Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon Paperback – Illustrated, November 26, 2013

Not my favorite, but still a good read.I liked the art better in the previous books, though.In this story, Holmes and Watson are caught up in local drama as unexplainable deaths begin to occur. Inspired by The Hound of Baskerville.Christa

I enjoyed the previous Dynamite collaboration ( Sherlock Holmes: Trial of Sherlock Holmes HC (Sherlock Holmes (Dynamite Entertainment)) by Leah Moore (2009-11-19) ), so this was a natural follow-up. While the artwork was solid, and the idea behind the story was very "Doyle-esque", the plot and its resolution just didn't work for me.The attention detail in the story (I hope this isn't seen as a *spoiler*) in the opening scene as it relates to plot points later was every bit as worth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as I had hoped. The conflict between superstition and science - echoing  The Hound of The Baskervilles - A Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel  was fantastic; however, the resolution to the mystery was really a let-down given the high expectations the graphic novel sets for itself in its other aspects.Fun and entertaining, to be sure, with top-shelf artwork, but I can't give it more than 3 stars.

The art in this series is perfect for the period. Everything is done in shades of brown, the only blacks are the inking. When there is a real colour, a vivid red for blood or a magical green glow it stands out and wants to be noticed. When we think of historical pieces, films or big budget TV shows or even portraits from the period, we are shown only the rich and powerful, those who could afford expensive cloth and more importantly, expensive dyes. Until the age in which we live, brown has to be the most common colour the human eye has ever seen. Dirt is brown, bare cloth is brown, wood is brown and all of that is captured in the art of this comic. Even the fancy writing that makes up the title page of the comic is a brown/gold wooden effect.It is very much in the vein of the Hound of the Baskervilles as this comic centres around a semi-mythic creature, Spring Heeled Jack, a creature said to jump from the roofs in Victorian England and attack its prey on the ground with vicious claws. I do not feel I am giving too much away to say that the supernatural explanation is not the one which Holmes favours. His investigations lead him from Inspector to Vicar, museum to morgue and the bodies keep piling up, slashed to the bone across their backs.I have read through so awful dross purely because I liked the art, and yet I cannot stomach what is supposedly the best of the current Marvel titles because I utterly hate the artwork. This story is full of the trappings of a true Sherlock Holmes novel in that it is full of coincidences and of examples of Holmes retrospective brilliance, where he returns to a crime scene only to ‘claim’ that something he had apparently missed had been done so intentionally to throw others off the trail. I have not read all the Sherlock Holmes novels and if the foreword had not told me this was an original story, I would have thought it had flowed from Conan Doyle’s pen; I cannot think of higher praise for a book like this.

Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon(Sherlock Holmes Dynamite Comics #2)by Leah Moorethe pictures are a little dark... The demon of Liverpool is an artistic adventure of dispelling myth and searching for facts...

Sherlock Holmes and the Liverpool Demon is another in a long line of Sherlock Holmes tributes. The story here, according to the excellent introduction by noted Holmes scholar Leslie S. Klinger takes place around the time of The Sign Of The Four, which places Holmes and Watson in Liverpool. Actually, it's a bit sad when the introduction is more memorable than the story to follow.Holmes and Watson are in Liverpool finishing up a case, when they get wrapped up in another one. This one may involve supernatural figure Spring heeled Jack, or some large creature. The locals are superstitious, the local police are somewhat indifferent to Holmes' methods, and Holmes is simply intent on finding the answer.From a Sherlock Holmes perspective, they got the details right. The art is good. It's dark and dingy. I just found the story only mildly interesting, and the solution was not really one worthy of Sherlock Holmes. Also, the locals speak with what I assume is a Liverpool accent, and it was just difficult to read. If I'd heard it, it might not have bothered me, but in written form, it just didn't work for me. Which is too bad.I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

I had bought all three Dynamite Sherlock Holmes issues at one time. To be honest, if I hadn't , I wouldn't have bought more than one max. I prefer my artwork to be cleaner, to be able to tell characters apart. I can see the quality of the work, it is just in a style that doesn't appeal to me. 3 out of 5.

This is what a pastiche should be! A compact, fast-paced adventure which is gritty, based stubbornly on the grim realities of fin-de-siècle England, true in characterisation of the dynamic duo, full of brilliant sketch-work (a little over-stylised at times, but vastly better than some of the horrific drawings that I have encountered in some other graphic novels recently), and eminently gothic! Brilliant work. Recommended.