>Abdulkareem Baba Aminu: Why do you think Witchblade (Sara Pezzini to be precise) has endured all these years, becoming an icon?
>Matt Hawkins:We always pitched it, initially, as ‘NYPD Blues meets the X-Files’. When it came out there wasn’t as much supernatural stuff as there is now, it went on to fill a niche. Despite the early “bad girl” association we always had a strong female readership for the title. Sara was always in control, strong and didn’t need anyone else to “save” her.
>ABA: What exactly do you mean by “bad girl association”?
>MH: In the mid 90s, there were a series of female lead characters that all launched and the industry dubbed it a “bad girl” fad. I never felt the inclusion of Witchblade was completely fair, but it was a sign of the time.
>ABA: Why was the decision taken to rest Witchblade, even with the wide appeal the comic and characters within have?
>MH:All good things come to an end. We tried for years to get people to overlook some of the earlier “bad girl” associations with the release of the title in the mid 90’s. We ultimately felt the title needed a break. We did the same thing with The Darkness.
>ABA: How did you get readers overlook the ‘bad girl associations’?
>MH: We instructed our creative people to not have the character over-sexualized.
This was the Marz approach to the character.
