Original Series - Page 7 #66 - July 2003 Cover Whilst Jake is on vacation Sara gets teamed up with family man Frank Bernard to investigate a dismemberment where the only witness is a young man confined to a wheelchair and suspects are very thin on the ground. #67 - August 2003 Cover Sara’s chasing down a suspect who pulls a cleaver on her, the Witchblade retaliates. Jake and Sara then return to the crime scene – an apartment filled with body parts and blood. Later that day Sara receives a call from the pathologist, the suspect had consumed human flesh. A group of cannibals, led by a woman named Mother Mary, are taking a lot of interest in Sara and the Witchblade. Sara follows up a lead and comes to a slaughterhouse named Mother’s Meat. She enters and overhears Mother Mary’s desire to gain Sara’s strength and the Witchblade by consuming her flesh. Sara kills some of Mary’s followers and then takes Mary down too. Mary and her remaining followers are arrested. Jake and Sara go for dinner, while in Idaho another Mother’s Meat factory is still going strong… #68 - September 2003 Road Trip; Part 1 of 2 Cover New Castle, Pennsylvania. An insurance salesman calls at a large house on a stormy night. The family inside are not interested in insurance but they are very interested in using him as some kind of sacrifice. Elsewhere Sara is on vacation, driving to Gettysburg, when she spots a hitchhiker. She's about to drive on when the girl gets picked up by a truck driver and Sara intervenes. The girl, Claire, is running away from home to see her brother, but after checking on his whereabouts they learn he's dead. Claire then asks to be taken home. Back in NYC Nottingham's in Sara's apartment, being watched by Level 42. Excalibur seems to be invading his whole nervous system. Sara meets the girls parents and knows something's wrong, the Witchblade starts talking about death. Before Sara can do anything Claire is threatening her family with Sara's gun. The gun goes off and Sara gets hit, and the Witchblade seems reluctant to help her out. #69 - October 2003 Road Trip; Part 2 of 2 Cover Sara dreams she and Ian are together by the sea, He's telling her that they must join together to take their place in the universe. Back in the real world Sara is bleeding badly but refuses to use the Witchblade as she knows it will kill Claire along with her family. Claire gets Sara to her car but the two of them are pulled from the car. Back in NYC Irons has come to view the footage of Ian in Sara's apartment, he's pleased with it and tells Dr Tabisch, the leader of Level 42, that Ian is ready for the next phase in his evolution. Sara has been carried out to a tree and is still fighting the Witchblade, but when the tree consists around her she can resist it no longer and she and the Witchblade break free and take on the family, including Claire. #70 - November 2003 Death Pool; Part 1 of 6 Cover In a dream Sara and her father are playing chess , he tells her to be careful, and that the time is coming. She wakes to a phone call from Jake who has news of a murder in Queens. In a dungeon in Cauty Tower Irons has been carving symbols on Tora’s body, as well as performing many other acts on him. It’s clear Tora is in line to be Irons’ new tool. Someone’s tipped-off the CIA to Ian’s whereabouts and a task-force has been sent to apprehend him, unfortunately for them they know nothing of Excalibur. At the morgue Sara’s learning how the mornings’ two victims died, high velocity knife wounds, and finds the female victim has had weird brain surgery. The next morning Sara and Jake, who’s found out the women was a manic depressive, go to visit the female victim’s doctor. The doctor says he wanted to help her but someone else stepped in. They get no more info from him so go outside to get a sandwich, where they see the doctor running from the building. They follow him down to the subway and into a train. There they encounter Shine (see #32) who’s been sent to ‘see’ the doctor. The Witchblade attacks Shine, who then attacks Jake and Sara… #71 - December 2003 Death Pool; Part 2 of 6 Cover In a dream Jake and Sara (and the Witchblade!) embrace on a palm - fringed beach. Back in the real world  Jake comes round to find Sara still fighting Shine on the train. She manages to bring the train to an abrupt halt and Shine disappears, but the doctor is dead. Back at the station Siry gets a call telling him to keep Sara in check or else. At Irons' business HQ a meeting is going on with Tora present as Nottingham levitates outside the window. Still in the subway Sara gets chucked off the case by Siry. In Level 42's lab Tora is being tested against an unfortunate opponent who doesn't last long. At the dead doctor?s office Sara?s carrying on her investigation when Bernard finds her, Siry's sent him knowing Sara wouldn't leave the case alone. Back at Level 42 Shine's being punished for failing his mission, and Sara's heading out to meet Detective Kim. Whilst sat at the bar Sara senses Ian and leaves the bar to follow him down the street. When she catches up with him he says he's there to save her life... #72 - January 2004 Death Pool; Part 3 of 6 Cover Ian recounts to Sara a dream he had when he appears as a child playing on a beach, he’s about to leave for home when a dragon-like creature appears from the water, and seems to impart to him Excalibur. Suffice to say Sara’s not impressed at having her date interrupted for this, to regain her attention he levitates a few feet above the ground, and he’s not impressed when she walks away again. Elsewhere Jake is worrying about Julie’s behaviour and what she may be involved in. The next day Sara and Bernard visit a hospital which Lisa Perry was referred to. They are given a tour of sorts before being told that if