The supernatural world surrounding Chicago is getting more and more complicated for our former Police Detective, but is her story there starting to wear thin?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Image:

“BLACK CAT”

Sara Pezzini finally relents to Cain Jorgenson’s advances and agrees to a date at a baseball game in this date night issue of WITCHBLADE! But as usual, the Witchblade’s tendency to attract weirdness like a magnet will draw out Chicago’s supernatural corruption… even at Wrigley Field.

Are you looking for a comic book that stars a tough lady with a metal gauntlet?  Then your search is certainly over.  But if you were hopping for a strong outing that continued the overall stellar quality of this series then you might be a bit disappointed.

Tim Seeley uses his latest script to propel the ongoing tale forward but the author sacrifices character development for story beats.  He offers up a decent enough romp that moves all the pieces toward a forthcoming confrontation, but there were several moments that had dialogue which felt really long-winded as it unnecessarily bogged down the pace of this jaunt.  I was also a bit surprised as a romantic spark was allowed to happen between two characters who already had enough established history for one of them to at least know better.  Still this was a worthwhile read that did enough to set-up what should be an engaging adventure next month.

The artwork done by Diego Bernard in this latest release continues to impress.  Whether he’s using his expertly executed pencil strokes to give life to a monstrous confrontation or display a simple dialogue scene at a baseball game, he finds a way to make things visually interesting.  He imbues even the slower moments with a proper spin that simply allows them to flow rather freely, as he offers a consistent level of quality that speaks volumes about his talent.

Witchblade #162 is a somewhat solid outing that continues to build on its continuing narrative.  And despite some mishandled dialogue and some truly off moments is still squeaks by with a recommendation.

3/5