The comic series contains examples of:
- Complete Monster:
- 2002 series: Paulie Franchetti, from the first six issues, is the cousin of Frankie Franchetti, and desired to take over the latter's organization after his death. Arriving in town, Paulie has an innocent man drowned in cement, before he decided to try to force Jackie Estacado to become his personal hitman. When Jackie refused, Paulie, out of spite, blew up the orphanage where Jackie grew up, killing at least two dozen children and the staff working there. Blackmailing Jackie into accepting his offer, Paulie has him kill people for the slightest insults, and threatens to kill the husband and the infant child of Jackie's deceased childhood friend Jenny's sister, should he try to defy him.
- Ramon Estacado, from issue #89 ("High Noon") and Witchblade: Day of the Outlaw, is an especially vile ancestor of Jackie Estacado from The Wild West. Using his newfound powers and gang to Rape, Pillage, and Burn entire towns, Ramon at one point has his former henchmen transformed into demons and left to die. Robbing a train full of gold and slaughtering all its guards, Ramon eventually managed to take back control of his gang by killing two of its members, and decided to continue the pillaging of the town they were in. Later arriving at another town, Ramon immediately has his men wreak havoc on the streets and drag women out to be raped.
- Painkiller Jane vs. The Darkness: Stripper, by Garth Ennis et al.: "The Stripper" is a sadistic Serial Killer who loves to kill her victims by removing their skin while they are still alive. Having already managed to kill this way around a dozen of people, including her parents, the Stripper finds herself a new victim in lowly conman Terrence J. Flannery. Initially saving him from a mob of angry ninjas, she drives him to her house. As Jackie Estacado and Jane managed to track down Terrence in her house, they find him alive with most of his skin removed. The Stripper attacks them, intending to skin them alive as well.
- Crosses the Line Twice: Considering that it was co-created and initially written by Garth Ennis....
- Fridge Logic: Jackie lures Frankie and a lot of his mooks into an old warehouse, then drops a lit match through a floor grating and into a pool of gasoline, blowing up the whole building. But with that much gasoline open to the air, the mobsters should have been able to smell it from a block away and known they were walking into a trap.
- So Jackie just found out that if he ever sires a child, he'll die the instant it is conceived. His immediate conclusion is that this means he can never have sex again, which means that life isn't worth living. You'd think he would at least consider sterilization as an option.
- Ho Yay: Wenders really wants to serve Jackie...
- Les Yay: The Angelus and her "companion" in the first comic arc.
- Recently, the Angelus' host was a lesbian with a crush on the next host. Guess how they transfered the Angelus?
- Once the Angelus finds a host, it seems to get a girlfriend quickly afterward, whether it's one they made - the thousand-year-old Angelus in the comic's introductory arc created herself a female lover as one of her angel army - or one they met, such as Dani Baptiste and her girlfriend Finch. Even Celestine had a weird fixation on Sara Pezzini. While it's never been overtly discussed, it's possible that becoming the Angelus host actually makes the host a lesbian.
- Moral Event Horizon: Paulie Franchetti blowing up an orphanage with a bazooka is what causes the rest of the mob to turn on him. To make matters worse, in the video game he murders Jenny in cold blood to spite Jackie.
The video game contains examples of:
- Catharsis Factor:
- After seeing Paulie blow up the orphanage Jackie grew up in, and then going the extra mile by executing Jenny in front of Jackie, getting to kill Paulie at the end of the game is incredibly fulfilling.
- Likewise, after seeing Eddie Shrote help out Paulie with blowing up the orphanage and killing Jenny and then having the gall to rub it in Jackie's face, watching him get caught in an explosion is very satisfying to watch.
- Complete Monster:
- First game:
- Paulie Franchetti adopted Jackie Estacado so he could mold him into a hitman loyal to the family. The game starts with him sending Jackie on a suicide mission to kill a business rival because Jackie started questioning the way he does business, but Paulie has already killed the business rival and strapped his corpse full of explosives as a birthday present, leaving a tape to mock Jackie before he died. When Jackie survives the blast, Paulie gets revenge by blowing up the orphanage that Jackie grew up in, killing all the orphans and nuns inside and then telling Jackie over the phone it was all his fault. When Jackie starts to ruin Paulie's business dealings, Paulie retaliates by kidnapping Jackie's girlfriend Jenny, bringing her to the orphanage, and then murdering her right in front of Jackie, blaming it all on Jackie for not blindly following orders. Even at the end he shows no remorse for his crimes, telling Jackie that Jenny was a weakness and Jackie shouldn't have cared about her death.
