Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #1
Published November 1995
Cover Price 2.50 USD
Pages 36
Editing Len Wein; Brian Selzer (associate)

Cover Details - "The Saga Begins..."

Characters Witchblade [Sara Pezzini]
Genre Fantasy; Crime
Pencils Michael Turner (signed)
Inks Michael Turner (signed)
Colors Brian Haberlin (signed)
Notes Wraparound cover
Reprinted in Image Firsts: Witchblade (Image, 2010 series) #1

24 page Witchblade story "The Beginning"

Characters Witchblade [Sara Pezzini; also as Ms. Fortran]; Michael Yee (first appearance; death); Lt. Joe Siry (first appearance); Mr. Selzer (first appearance); Lloyd Drexler (first appearance); Sofie (first appearance); Sam Tabb (first appearance); Kenneth Irons (first appearance, villain); Ian Nottingham (first appearance, villain); Blitz (first appearance, villain); Gallo (first appearance, villain); Tony Cugliani (first appearance, villain)
Synopsis Police officer Sara Pezzini dresses to kill and engages in an unauthorized sting of a group of local drug dealers; She is chewed out by her boss for her antics and because she endangered her partner, Michael Yee, who was already undercover on the operation; During the interrogation of drug informant, Drexler, Sara and Michael learn about something big going down at the old Rialto theatre on that very night; On their way to the Rialto, Sara and Michael are called to a crime scene where the victim has literally been cooked from the inside out; Superstar businessman, Kenneth Irons, and his deadly bodyguard, Nottingham, begin their tournament by offering paying attendees a chance to try on a mystic gauntlet called the Witchblade; Sara has snuck in solo and watches in horror as mob boss, Cugliani, sticks his hand into the Witchblade and has it burned off; Irons' men catch Michael lurking about outside and prepare to execute him; Sara leaps in the way of a hail of gunfire and both she and Michael are shot; Wounded and reaching out for any weapon she can use, Sara comes into contact with the Witchblade which grafts onto her hand as she begins to blast the bad guys; Sara quickly clears the room but it is too late for Michael who doesn't survive the experience.
Genre Fantasy; Crime
Script David Wohl; Brian Haberlin (co-plot); Michael Turner (co-plot)
Pencils Michael Turner
Inks D-Tron
Colors Nathan Cabrera; Jonathan D. Smith
Letters Dennis Heisler
Reprinted in Image Firsts: Witchblade (Image, 2010 series) #1

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