Original Series - Page 5 #44 - January 2001 Part 3 of 5 Cover Another night plagued by nightmares leaves Sara very late for work but aware she’s being manipulated and made to look incompetent. On her way in to the precinct Sara’s mystery caller makes an appearance but she’s not keen to chat. Sara and Jake interview an informant who claims to have info on the killings but before they get further another murder is called in. The latest victim has been set in concrete, his hand holding a Pez dispenser protruding from the surface. When the body is cut free it turns out to be that of their informant, which only leaves Sara and Jake in more trouble. The killer is watching Sara and the latest note proclaims “Tomorrow.” #45 - March 2001 Part 4 of 5 "Firing Line" Cover Sara and Jake attend another murder scene and although it’s another bizarre killing there’s no Pez dispenser. Sara’s would be mentor and his boss agree to persevere in their attempts to bring Sara into their fold. When Sara and Jake return to the precinct they find an FBI profiler waiting for them who provides them nothing to go on, however Siry does have something to offer; all the prints found at the scene belong to police staff members, further indicating a manipulation of the situation. The pair return to the crime scene and while looking at a picture on the wall Sara’s transported into a world of demons, they offer her the identity of the killer in return for fresh blood, she agrees. They tell her the killer’s behind her, she and Jake chase the suspect through the building and out into an alley, a gunfight ensues but the killer gets away. When Sara turns to Jake she sees the demons have taken their blood… #46 - May 2001 Part 5 of 5 Cover Jake is rushed to hospital, his condition critical. Sara doesn’t know what to do with herself, feeling guilty and helpless. She’s ordered home by Siry, where she falls asleep and sees visions of the demons again, they offer a way for her to save Jake in return for the life of an innocent man, the one ‘guilty’ of the murders. The murderer is a police officer named John Kelly, Sara gets his address and pays him a visit. She finds him possessed by a demon which has been using his body to commit the crimes, Kelly is the sacrifice, his flat filled with evidence which will convict him. When the possession is over Sara arrests Kelly, saving Jake. Watching over Jake at the hospital Sara reaches into her pocket and finds a Pez dispenser, the message inside reads “Until next time.” #47 - June 2001 Cover Sara and Jake are called to the suicide of a little girl who’s killed herself exactly one year after her brother did the same. Bad things happened in the family home and Sara and the Witchblade make the parents aware of their failures and their roles in the deaths. I felt this to be pretty pointless and the art was horrid IMO. #48 - June 2001 Part 1 of 2 Cover The fire starter from #40 – 41 is back in town and making a nuisance of himself. Sara’s asked by her ‘deep throat’ to confront him, and gives her an address. The two fight and things get a little heavy… Lovely Manapul art, his first Sara? #49 - August 2001 Part 2 of 2 Cover While battling it out with Sara the fire starter does his best to goad her into killing him, making her hate him. Sara comes close but realises she doesn’t have the energy for it, and as she turns away the man who became the fire starter, Perkins, emerges briefly but he also wants Sara to kill him to end his agony. She sees a moral reason for ending this life and does so, realising it’s her calling to be an angel of mercy. Sara finally goes to visit her mysterious benefactors. #50 - September 2001 Part 1 of 4 Cover The issue begins with Sara visiting her father’s grave and remembering the last time she saw him. She’s then joined in the cemetery by Ian Nottingham, it’s clear they have something to do together. In the city’s sewers two maintenance men are working but keeping well away from section 12, where a demonic creature resides. The action then switches to two days previously where Sara’s been called off duty to meet with a man named Smith who knows a lot about the Witchblade. She’s taken to room where she meets Nottingham again, who now has a blade of his own, Excalibur. Ian tells Sara about his past and then Smith tells both of them more about their blades and their linked destinies. They have to fight the creature in the sewers so the pair travel under the city… #51 - October 2001 Part 2 of 4 Cover With Ian hurt Sara flips out in the sewer, we switch to a scene of Sara working in a Kindergarten and not enjoying her work. Back in the sewers Ian’s running from a woman carrying a knife. It’s clear both these events are just visions created by the demon to break Ian and Sara. He shows Sara an alternate world where her father was only injured, not killed, and offers her this life in return for the Witchblade. He then makes a similar offer to Ian, giving him the chance to undo and order he followed whilst in the SAS which resulted in the death of an old woman. Sara prevents history from being changed for Ian and then Ian has to do the same for Sara, shooting her father. The demon is destroyed but Sara is devastated. #52 - January 2002 Part 3 of 4 Cover Sara’s gone on a bender after the events in the sewer and she and Ian go for a drink instead of meeting with Smith from the Enclave, Sara’s rude to Ian (again!) The pair get worried about Smith and go looking for him. They find him at a barber’s shop where he’s about to get killed by a demon. Ian and Sara save him only to be told they’re interfering with destiny. Smith then kills himself, leaving Sara and Ian without a guide through the end of days. #53 - February 2002 Part 4 of 4 Cover Ian’s feeling lost and directionless as a result of Smith’s death and is getting no sympathy from Sara who simply returns to work. She’s been reinstated and her first case is the murder of former police informant Tommy Fantini, who’s been dismembered. While she’s talking to Siry Ian appears wanting to talk, she tells him to go away. On his walk home Ian is nearly run over by a limo while an envelope is thrust at him. Sara wonders off after Ian and the two do talk, he tells her he loves her, she tells him to get a life. Ian leaves and returns to a familiar face, Ken Irons. #54 - April 2002 Part 1 of 4, Special black cover, new creative team! Cover Ken Iron’s has found out about Nottingham’s gauntlet and is none too happy about it. Sara has returned to the NYPD after her work for the Feds and is investigating the death of Mafia man Tony Fantini with Jake. Whilst investigations are underway a Yakuza member is killed in revenge starting a gang war. Sara is irritated by the presence of Copeland, an Organised Crime Bureau detective, at the scene. Down in the cells Jake and Copeland interview Vincent “Vinny” Merloni who confesses to the murder of Fantini, Sara’s not too impressed at being left out. Meanwhile, deep below the Statue of Liberty, 3 Yakuza members meet with a man named Lord Sonatine who provides them with a weapon to use against the Mafia, Tora-No-Shi…