I have several thoughts about this book, some very strong, some less so. I'm struggling to find a way to capture how I feel just using a letter grade, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to cop out, and just give the book a B so far, and average it out.
This isn't the first time I've read a book in this kind of sub-genre: the real-life of a fictional character. I remember reading POE years ago by Jason Asala, which turned out to be much more of an action story than a macabre one. And as much as I'm enjoying this one, so far I'm feeling cheated. Let me try to explain.
No, wait, let me start with the good. First, this book, like most of the Dynamite titles, is beautiful. The coloring is outstanding, the art is wonderful, and the book itself -- I can't really describe what Dynamite is doing, but the book is, well, soft. The paper they use makes the color and details on the art truly stand out, and I've seen it across their titles (I've mentioned it in a review of Zorro recently.) Next, Leah Moore and John Reppion have been scripting a good story. They have captured the tone and content that I would have expected in a Holmes story, and each of the main characters, from Sherlock to Mycroft to Watson and others, all feel pitch perfect, and very much like real people. It's a double conceit, since they aren't real, but it's fiction doing fiction, instead of fiction doing non-fiction. And I think it works.
But I have two problems. This is a mystery within a mystery. Sherlock is accused of a murder, and it's up to him to break the case and prove his innocence. Sadly, he's not shown on-camera much, as much of what he has to do is done behind the scenes, or through others. This means that the book about Sherlock Holmes doesn't yet feature Mr. Holmes all that prominently. As I believe this is a 5-issue series, maybe he'll show up more in the last book, but it brings up the weakness of the format. Were I an ardent Holmes fan, I might be a bit put out by him just being a bit player in his own title.
My other problem is that this is obviously meant to be a collection. In fact, the ads for the TPB are already in the book, and the series isn't through yet. I can't tell that they have expanded this story to fit the 5 issue format, or if they really did mean the story to have this kind of pacing and meandering. The pacing would be totally fine if this were a novel, it feels weird for a series that already has rung up $14 in costs. I think Dynamite could get away with some more direct-to-TPB stories, and this is a perfect example of it. I wish they would have done it.
And that leads me to my last problem. I'd like to be able to recommend this, but I can't until I see how it ends. It has the makings to be great as well as really good. But based on what I hold in my hands, I'll need to see it to be sure. Maybe when the story finishes, we'll finally know.
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