Wednesday is Comic Day!

Writers: Leah Moore & John Reppion Artist: Aaron Campbell Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $24.99 Pages: 179

Follow up:

This edition is the hardcover collection of a story originally printed as five comic issues. The story opens with an explosion at a warehouse and a mysterious letter from a retired police commissioner, declaring the time that he will be murdered. Things soon spiral out of control and Sherlock Holmes becomes the primary suspect in a murder, and is arrested.

The story makes good use of the cast of characters from the Holmes stories, including Holme's partner, Watson, Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade and Inspector Hopkins, and Sherlock's elder brother Mycroft.

Often, when Sherlock Holmes is interpreted in comic books, the writers feel the need to bring in spectacular elements, such as martians or Jack the Ripper. It rarely works. Thankfully, this book does not do that. It does its best to be representative of the types of stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and published in the Strand magazine. Even the art tries to fit the period, with crude inking.

I've lost track of how many times I've read the fifty-six short stories and four novels Doyle wrote about the world's greatest detective. I'm happy that there is now a comic worthy of reading that adds more to the legend of Sherlock Holmes.

Edit: Newsarama has the first issue available for free on-line reading, here