Story: Fred Duval, Jean-Pierre Pecau
Art: Stevan Subic
$4.99, 48 pages
Titan Comics
Review: Kris Lorenzen
What It Is: The English translation of the alternate history caper starring Holmes and Watson (and Jekyll and Hyde and…) comic from a few years ago. This is half of the first French album.

The Good: It’s always kinda fun, if a bit well-worn, to see Holmes and Watson in a slightly askew Victorian London. This one is steampunk, which, again, we’ve seen before. But airships are cool, everybody knows that.

The Sherlock bits hit all comforting beats—he deduces someone’s identity upon meeting them, easily foils some elaborate criminal plot, Dr. Watson is shocked by his ability to disguise himself, etc. Most Holmesian fanfiction would attempt to tell the story from Watson’s POV ala the majority of the Conan Doyle mysteries, but, since this is a visual medium, MORIARTY: A CLOCKWORK EMPRIE wisely avoids the trope.

A forty-eight-page issue for five bucks is a steal in today’s comic landscape.

The Bad: The panel placements and page construction are weirdly symmetrical and confusing. Stacks of thin horizontal panels bookended between tall verticals is a layout no-no for a reason—it’s very easy to get lost and find yourself retracing your steps and rereading instead of moving forward with the story, losing momentum.

Brown. Everything is a shade of tan or brown or beige. There is this tendency in modern comics that eschews color and thinks that gives it a verisimilitude, as if there’s no color in the real world. I’m sure this is rooted in color theory or scholarship of some kind, but the result is muddy and flat and lifeless. Just because the photographs were sepia doesn’t mean that life was.

I’d forgive the weird balloon shapes as a product of the translation from European comics (and yes, Titan is a UK publisher) but in the time of digital, there’s really no excuse.

The Score: 4 out of 10 capes

Further Reading: The first volume or two of LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN? We’ve seen all these pieces fit into a better puzzle before.