Things could be going better for Alex Underwood, battling possession by a demon and hiding from the NYPD tend to make things a bit tense. With foes closing in the newest Witchblade must decide what it is she wants to do.
Written by Caitlin Kittredge
Illustrated by Roberta Ingranata
Colored by Bryan Valenza
Lettered by Troy Peteri
“LIFE AFTER,” Part Five How do you stop a demon that could be anyone, anywhere in New York City? Alex better figure it out fast because among other tricks, this demon has the NYPD convinced Alex is guilty of murder, and the Witchblade is on the run.
This latest incarnation of “Witchblade” has been very measured in its paces as Alex Underwood’s life slowly changed. That measured pace seems antithetical to the underlying heavy metal sensibilities of the series forerunners, but it has fit the story Caitlin Kittredge and Roberta Ingranata are telling. That pace also helps the creative team land and signal moments as things begin to ramp up and head towards the finish line of this first arc. Being the penultimate issue, “Witchblade” #5 doesn’t get there but it does a more than adequate job of setting everything up and showing the change that has occurred since the series relaunch.
As with most origin stories, “Witchblade” has been about the collision of worlds. There is the normal reality Alex lived in and the supernatural one slowly encroaching on it. This idea is cleanly represented on the cover, as the demonic shadow world seems to be slowly creeping out of the water. Of course the clean distinction between the two worlds isn’t true, they have always co-mingled together, it was just a matter of Alex’s inability to see it. Writer Caitlin Kittredge creates a solid structure in this issue representing the “separation” between worlds by cleaving the issue into two distinct sections, the opening dream-like sequence and a procedural investigation. Breaking the issue in this way gives artist Roberta Ingranata ample room to setup distinct moods each sequence requires and work in slippage between them. Because at this point in Alex can no longer look afford to look at them separately.
The structure for how Ingranata denotes reality is straightforward. These pages are largely composed with strict paneling, each panel is a scene unto itself. Everything is contained and fairly boxy. This mode with accompanying internal monologue from Alex to narrate her investigation (read: stalking) of corrupt cop Frank, gives this issue a solid “Jessica Jones” like interlude. With page constructing being so square, they lack the same kind of punch as the supernatural ones, but create a baseline that allows for the surreal elements to play as such. Without this sequence, there wouldn’t be any slippage and the issue would not work.
The main point of departure for Ingranata in representing the supernatural is the openness of her page designs. During Alex’s commune with the demon panels flow over one another, pages tend to act as being one big frame within a frame. These freer pages let actions flow with a dream logic. On one page to represent the demon trying to consume Alex, Ingranata makes it as a series of horizontal panels slowly shrinking in width that slowly closes in on the Witchblade before it explodes with energy and rejects the invader on the following page. With this freedom and greater emphasis on panels forming larger symbols, not every page is as clear as that one. A page a short while later is a bit of a mess, it is a series of shrinking vertical panels which seem to represent the shrinking and expulsion of the demon. There’s too many vertical black lines against a dull grey by Bryan Valenza, the form they are supposed to make becomes muddled and hard to read within small width of the panels. Because of the paneling the action is overall clear, but the images themselves are not.
The slippage in this issue isn’t overdone, it isn’t like suddenly panels are being constructed as broken glass with interlaced realities. It’s more Ingranata taking the surrealist sensibilities and applies them to brief moments of paneling which give the images and panel overall deeper a symbolic meaning on top of basic functionality. Take for example the second page of Alex and Detective Roseland conversation about Frank. At the end of the previous page, they were shown to be speaking face to face with clear physical geography. The first panel of the next page sees Ingranata take the previously established silhouette of the two, and have them facing away from one another. They’re talking but not listening. The remaining panels playout in more typical shot-reverse-shot conversational fashion and features the physical turn away from Alex, but it’s all presaged by their reversed silhouettes. The page overall also keeps with the style of the supernatural by having the page act as a frame within a frame. By the next page everything is pretty much back to normal.
Continued belowThis slippage works as a storytelling device, along with the internal monologue, they are used to pay off a crucial character turn for Alex by the end of the issue: Alex is finally getting off the sidelines. The slippage represents the growing realization of how connected these two worlds are, and after witnessing more inexcusable actions she can’t take it anymore. That feeling of hitting ones limit is further established by her running monologue working through her kidnapping and experience communing with the demon. This consciously lets her reach to the conclusion she must act, while Ingranata’s art has been priming the revelation all issue long.
Hero poses are tricky, they’re iconic but done to death. Ingranata threads the needle by making the final page not just a heroic reveal, but one of action. Thin vertical panels track a gun, a bullet, and Underwood’s Witchblade engulfed hand, breaking everything down to their constituent actions. This paneling forms around Alex finally accepting the Witchblade’s power and in costume for the first time. Her pose isn’t anything special, but with the paneling around her the page becomes iconic and ends the issue on a triumphant cliffhanger. Since this is the first time we’ve seen the full Witchblade armor on Alex, it’ll be interesting to see the reaction. It doesn’t look like past armors. The cheesecake quality of the original armor would never fly these days, but it’s a clear departure from Witchblade iconography in ways previous Top Cow reboots haven’t.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Excellent art, even with some missed cues, by Roberta Ingranata and a sound script by Caitilin Kittridge places “Witchblade” in a strong position for its arc finale.
