Review -- THE DARK DETECTIVE: SHERLOCK HOLMES

The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes
Written by Christopher Sequeira
Pencils by Philip Cornel
Black House Comics
With the new Sherlock Holmes movie starring Robert Downey Jr. being a box office smash, even though the action hero take on the famous Sir Arthur Conan Doyle character is not for everyone, the character is again a household one. That is in itself amazing considering Holmes first came to the printed page in 1887.
Now if you are seeking a more traditional Holmes tale, you won’t go wrong finding The Dark Detective comic from Australian publisher Black House Comics.
The mood, story and look of The Dark Detective sets Holmes in a sort of film noir world of London. There is an edge of darkness to the streets and to the cases Holmes finds himself on.
The preview edition of the comic is entitled The Ghost of Mart Shelley and introduces the Marquis of Frankenstein, while issue one is The Claws of the Chimera. Both offer up images of a couple of famous storylines of horror.
Writer Christopher Sequeira does a smooth job of blending the cerebral detective Holmes with the classic horror elements. It really works perfectly when you consider a classic Doyle tale such as Hound of the Baskerville's has definite horror overtones.
Sequeira said the books actually began because of thoughts of doing a Holmes movie.
“International make-up and creature shop Oscar nominee Dave Elsey approached me about writing a screenplay for a Holmes movie based on a concept of his a few years ago,” said Sequeira. “We started working on the project on spec. We had knocked a big chunk of it when the new Holmes movie got announced - but other than being sure to not do anything that early reports said they were doing it had little impact on my plot or take, other than to make us pretty sure our movie would have little chance of being made as a movie!
“Then publisher Baden Kirgan came along and read my 45-page outline and asked us to do a comic on it -- but to set the story before the events of our movie. The extra background to all of that is that Dave, Phil Cornell and myself have been mad-keen Sherlockians for decades -- so we bring years of ideas to the table that have sat in the backs of our brains waiting to be unleashed.”
When it came to inspiration Sequeira said he basically drew on the character’s rich past.
“This is me writing the way I write, the publisher letting me write the way I write, for characters I love,” he said. “The only influences are Doyle, and perhaps a dollop of inspiration in ‘feel’ from the best Hammer Horrors -- although our pacing is purposefully faster.”
Art wise, Philip Cornel has a style that reminds me much of Classic Illustrated of old, which is where many tales such as Holmes first came to life for young readers in my era.
The covers by Dave Elsey show a painted approach with Holmes the focus. The great detective is dour-faced, grim and determined in the art.
“The art style grew out of Phil Cornell’s ideas and style blended with suggestions from Dave (and the occasional one from me),” said Sequeira. “We wanted something faithful and yet unique, we wanted accurate Victoriana but we wanted an edge. The end result is a superb mix that I bow down to in admiration of; Phil with Dave has produced something masterful.”
This is a great title, one closer to my fondest memories of Holmes than the aforementioned movie. Certainly one to highly recommend for its fresh stories centred on the iconic Holmes.
In true creator fashion Sequeira said he could see things to improve, although he is right this very good as is.
“I’m never happy, we can always reach a tiny per cent more,” he said. “But we’re closer
than anything else I’ve worked on, I suspect!”
And there is more to come, which is fantastic news.
“There are years' worth of stories planned if the market is there; a hundred issues that lead up to the climactic storyline of the screenplay,” said Sequeira. “The current storyline is set in 1887, and the screenplay is set in 1894. All the Doyle stories are woven into our timeline, too. Having said that, issue #4 is a surprise - a real cracker, and issues #5 to #8 are a story we teased in the free preview.”
www.blackhousecomics.com has all the cool stuff and in January sometime international readers will be able to order their hard copies (Aussies can get them from newsstands currently)!
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Appeared on Yorkton This Week WebXtra