Publisher: Image – Writer: Tim Seeley – Artist: Diego Bernard

Sara Pezzini is no longer a New York Police Detective. She now lives in Chicago and has a life as a Private Investigator. This gives the story an interesting new dynamic. There is a lot of narration in the story, which I usually frown on, but it seemed like an intentional story device to make it sound a little more like an old detective radio show like Sam Spade or Dragnet.

Sara is hired by a doctor to get to the bottom of a ghost sighting at the hospital. Along the way she runs into a shape shifting ocean monster and a woman who can get you to do about anything just by showing you her tattoos. I was really impressed with the way Sara was portrayed as a strong female character who is smart, funny and able to run a business and take care of herself even without the help of the Witchblade. The costumes were a little skimpy, but not any worse than most modern comic book heroins.

This is a comic book that is just as much fun to read now as it was when it first started. The writer has done a lot to keep the story fresh and interesting and the art, as always, was top notch. That being said, there was a stark difference between the first half of the book and the second half. The first half was a cleverly written detective drama based in a normal type reality. But then suddenly a monster appeared out of nowhere, some villain showed up, Sara became Witchblade and the narration style took a turn for the worse.

Just read up to about page 13. You'll be happier if you do.