- Captain Eddie Shrote, Paulie Franchetti's business partner, is an arrogant and vicious cop leading a precinct of other corrupt officers. Eddie is responsible for covering up and protecting Paulie's operation from investigation. Previously, Eddie rose through the ranks of the NYPD by having Paulie kill off rival officers, and has a known history of personally killing and torturing people who cross him. Eddie is personally involved in the planning and covering up of Paulie's bombing of the orphanage, and helps Paulie kidnap Jenny, smugly taunting Jackie as Jenny is executed. When Jackie begins retaliating against Eddie, and steals evidence that could expose his and Paulie's operation, Eddie leads Jackie to an ambush, torturing him with a power drill, saying he'll die quicker if Jackie says who's helping him.
- The Darkness II: Victor Valente is an Evil Sorcerer and the leader of The Brotherhood, an organization that originally intended out to capture and control the Darkness. The Brotherhood uses organized crime as the front of their operations, and uses a brothel as a base. The game opens with Victor sending a hit squad to attack a restaurant, killing innocent people in the crossfire, as an effort to get Jackie to stop suppressing the Darkness. When Jackie first confronts Victor, he is captured in crucified as Victor tries to extract the Darkness from him. He also sends his men to Jackie's penthouse to kill Jackie's men and kills his Aunt Sarah. Ordering an attack on Sarah's funeral, Victor lures Jackie into a trap, having him sealed in an Iron Maiden. After extracting the Darkness from Jackie, Victor declares that now that he controls it, the world will burn and kneel before its true God.
- First game:
- Evil Is Cool: Averted with both Paulie and Eddie from the first game, who were both intended to be as unlikable and loathsome as possible. Victor Valente from the second game, on the other hand, plays this trope straight.
- Game-Breaker: In Vendetta Co-Op, once you purchase your character's ability to restore health by performing executions, you can just rush into combat and chain together executions of Mooks ad infinitum until you've beaten the game. Only bosses will slow you down, since you can't execute them.
- Harsher in Hindsight: During his final moments, Paulie says to Jackie he hopes he rots in hell forever. Sadly, that's exactly what happens to Jackie at the end of the sequel.
- Magnificent Bastard: Butcher Joyce is regarded as one of the best "cleaners" in New York's underworld, disposing of bodies and evidence from various hit jobs, jokingly considering his work a piece of art. Butcher knows everyone's business, but prides himself in ostensibly not taking any sides. A streetwise, laid back and loyal friend to Jackie, Butcher ends up being a critical ally in Jackie's feud with his "Uncle" Paulie, providing him with key information and locations to cripple Paulie's business. When Jackie goes after Pualie's business partner, Police Captain Eddie Shrote, Butcher gives Jackie a lead to steal evidence against Shrote, with Butcher putting a bomb in Eddie's briefcase, seeing the deaths of Eddie himself and his officers. After Jackie kills Paulie, Joyce would officially join the Franchettis as run by Jackie, seen remaining a loyal ally even years later.
- Moment of Awesome: When Jackie finally takes full control over the Darkness in the fourth chapter. Shame it doesn't last...
- Moral Event Horizon: When the Darkness forces Jackie to watch, taunting him all the while, as his girlfriend is murdered."Awww, what did they do, Jackie? What did they do to Jenny?"
- In 2, the Brotherhood crosses this all the time. The ambush at the restaurant that killed innocent people? Them. Then they assault Jackie's house for the sole purpose of killing his Cool Old Lady aunt. Then they attack the aunt's funeral just to lure Jackie into a trap.
The band provides examples of:
- Awesome Music:
- "I Believe in a Thing Called Love"
- "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
- "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"
- "Barbarian"
- "Mighty Wings"
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
- The Igor, "Thank you, mastah!" section in "Stuck in a Rut".
- The audio clip from Hawk The Slayer played at the start of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us".
- Crosses the Line Twice: One of the band's stage props was a boob chariot that Justin rode down to the stage from the rafters.
- First Installment Wins: While the band has kept going aside from a 4-5 year hiatus and has kept making and recording new music, nothing they've done since has been able to match Permission to Land. The fact the album features their signature song "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" helps.
- Growing the Beard: Grew some stubble with "Hot Cakes", grown fully with "Last of Our Kind" .
- Signature Song: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love".
- Sophomore Slump: One Way Ticket to Hell is generally agreed to be weaker than their debut. The band themselves admitted that it didn't turn out as grand as they'd hoped, and Dan later noted that "it sounds like a drum machine. It's so uptight".
