Written by: Stjepan Sejic
Art by: Stjepan Sejic
Publisher: Image
So. As it turns out, Switch is a Witchblade spin-off. Or tie-in? I’m not sure. Mostly I’m not sure because I’ve never read a single issue of Witchblade in my life, so… yeah. I came into this book with absolutely no context for what’s going on. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like much prior knowledge is required, but I did feel like I was missing something throughout the course of the issue. That’s obviously on me, not the book, since it’s pretty clear that this is designed for fans of the property as opposed to new readers. It’s also entirely possible that this is just a cold open and all of the characters are new, but I wouldn’t know.
That’s just how incompetent I am.
Anyways, other than that, Switch is pretty good. Stjepan Sejic’s art (which some will probably recognize from Rat Queens) is the real selling point here. Every panel seems to be crafted with the utmost care, and for the most part, the visual story telling is better than the written story telling. Facial expressions and body language are key to conveying emotion here. There are panels where a character’s eyes alone will be enough to do this. The ability to accomplish that is quite impressive, especially with the Sejic’s level of consistency. Outside of the visual story telling, his art just has a pleasing aesthetic. It’s an interesting blend of styles, evocative of both western cartooning and eastern manga styles, meshed together. It’s a style that, while not wholly unique, is different enough that it’s interesting to look at for extended periods of time.
As for the writing, well… it could be better. It’s not terrible, but it’s just Ok for the most part. Neither the amount of exposition nor Sejic jumping between multiple characters does much to help the writing’s case. The plot simply has too much going on for a first issue. It’s overwhelming, at least for new readers, to take in so much so quickly. Regardless, this isn’t great writing, and I can’t imagine that even readers who have read every single issue of Witchblade will feel any connection to the plot. It’s just unclear what’s happening at any given moment, and the same is true of why they’re happening. As if the story feeling fractured wasn’t bad enough, there’s not enough time spent with any of the characters to flesh them out to the point that I care about them. We meet all of them, but only briefly. It doesn’t help that I’m not sure who I’m supposed to be rooting for. I guess it would be Mary, but she’s basically a walking cliche that I feel like I’ve read before.
Switch does have a lot of promise. The dialogue is written fairly well, and Mary’s inner monologue isn’t the worst. After a few issues with the characters, there may be good reason to be reading this book every month, especially if the plot picks up and becomes a bit less convoluted. Unfortunately, the first issue does a poor job of convincing readers that this is something they should be reading on a monthly basis. For now, Sejic’s art is probably enough to convince me to stay on board for another issue or two.