they want to know anything else they’ll need a warrant. Bernard goes to talk a patient’s wife while Sara snoops around, finding that the place is a big sham. The only patient is then taken away and Sara and Bernard follow but a helicopter follows them and then some kind of man/machine lands on the car. Sara deals with him and then flies into the air to take on a second guy. The woman in the helicopter is Caliope (see #17) and she flies off leaving Sara to fall to the ground and making Bernard crash the car. Back in New York a battered Sara agrees to take with Ian… #73 - March 2004 Death Pool; Part 4 of 6 Cover In a dream/flashback we see Vince Pezzini and Siry on their way to a crime, Joe is worried about Vince’s drug taking. When they arrive at the scene they find two dead cops and Sara with the Witchblade hiding in the corner. Vince says his friends would be very interested in the events, Joe protests against letting ‘them’ have Sara. Back in the real world Sara wakes Joe and hands in her report on the events of #72. Bernard tells Sara that a Sandy has called for her, Sandy turns out to be Dr McCreary’s secretary. Sara doesn’t learn much but does get a name, Tabisch, and she promises Sandy protection. Julie and Lisa are shopping together and it’s clear Julie has money to burn from her dealings with Drexler. Jake is following the pair. Sara pays Level 42 a visit and gets to speak to Dr Victor Tabisch. Elsewhere Sandy gets a visit from two assassins but before the can carry out their hit Ian crashes through the window and kills them both. Still at Level 42 Sara is shown a bank of monitors which display images from her and Ian’s pasts. Sara’s speechless and moves to leave but Tabisch sets a machine on her, with the Witchblade she easily defeats it but has to stop short of killing Tabisch just yet. Back at Sandy’s Detective Kim has showed up and wants to know about Ian and the cop who gave her the protection. #74 - April 2004 Death Pool; Part 5 of 6 Cover In a flashback we see three men in a car waiting for Ian Nottingham; one of them gets out and is killed, then the driver is also killed, the car split in two by a sword. The third man is then attacked but somehow he survives, the man is Detective Lee Kim. Back in the present day Kim is understandably still very interested in Ian and would like to know what his connection with Sara is. On a snowy rooftop Sara and Ian are stood talking, discussing her attack on Level 42, when a SWAT team and a group of helicopters descend on them. Elsewhere in the city Julie is waiting at Drexler’s place for her next job, she seems to be working as some sort of courier. Back on the rooftop Sara and Ian run and then jump off the edge of the building, embracing as they fall, and the Witchblade and Excalibur combine to produce a dragon creature which then attacks the helicopters. Ian kisses Sara but she’s horrified by the destruction and death they’ve caused and breaks the ‘bond’. Kim has gone to check on what happened to the team that was sent to arrest Nottingham (see #70), he finds many dead and wounded officers and wonders why no one thought to investigate earlier and why the men were sent down there in the first place. Sara tries to use the Witchblade to halt Ian’s destruction but it ignores her, Ian then grabs Sara and holds her over the edge of the building they’ve landed on. He kisses her and then releases her… #75 - June 2004 Death Pool; Part 6 of 6 Cover Irons dreams of wielding the Witchblade, when he wakes he finds Tora hanging form the ceiling dead and Ian standing over him. Elsewhere Sara wakes from her Witchblade cocoon at the site of her battle with Ian. At Jake’s place Julie gets another call and heads out. Back at Irons’ home Detective Lee Kim has to come to question Irons about Nottingham and ends up in the middle. When he tries to arrest Ian he gets pinned to the wall. Nottingham then kills Irons and returns to Kim but he’s stopped by Sara. Julie arrives at her destination and realises she’s walked into more than she bargained for, luckily for her Jake has followed her and protects her. While Sara battles Ian, Jake takes down Julie’s would be attackers and has to arrest Julie, and Siry prepares for duty. Sara and Ian continue fighting, crashing through floors and windows. Sara begins to believe in her calling and to realise there is only one true weapon. With this realisation Excalibur returns to be one with the Witchblade and Ian is left powerless. Up in Irons’ penthouse Siry kills Irons in full view of Kim and leaves a letter for Sara. #76 - July 2004 Strength and Weakness; Part 1 of 2 Cover A beautiful young woman murders the man she’s just slept with using a broken bottle. Sara attends the scene and learns the man has been cut up with surgical precision. Later in the day the same woman saves a child from being run over, and then pushes an old woman in front of a truck. Looking for leads Sara questions some of the local prostitutes, and finds one girls who recognised the killer; she’d been in mental institution with the girl. Sara goes to mental institution and speaks to the doctor in charge, he tells her that the woman’s name is Celestine and that she is an incredibly intelligent and gifted girl who was abused by her resentful parents, so much so that whenever she does a good deed she feels the need to cancel it out by doing an equally bad act, then the guilt leads her to do something good again in a constant cycle. Celestine has gone on another rampage, and Sara manages to catch up with her, pursuing her up onto a rooftop but Celestine is a match for Sara and the Witchblade doesn’t seem to want to hurt her. Celestine betters Sara and she’s left hanging off the building without the Witchblade to help her and Celestine’s heel poised above her hand…