WARNING! Potential spoilers for Witchblade #7 ahead
A classic hero of the 1990s is making his comeback this year, as the Darkness is returning in the pages of Witchblade
. Top Cow’s resident supernatural hitman has been missing in action lately, but much like he did in the 1990’s, Jackie Estacado will be making his debut in Witchblade to take on Sara Pezzini, hopefully bringing the powers of the Darkness along with him.
Releasing in January, Witchblade #7 continues Top Cow/Image Comics successful reboot of their flagship character, as Sara Pezzini continues to reckon with her newfound powers as this generation’s bearer of the Witchblade.
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Witchblade #7 |
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Release Date: |
January 15th, 2025 |
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Writers: |
Marguerite Bennett |
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Artist: |
Giuseppe Cafaro |
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Colorist: |
Arif Prianto |
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Cover Artists |
Giuseppe Cafaro & Arif Prianto |
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New York City Police Detective Sara Pezzini is this generation’s bearer of the Witchblade, a mystical gauntlet wielded by one woman in a generation meant to balance the forces of Darkness and Light. For years, Sara has been on the hunt for the identity of her father’s killer, and the paths have led her to billionaire Kenneth Irons. Irons has money, power, and associates from the darkest corners of the underworld. Among them, a young member of the Franchetti crime family on the verge of his twenty-first birthday, enters the story, and Sara’s world will never be the same as Jackie Estacado, this generation’s bearer of The Darkness, makes his first appearance and rocks the Top Cow Universe to its core! |
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Her quest to find her father’s killer has brought Sara into the orbit of industrialist Kenneth Irons, who has connections to the darkest corners of the NYC criminal underworld. This is how Jackie Estacado enters the scene, and the young hitman is about to inherit the powers of the Darkness as soon as he turns 21.
The Darkness Returns to Challenge the Witchblade
Created by David Wohl, Marc Silvestri and Garth Ennis, the Darkness made his debut in 1996’s Witchblade #10, before getting his own ongoing series and becoming one of the flagship characters of Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow imprint at Image Comics. Both Witchblade and the Darkness were two of the biggest characters in comics in the late 1990’s, and the nascent Top Cow universe was built around the two characters. As ancient entities that predate the universe itself, both the Witchblade gauntlet and the Darkness entity attach themselves to human hosts throughout history in the battle between order and light and chaos and darkness.
The Witchblade gauntlet is actually the offspring of both the Darkness entity and the Angelus, the representative of God’s Light
As the wielder of the Darkness, Jackie Estacado has access to a wealth of supernatural abilities. The Darkness mostly manifests as an armor that coats the wearer’s bodies and gives them enhanced strength and durability, also allowing Jackie to produce claws and other bladed weapons from his body. With practice, bearers of the Darkness can use their armor to grow wings and even shapeshift into different forms. The Darkness also has access to another dimension via the shadows, and is able to control the demons that live there, known as “Darklings.”
The 90’s Are Back with the Return of Witchblade & The Darkness
While they started out as enemies, Witchblade and the Darkness soon become allies as they learn more about the ancient entities that grant them their powers. In the original continuity, Jackie and Sara even had a daughter named Hope, who was one of the most powerful beings in the Top Cow universe. It will be interesting to see how the creative team approaches the relationship between Sara and Jackie in the rebooted series, and to see how the battle between Witchblade and the Darkness plays out in the coming months. With any luck, Top Cow will announce a new Darkness series to accompany the rebooted Witchblade this year.
Witchblade #7 is available 1/15 from Top Cow/Image Comics
