9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A pretty piece for Holmes fans, and it's a new story to boot, May 1, 2010
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
Plot Summary: First a factory is bombed, and then a man's life is threatened. Scotland Yard and Sherlock Holmes both sit in the intended victim's house on the evening of his supposed murder, and most shocking of all, Holmes himself is accused of the murder when it takes place. He is put in jail, and his friends, Watson and Lestrade, are prevented from looking into the case. In this novel twist, Holmes is put on trial, and his detective skills are all that stand between him and the hangman's noose.
I am a serious Sherlock Holmes fan, so my husband had me in mind when he picked this up at the bookstore. Well, that's what he said anyway, and I think he was hoping to soften the blow when I found out how much this cost ($25). I would never have spent that much myself - since I'm a chronic cheapskate - but since we had the book I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to read it.
Sherlock Holmes, Vol 1: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes is the kind of graphic novel that spoils me for the cruder, black and white types, because everything about this is first class. Every single illustration is beautifully drawn and colored, the binding and paper is of good quality, and it's highly collectable. It's a gorgeous piece of work. The bonus materials are the end were comprehensive, and include a panel-by-panel discussion, essays on Sherlock Holmes, and one of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
With regards to the story, I think the authors, Leah Moore, John Reppion, and Aaron Campbell, made two smart decisions. One, they stuck to the Watson and Holmes that legions of fans know and love. Holmes was a little cold, and lacking that occasional sparkle that comes across in the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, but at least they didn't try to spin him into something he was not. Watson was particularly well done, and he had the right mix of solicitous care and genuine emotion. Lots of familiar faces pop up, including Lestrade and Sherlock's brother, Mycroft.
The second smart move was to craft a completely unique story. Instead of adapting a mystery that most fans would have already read, they gave us something new, and since it's no easy thing to craft a mystery worthy of Holmes, I applaud their effort. The mystery wasn't jaw-dropping, but I followed it along happily to the end. I think the only flaw is that Holmes is necessarily absent for good chunks of the story, but the authors make a good case for why this was needed within the bonus materials.
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Elementary my dear Watson, November 16, 2009
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
The brand new release of any Sherlock Holmes mystery in any format is something to be applauded by fiction fans everywhere, and this trade hardcover is no exception. The character is arguably a more constricted and less implausible precursor to Batman, therefore fitting the comic medium like a glove, with the recent graphic novelization of The Hound of the Baskervilles greatly illustrating this point. Reading how this legendary sleuth solves mysteries in his unique and inimitable fashion is a reading pleasure and undoubtedly the center attraction, so how ironic that this story's critical flaw, the reduced role of the main man himself and what he does best, is curiously rationalized at the end of the book by an author's rather enlightening entry, stating the perceived predicament of writing a compelling 110 page Holmes tale due to his prodigious yet apparently problematic detective skills. The point is certainly debatable. Whatever strengths and weaknesses any character may have comes with the territory and needs to be worked around, if not enhanced, by the creators. After all, that is what they do, craft intriguing stories featuring remarkably exceptional individuals. Because of this, the story does wander a bit in the middle, while also not sufficiently allowing the reader the opportunity to play detective themselves by placing adequate clues to solve the mystery, whose final resolution was alas abrupt and somewhat anticlimactic. Despite its' shortcomings, it is still a much welcomed and enjoyable read while hopefully being a harbinger of a bright and extensive future in the comics medium for this renowned icon.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best Sherlock Holmes graphic novels out there., April 10, 2010
This review is from: Sherlock Holmes, Vol. 1: The Trial of Sherlock Holmes (Hardcover)
This was a great Sherlock Holmes story! I would have liked to see more of Sherlock in the series, but his absence in places did increase the mystery. I hope there is another volume.
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