Original Series - Page 8 #77 - August 2004 Strength and Weakness; Part 2 of 2 Cover Hanging from a building about to fall the Witchblade grabs Celestine, allowing Sara to avoid death. She then sets off in pursuit of Celestine, and confronts her but in the fight bumps her head and passes out. In the park nearby Celestine sits on a bench and remembers events from her childhood. A little girl approaches her and she imagines killing the girl but stops herself and shouts at the girl to make her go away. Sara makes it back to the precinct while Celestine realizes that the Witchblade wanted her, and decides to remove Sara from the equation. As Sara sets out to find Celestine she shows up at the station with a bomb strapped to herself, and threatens to blow them all up if she doesn’t get the Witchblade. She and Sara talk and Sara pulls a gun on her, a fight ensues in which Sara gets beaten to a pulp. However Sara gains control and shoots Celestine as she detonates the bomb, blowing up a corner of the building and perhaps herself too. #78 - September 2004 Signs and Portents; Part 1 of 2 Greg Land Cover Tony Daniel Cover Tom Judge has been found murdered in his apartment and his friend Tilly Grimes was found at the scene covered in his blood. Sara and Jake take her in for questioning but she’s unwilling to talk. Sara then uses the Witchblade on her and she starts talking; how she met Judge and how after the events of the End of Days she lost track of him and the Rapture, until the previous week when he fell out of the sky into her car, pursued by two dog-like demons. Sara’s sceptical and so rings Lara Croft for help, whilst waiting for confirmation Tilly explains that the dogs’ mistress, Lachryma, found her and Tom at Tom’s place. Tom got Tilly out and when she returned Tom was dead. She used his blood to determine the identity of Lachryma’s next victim, Sara… #79 - October 2004 Signs and Portents; Part 2 of 2 Cover Sat in his apartment, Jake contemplates suicide but shoots a photo of him and Julie instead, deciding it’s her who should be suffering. At the station Sara’s still questioning Tilly when a shot’s fired; a female officer has just committed suicide and it turns out most of New York’s citizens are acting equally strangely. Lachryma is using the Rapture to amplify her power and bring despair to the people of New York, Tilly can help Sara find Lachryma. They go to find Tilly’s friends and find they’ve all killed themselves or each other, but they’ve found Lachryma. Sara fights her and her hounds but Tilly tries to kill herself again and Sara is faced with a choice until a large, black cat-like creature appears on the T.V. screen which frightens Lachryma away, back to her master. When Sara and Tilly return to the station Sara’s taken to one side to be informed that Jake has tried to kill Julie during a prison visit and that his career is over. #80 - November 2004 New creative team!! Mike Choi pencils and Ron Marz writer. Witch Hunt; Part 1 of 6 Mike Choi Cover Greg Land Cover Frank Cho Cover Sara lies in a coma in hospital and a Detective Patrick Gleason has been sent to investigate the events which led to her being found comatose in Catholic Church. After he’s spoken to Jake at Sara’s bedside an oriental gentleman appears in the door and then disappears quickly. Gleason follows this man to a curiosities shop and learns his name is The Curator. The Curator then informs Gleason of Sara’s identity as the current bearer of the Witchblade, which Gleason doesn’t believe. Gleason is warned that the Beast is coming and that Sara will have an important part to play. We then see flashes of a battle between Sara and a sharp-toothed creature which takes place in a church, and in hospital Sara wakes up screaming. #81 - January 2005 Witch Hunt; Part 2 of 6 Cover Having woken from her coma Sara’s ready to leave the hospital, but is none too pleased when Detective Gleason turns up to take her home. On the way the two call into St. Augustine’s Cathedral, where Sara was attacked. They chat to the priest, Father Fiorentino, and while Gleason questions him on his own Sara has some kind of flashback and almost faints. As they leave the church Gleason mentions the Curator to Sara, and she immediately wants to find out more. They visit the store which is all shut up but with the help of the Witchblade Sara manages to open a back door. Once inside the Curator is nowhere to be found and so the two leave. Stood outside the shop Gleason smells something foul, a smell which triggers a memory for Sara. Two huge creatures leap out of the darkness and Sara prepares to defend herself… #82 - March 2005 Witch Hunt; Part 3 of 6 Cover Sara manages to deal with one of the