Ian Nottingham has claimed Excalibur, which has powers similar to the Witchblade! Detectives Sara Pezzini and Jake McCarthy just found Nottingham facing off against Sonatine, attempting to take the Darkness artefact for himself in a chamber beneath the Statue of Liberty. But Jake shot Nottingham in the head, setting off a massive explosion under the statue…
Crossover: This is a short, multi-part crossover event between ‘Witchblade’ and ‘Tomb Raider’ with an ‘Evo’ one-shot; stories from ‘both of the main titles have stories that lead in to the main event, though the ‘Tomb Raider’ prelude issues has little-to-no impact.
Must-Reads: Issues in bold in the Core List or marked with a ✔ in the Full Reading Order are must-read stories from this event; in the Fallout section, issues marked with a ✔ are the stories that are most heavily impacted by this event.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- FAMILY TIES (1997) – The Witchblade & Darkness are combined
- BUTCHER KNIGHT (2000-2001) – The previous Lara/Sara team-up
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- Tomb Raider #24
- Witchblade #58-59
- Tomb Raider #25
- Witchblade #60
- Evo #1
- Witchblade #61
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| Tomb Raider #24 (tie-in) The monstrous Lord Vymes – aka Vayamasa – calls up Lara Croft, demanding the return of the Mandala she ‘stole’ from him. Instead, she takes a day to explore the Aegean Sea with the monk Tsang Do Khyi. But a helicopter blows up their boat and Vayamasa seriously wounds Tsang. Vayamasa and Tsang are buried by falling rocks. Lara figures Vayamasa still lives and promises to kill him! | |
| ✔ | Witchblade #58 Ian Nottingham departs the scene of the explosion they he was caught in without hurting Sara Pezzini or Jake McCarthy, both of whom leave the scene unhurt. Sara heads to the hospital when she finds out Lisa Buzanis’ boyfriend, Larry Drexler, has overdosed. The Witchblade tells Sara to “weave”. Ian Nottingham staggers back to Ken Irons’ building, Cauty Tower, where he’s torturing Tora No Shi. Janice Shoaf almost dies in the emergency room, but then her eyes glow blue! Later, Janice wanders to a cemetery for no apparent reason… |
| ✔ | Witchblade #59 Internal Affairs question Sara and Jake about the incident at the Statue of Liberty and leave them with a warning. Ian Nottingham rages at Ken Irons and leaves Cauty Tower. Back at Lisa’s apartment, Drexler’s eyes glow blue and he attacks Lisa. Doctor Charles Riggs believes he’s somehow responsible for Drexler’s assault. Sara and Jake follow another patient with glowing eyes when the Witchblade goes wild in front of Jake! When it finally stops, Sara returns to the wandering patient too late! |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Tomb Raider #25 Sara Pezzini calls on Lara Croft to examine the markings left by the Weave – the glowing, blue spectral vines that took the old woman’s husband without a trace. Lara is attacked by the old man. She punches the lights out of him and follows it to the One Who Sleeps, who briefly wakes and imbues Lara with immense power! Lara exploses out from under the New York streets! 1st appearance: The One Who Sleeps |
| ✔ | Witchblade #60 The Weave has possessed Lara Croft to get to Sara Pezzini and the Witchblade. It starts by trying to possess nearby soldiers who’ve gathered (from nowhere) to stop it! ‘Lara’ takes Sarah to the One Who Sleeps, and her presence wakes him… |
| ✔ | Evo #1 In Manhattan, the year 5030, a gang of Manhattan thieves try to steal the Witchblade. To avoid arrest, they jump back through time to Manhattan in 2003, to the chamber of the One Who Sleeps, aka Tarsem Vox. Tarsem grabs modern-day Witchblade bearer, Sara Pezzini, and teleports away. Vox reveals he’s also from the future, and the Weave is future-tech that allowed life to survive in a polluted world! He explains that the Witchblade allows the wearer to travel through time and will enable him to remold history in his own image. Sara fights back against Vox and convinces the time travelling folk to use their combat suits and pseudo-semi-nudity to destroy Vox’s machine thing/whatever. As per Vox’s orders, Lara uses her force of will and cleavage to steal away the Witchblade. Lara Croft breaks free of Vox’s control somehow and appears to sacrifice herself to… blast Tarsem Vox into… the future or something? Sara sits alone, crying over having been part of this alleged ‘story’. The Witchblade plops out of nowhere and conveniently returns to Sara Pizzini. 1st appearance: Aiden, Janus, Maximilian, One Who Sleeps/Tarsem Vox (real name revealed), Rayla, Satine |
| ✔ | Witchblade #61 Hours after Lara Croft’s death, Sara Pezzini is still on her knees in the same spot – unable to comprehend what’s happened, just like the rest of us. Later, the time travellers show up at Sara’s apartment. Rayla gets aggressive with Sara, but the team threaten to use their suits to convince Rayla to step away from Sara! After the time travellers departs, Jack McCarthy shows up. Sara asks him to dinner! |
At some stage, we’ll see how this story fits into the wider Top Cow Universe:
- TOMB RAIDER, 1999-2005 – Top Cow Universe: Lara Croft
- TOP COW UNIVERSE, 1999-2002 – Inferno
- WITCHBLADE, 1995-2002 – Origins & Revelations
- WITCHBLADE, 2003-2008 – Blood Relations
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout |
| ✔ | Tomb Raider #26-28 (2003) While Sara Pezzini continues to mourn, Lara Croft is resurrected in Egypt. |
| Tomb Raider #29-30 (2003) Lara Croft catches up with Vayamasa and learns the fate of Tsang Do Khyi. | |
| Top Cow: Book of Revelations 2003 (2003) Profiles delve into the origins of Tarsem Vox and Evo. |
| Collected Edition Title | Collects… |
| Complete Witchblade vol.4 | Witchblade #58-85 |
| Tomb Raider Colossal Collection vol.1 | Tomb Raider #1-24, 26-34 |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Tomb Raider Archives vol.2 | Tomb Raider #24 |
| Witchblade: Blood Relations | Witchblade #58 |
Reading Order © Omniverse Comics Guide 2026
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