What do you do when you’re cornered by a dragon in a remote industrial facility?  Well, you do whatever it takes if you’re the Magdalena.

The official description from Image:

GUEST-STARRING WITCHBLADE!
Patience, Kristof, and Witchblade bearer Sara Pezzini race to retrieve the piece of the One True Cross, before it is once again lost to the world. Will Patience be able to recover the relic or will she share the fate of her ancestor? RON MARZ (ARTIFACTS, WITCHBLADE), NELSON BLAKE II (PILOT SEASON: MURDERER) and DAVID MARQUEZ (Secret Warriors, Days Missing) continue the fan favorite series!

How did our hero end up in this predicament?  Well, this all began with the Church sending Patience (this generation’s Magdalena) to try and find fragments of the One True Cross.  While on the road Patience lost her weapon to a madman bent on using the Spear of Destiny and the fragments of the One True Cross to resurrect a dragon.  He succeeded and now it’s up to Patience, her mentor Kristoff, and Sara Pezzini (with the Witchblade) to take down the newly resurrected dragon!

The script flows quickly as Ron Marz refuses to bog down the story in unneeded exposition.  The history between the two characters is apparent and the conclusion of the story feels imminent, but not rushed.  He let’s Sara Pezzini and Patience do what they do best, work together and fight the monster.  Their back and forth dialog works well here, yielding a rather touching ending that succeeds in offering further depth to the Magdalena while successfully maintaining the action and cementing the strengths of this series.

The art found in this latest issue is solid and clean.  The style that has existed throughout the series continues here as Nelson Blake II and David Marquez yield strong but ultimately plain panels that do little more than complement the script.  The world is simple and so are the characters as an almost minimalist touch is used to breath life into this firefight.  The art still successfully tells the story but ultimately fails to wow the audience.

The story succeeded in yielding a strong script that contained a successful narrative, with polished and passable art.  Ultimately this issue is a more than worthwhile purchase and comes recommended to any long time readers.

4/5