creatures, but the other one gets the better of her, until they are sucked into a jar which is being held by the Curator. Understandably Sara wants to know what the hell’s going on. All he tells her is that the beasts were summoned from another world to deal with her, and that she is ‘one of the thirteen’ Before they can get any more answers from him he vanishes. It begins to rain so Sara and Gleason set off for home (again!). Elsewhere Father Fiorentino attends a meeting of priests who are plotting something, something which requires Sara to be out of the way to succeed. Once home Sara’s getting ready for bed when she sees she has a visitor, the Magdalena aka Patience. Patience warns Sara away from her investigations into what happened at the church. Not appreciating being threatened in her own home Sara forces Patience to leave, and then gets a knock on the door from Jake. Sara has no clue what’s going on but is determined to find out… #83 - March 2005 Witch Hunt; Part 4 of 6 Cover Having realised the Magdalena’s warning has had no effect on Sara, Father Fiorentino is instructed by his peers to eliminate Sara. Elsewhere Sara and Jake are getting breakfast together when Sara receives a call from Fiorentino. She meets him at St Augustine’s and the demons appear again, Sara’s taken by surprise but Jake has followed her and fires on the creatures. They attack him but Sara fights them off. She then gets an explanation out of the Father – a group within the Catholic Church became disillusioned with the status quo and started to try and bring forth a new living god, and that this is the best time in 500 years to attempt it. She finds out where the summoning will take place and then the Witchblade kills the priest. #84 - May 2005 Witch Hunt; Part 5 of 6 Cover Gleason has picked Sara up from St Augustine’s and is hearing what she knows about the Witchblade and its power. The pair call in to see the Curator again, they don’t learn much but he tells them that Sara and the Witchblade are the only ones who can destroy the beast which will be called forward, and he gives Gleason a small gold figurine. Sara and Gleason make their way to Garrison and get into the grounds of the Monastery where they have to face another of the demons. When they reach the building they are in time to witness the final phase of the summoning and the appearance of the beast. #85 - June 2005 Witch Hunt; Part 6 of 6 Cover Leaving Gleason behind Sara prepares to take on the demon summoned by the errant priests, much to Gleason's annoyance. Sara battles the demon unsuccessfully at first but then plunges the Witchblade into its head, killing it and getting flung back into the woods for her trouble. Gleason finds her and thinks she's dead, he then remembers the figurine the Curator gave to him and places it on Sara's chest. What looks like lightening surrounds her and she wakes up. Later Sara and Gleason are at the hospital and say their goodbyes, Sara goes in to see Jake who's still in a coma and tells him about what's happened to her. She holds his hand and the Witchblade's red gem glows. #86 - July 2005 Warrior Spirit Cover Sara’s called to investigate the beheading of a security guard at the Museum of natural History. Whilst doing a routine sweep of the crime scene she enters a stockroom near the body, it’s full of artefacts which are awaiting display, she hears strange noise and ventures further in. She’s confronted by a suit of Samurai armour wielding a sword. She tries to defend herself but her bullets do nothing do she grabs it using the Witchblade and is then shown a samurai and his blade, together the two were invincible On his death the sword passed to another who also enjoyed great success, but over the years it became unclear who controlled who. Using the Witchblade Sara frees the Samurai’s spirit from the armour and takes possession of the sword which she takes to the Curator for safe keeping. Lovely art by Keu Cha. #87 - August 2005 Heart of the City Hughes Cover Bachalo Cover Sara arrives at her precinct to be told by Siry that she’s being transferred to One Police Plaza, she’s not happy but with Jake still in a coma it seems a good enough time to go. When she arrives at her new ‘home’ Gleason is there to meet her and give her the tour, the pair both have basement offices. By the end of her first day Sara’s found a number of unsolved murders which seem to be linked and heads to the scene of the latest crime. At the scene Sara’s confronted by a scarecrow type creature who admits to the last murder, she tries to take him in but even with the Witchblade she has no joy, he just disappears leaving behind his top hat. Nice art by Chris Bachalo, a bit Randy Green ish?