The Quarter Bin

The big Top Cow Trinity: Blood on the Sands one-shot hit comic shops this week. Read on to see my thoughts.

The Darkness/Witchblade/Angelus Trinity: Blood on the Sands
Writer: Philip W. Smith
Artists: Sheldon Mitchell, Admira Wijaya and Tom Grindberg
Cover Artist: Stjepan Sejic


Blood on the Sands steps into the wayback machine, taking the focus off the current goings-on of the Top Cow universe for a bit. Instead, this one-shot takes place in 13th-century Arabia, telling three separate tales of the bearers of power in that time. As has been stated many times, the Witchblade, the Darkness, and the Angelus have all been around for centuries, but I never stopped to think about what life was like for those who bore the powers before modern times.

Blood on the Sands is broken up into three parts, “Diyafa”, “Assahiya”, and “Chermera”, revealing the stories of the Darkness, Witchblade, and Angelus, respectively. Each separate story is relatively short, a quick glance at what the Top Cow universe would look like if it was set in the 13th century. My favorite story was “Assahiya”, for a couple of reasons. It’s probably partially because my current favorite Top Cow series is Witchblade, but I also like the way that particular story mirrored what is going on between Sara and Dani, and gives a look at one possible outcome of the “War of the Witchblades”.

The artwork in “Assahiya” is also my favorite in this one-shot, not that I’m dismissing the art in either of the other stories. The whole book is solid visually, but I really loved the style and use of colors in the Witchblade story. Those pages seemed to jump out at me more than the others.

Trinity: Blood on the Sands is a fun read, and any fan of the Top Cow universe will enjoy it. It’s in comic shops now, so be sure to give it a look.