Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #4 - Dynamite Entertainment

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VANISHING MAN No. 4, August 2018

Supposedly bringing this “Dynamite Entertainment” mystery “to its shocking conclusion”, Leah Moore and John Reppion’s script for Issue Four of “Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man” certainly must have given its audience a surprise or two with its train-based antics, downright bloody fisticuffs and gratifying gun-play. Yet whilst the authors’ narrative is undeniably action-packed the bombshells it provides aren’t disappointingly related to guileful penmanship but rather the duo’s dearth of dexterity and astonishingly lack-lustre motivation behind just why “the all-too-clever Moriarty” was arranging “regular, fortnightly burials here at Brookwood.”

For starters the person behind Michael Williams’ disappearance is revealed to be none other than the mislaid man’s wife, who as a result of disguising herself with a fake moustache and eye-glasses “was able to secure a wage more than double that of a female clerk.” However, this exposé was sadly evident right from the mini-series’ opening instalment when it became clear the title’s plot was disconcertingly influenced by Arthur Conan Doyle’s December 1891 short “The Man With The Twisted Lip”, and resultantly the only jolt it brings it that it’s taken the private detective so long to confront his client as to the truth of the matter, especially when he reveals “I knew that you and Michael were one and the same” when he first saw a photograph of him during his initial investigation.

Equally as unenjoyable is the disclosure that this entire farce was as a result of the pony-tailed office worker discovering “an anomaly in the accounts” involving Moriaty using the “coffins ferried via the Necropolis Railway” to secretively dispose of his operatives, like Hookham and Withers, when “their services [were] no longer required.” The lethal hubbub surrounding the Professor closing down this seemingly straightforward venture must surely have struck many within this twenty-two page periodical’s audience as being illogically ‘over-the-top’, and arguably as contrived as the publication’s finale, when having supposedly taken young Bertram Wiggins under his wing, the maniacal mathematical scholar leaves the child at Sherlock’s lodgings dying from cyanide-laced Turkish Delight; “Here, take the bag if you like. I fear Mister Holmes takes you for granted my boy. And so, I must perforce remind him…”

Arguably though, this book’s biggest fault is in its jarring re-imagining of the franchise’s two central antagonists’ first meeting. Original publicised as an ‘unrecorded adventure’ within the canon, the writing collaborators’ script sacrilegiously subverts the pair’s famous confrontation in "The Final Problem" and instead disrespectfully depicts the men meeting in the murderous private tutor’s study, so that an over-confident, arrogant Moriarty can boastfully challenge a somewhat crestfallen Holmes to “beat me… if you can.”

Writers: Leah Moore & John Reppion, and Illustrator: Julius Ohta

Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VANISHING MAN No. 3, July 2018

Considering that in the stories written by his creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes “is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic”, it was probably hard for this comic’s audience to believe that co-authors Leah Moore and John Reppion had ever actually read one of the former physician’s original novels. For despite this book’s titular character clearly being a competent consulting detective it’s difficult to imagine that the Strand Magazine’s incarceration of the amateur sleuth would ever completely forget that he’d sent one of his Baker Street Irregulars on an errand until one of the boy’s diminutive brethren enquires about his whereabouts some twenty-four hours later; “Wiggins? The boy I sent for my solution? I-I had quite forgotten. I sent him to Lloyd’s pharmacy, a fifteen minute walk. And this was yesterday morning?”

Admittedly, Holmes had been indulging in his nefarious “cocaine habit” when he had initially dispatched the street urchin from his room at Baker Street, and had subsequently been busy furiously chasing down a villain on foot during the mystery of the Michael Williams case. But even so, such exertions can hardly have compared to Sherlock’s “rather strenuous case in France” which left him bedridden at the beginning of “The Adventure of the Reigate Squire”, and even then the man’s indomitable “superhuman physical” stamina never permitted him to display such utter absent-mindedness regarding another person’s wellbeing.

Similarly as unbelievable is the British cultural icon’s sudden desperate desire to flee the scene of a chemist’s murder simply because his faithful friend, John Watson, berates him once again for sending a tiny child on apparently so obviously unsafe a chore. This act of emotional ‘cowardice’ genuinely beggars belief, yet incredibly pales in comparison to the detective’s next move which is to seek solace and refuge within the stiflingly smoky domain of an opium den.

Any fan of Doyle’s creation would well recall that the sleuth expressed a “strong disapproval” of such places in “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, so just why the husband and wife writing team felt Holmes would skulk to such a low point in order to “see the infinite complexity of the universe and [have] those complexities resolve themselves” to him is arguably madness. Unless of course, the more cynical bibliophile felt such a sequence was included simply to provide this publication with an excuse for a contrived punch-up, as the nefarious den’s oriental owner unsuccessfully attempts to murder Sherlock with the help of a pair of hired goons.

