Review: Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Pink #1
“No point sitting at home when there’s something fun going on.” – Sherlock Holmes.
Synopsis:
This is an adaptation of the first of the BBC-TV series Sherlock Holmes episodes starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The body of Beth Davenport has been discovered by authorities. She was the Junior Minister for Transport. The preliminary investigation said that she had committed suicide and even compares her “suicide” to other recent suicides. The story unfolds smoothly and is surprisingly close to the original script of the television episode. Detective Inspector Lestrade is puzzled by a series of seemingly related suicides.
The Creative Team:
Steven Moffat adapts his own script to the medium and is an adaptation of the original Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet. The episode was called A Study in Pink. his series is set in the modern era rather than the original Victorian era. This adaptation is so faithful to the original script that it almost isn’t necessary, since it doesn’t give us anything that the TV show didn’t already show. If you’ve seen the episode then you know what’s going to happen. If you haven’t seen any of the series then this is definitely a good introduction to Moffat’s world of a modern day Sherlock Holmes.
Jay’s art is brilliant. However the Manga style and literal adaptations of Television frames may leave some readers confused. This was originally a Japanese Manga publication by Kadokowa. The characters do resemble the actors who play them, but Jay’s strength lay in conveying emotion rather than exactly replicating actors. Some extremely well done pages await you in this volume. In one particular scene Watson relives an unpleasant moment in Afghanistan. Jay’s rendition of this moment captures what actor Martin Freeman did on the silver screen incredibly well.
The Cover:
It’s a nice cover, a close-up of Sherlock’s face and he, of course, looks exactly like actor Benedict Cumberbatch. I’m sure this was done to capitalize on the actors recent successes internationally with Star Trek into Darkness and the upcoming Dr. Strange movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He’s deep in thought with his hands in front of his face and his fingers are touching. This lets the reader know that Sherlock Holmes puts a lot of thought into his Detective work and deductive reasoning. It should successfully draw the reader into the world of Arthur Conan Doyle as adapted by Steven Moffat.
In Conclusion:
We see Holmes moving into the infamous Apartment on Baker Street. When asked about the three suicides Holmes corrects Mrs. Hudson, informing her that there’s been four. What was the difference between this one and the other three? This one left a note. To be continued. It’s a fairly good adaptation and I’m going to give it a good review but not a great one because I feel they could have done a little bit more than simply show what the television episode already showed us.***
Sherlock: A Study in Pink #1
Writer: Steven Moffat
Art adaptation: Jay
Letters: Amoona Saohin
Publisher: Titan comics
Publication date: June 8, 2016
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
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