Witchblade / Wolverine is an odd comic - we don't get all that many inter-company crossovers these days, and it's hard to see why Marvel would be all that interested in endorsing a crossover with Witchblade, a character who's some way past her commercial peak.

Nonetheless, here it is - a one-shot starring two characters with nothing much in common.  It's got Chris Claremont writing, which at least suggests they were taking it somewhat seriously.  The penciller is Eric Basaldua, a name which doesn't mean much to me.  Suffice to say that with the help of five inkers, he produces work in the long-established Top Cow house style.  Which is another way of saying that he's a Marc Silvestri clone.

But is it any good?  Well, no.  It's horrible.

To be fair, this is an uphill struggle at the best of times.  Two characters who have nothing whatsoever in common, and 22 pages to try and do a complete story.  Claremont has Wolverine and Witchblade get married on page 1, which is a good start - it leaves the readers wondering why.  Unfortunately, the answers aren't particularly inspired, and the story verges on incoherent, as characters turn up from nowhere and start fighting for no particularly clear reason.  From a strong start, the story quickly degenerates into a mess.

As for the art, if you liked mid-nineties Image books, you'll love this.  Sara spends the entire issue in a wedding dress that looks like it was on special offer at White Trash Hookers R Us.  If this was a comedy story it might work, but as it stands, it's just really stupid.  And faintly embarrassing.

Really, really awful.  Avoid like the plague.

Rating: D

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