them unique. It's like cooking — yes, the basic principles are all the same (preparation, cooking, and presentation), but whereas most companies right now are serving steak and potatoes, Top Cow is serving lamb and spring vegetables. (Yeah, I know it is a corny analogy, but use your imagination, and you get the picture.)

Let's take the last two issues of Witchblade as an example. Together, both issues 140 and 141 make up the story Paper Monsters. In this story, Detectives Sara Pezzini and Patrick Gleason are sent to investigate a strange killing and a swanky New York high rise that houses some wealthy tenants. What makes the killing of the doorman strange is apparently some kind of hulking monster walked right in and gruesomely killed him, tearing him to shreds and leaving his dismembered body all over the lobby. Naturally, the only people equipped to handle this is Sara and Patrick's division: Special Cases. As they go about interviewing the tenants (many of them rude and dismissive), they come across a couple of children belonging to Mr. Frederick Neumann. It appears these children have more to do with the killings than anyone could ever imagine.

This becomes all too clear to Sara and Patrick as they recognize some of the children's drawings and one of them resembles the monster in the surveillance video from the doorman's murder. Curious, Sara and Patrick begin to wonder what the children's role in all this is when the children make a move and decide to bring some of their drawings to life to get rid of the pair. While Sara (as the Witchblade) handles the new paper monsters out to kill them, she orders Patrick to go and find the children and get them to stop. But the children are waiting for him and have let loose one of their monsters to stop him. Lucky for him, Sara easily handles her set of monsters and arrives just in time to keep him from being eaten alive. After they discuss things with Mr. Neumann and the children's au pair, Gretta, they decide it wise not to turn the children into police custody, but something has to be done to teach the children to control their gifts. With the help of Sam Argent from Hunter/Killer, Sara leaves the Neumann household hoping the children will control their gifts and Frederick and Gretta will be safe from them.

You don't usually get too many stories like that from the Big Two, but it is something you can expect to find in most of Top Cow's series. In Witchblade, that is mainly in part with the writing of Ron Marz, who I have said time and time again really knows the characters and the types of stories he is dealing with in this series. More importantly, he seems to understand the audience of the book and tries to find new and unique ways to bring a different kind of storytelling to the book month after month. His partner handling the artwork for the series is Stjepan Sejic. This Croatian-born artist is arguably one of the best artists on any book out there. The way he brings the characters to life with stunning detail is amazing. Both Marz and Sejic continue that trend with this latest storyline in Witchblade. This is not your typical kind of comic book, but if you are ready for something different, pick up Witchblade 140 (already on sale) and Witchblade 141 (on sale Jan. 19) to see what you are missing.