Writers: Leah Moore & John Reppion, and Illustrator: Julius Ohta

Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #2 - Dynamite Entertainment

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VANISHING MAN No. 2, June 2018

Printed nine years after the husband and wife writing team’s “first Holmes series arrived on comic shop shelves”, it is clear to see why “Dynamite Entertainment” was “proud to announce their continuing exploration of a literary icon” with this particular title and its “fantastic job bringing the fog, grime, and blood of Victorian London to the page”. But although the collaborative couple’s script to Issue Two of “Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man” undoubtedly provides “a mystery a bit more in line with the Strand Magazine short stories” as the “pop culture sensation” and faithful companion “continue their search for Michael Williams, only to discover they are not the only people doing so”, it also arguably lacks the enthralling hook and captivating pace which made so many of Arthur Conan Doyle’s adventures so difficult for a reader to put down until finished.

Foremost of these difficulties would appear to be as an unintentional result of the publication’s drab, disconcertingly stained overall appearance. Ellie Wright’s choice of colours outwardly does a very good job of portraying the dirty, squalid brown-grey world “of the original stories.” But in using this oft-times monotone palette to capture such an ‘accurate atmosphere’ throughout the comic, the freelance colourist unfortunately also unwittingly seems to additionally drain the life out of the twenty-two page periodical’s action sequences as well. Most notably, a potentially pulse-pounding foot chase over poultry-packed garden walls, through busy maid-filled kitchens and up tight winding staircases, which ultimately results in Doctor Watson unsuccessfully trying to stop a fleeing villain from charging away on a two-horse driven van.

This sense of listlessness even extends as far as a horrifically macabre-looking scene set within Channel Row Police Station, where Inspector Lestrade discovers the tongue-lolling corpse of Sergeant Bailey in the cell block after two supposed members of Special Branch visited to interview the detective’s latest prisoner. Ordinarily, such a ghastly murder would debatably prove a genuine ‘stand-out’ moment within a narrative, yet in this case, because Julius Ohta’s competently pencilled artwork ‘blends in’ with the rest of the mahogany-tinted storyboard, it only fleetingly catches the audience’s eye before their attention is jarred back to the conclusion of Holmes' aforementioned pursuit; “I think that the gentleman standing in the same spot he was when we arrived is most assuredly watching this house. Hi! You there! Stop! Come, Watson! There’s no time to waste!”

Writers: Leah Moore & John Reppion, and Illustrator: Julius Ohta

Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE VANISHING MAN No. 1, May 2018

Whilst the “Dynamite Entertainment” creative crew may well have leapt at the opportunity to “fill in” some of the “as-yet-unrecorded adventures” which Doctor John Watson was always insinuating with their own anecdotes, this opening instalment to “Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man” seems perturbingly similar to Arthur Conan Doyle’s December 1891 short “The Man With The Twisted Lip” rather than an innovative addition to the internationally popular franchise’s comic-based canon. True, “the curious case of Michael Williams” initially focuses upon the disappearance of a solicitor’s “excellent” yet lowly office clerk rather than a “respectable businessman” such as Mister Neville St. Clair. But the similarities in both characters being supposedly reliable men “at... work and home, who [then violently] disappear without a trace from foggy old London Town” will undoubtedly inauspiciously strike a chord with any readers familiar with the amateur sleuth’s well-documented fictional biography.

Fortunately however, it doesn’t take Leah Moore and John Reppion’s collaborative narrative for this twenty-two page periodical too long before it starts to take on a life of its own, as the hapless, well-meaning druggist Lloyd comes to a grisly end simply because he “had a shop in Tooting once”, and the titular character accepts an infinitely less ‘run-of-the-mill’ investigation involving missing Brigadier Ronald Makepeace and an ancient Egyptian Mummy’s curse; “It’s something from a Boy’s Own Adventure! How could I resist such a case?” These additional sub-plots really help add some enthralling complications to the story-telling, not least of which is Professor Moriarty’s notable surprise appearance in a dead chemist's store clutching a vial of Holmes’ precious “poison”…

Equally as enticing is the husband-and-wife writing team’s attention to detail towards their tale’s supporting cast, most notably that of young urchin Wiggins and the far less likeable Mister Withers. As far as the diminutive Baker Street Irregular is concerned, one can almost feel his excitement at being promised the change from a gold sovereign for completing a seemingly straightforward errand, and then later taste the petrified boy’s palpable fear having witnessed a pharmacist being brutally beaten to death right in front of his horrified eyes. Whereas Mister Hookham’s male assistant, ever present and watchful throughout his boss’s dealings with Holmes and Watson, is clearly capable of lying to his employer, as demonstrated by artist Julius Ohta pencilling the man brazenly walking into his superior’s office upon seeing the older man's guests and claiming he didn’t “hear anyone come in."

Writers: Leah Moore & John Reppion, and Illustrator: Julius Ohta