Welcome to AiT/Planet Lar

Today at AiT/Planet Lar

April 11, 2008
permalink

Superman, Mickey Mouse, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, and James Bond are widely believed to the Most Recognized Fictional Characters. Unless you want to do a version of Thunderball, James Bond is pretty much locked up. Burroughs has Tarzan; Disney has Mickey Mouse. Oddly, there seems to be some discussion about the rights to Superman, although of course that's one for the courts.

But just ask Nicholas Meyer: The World's Greatest Detective is there for you to put your mark upon if you so desire, and Omaha Perez did so wish it. His Holmes is out at finer specialty retail shops and bookstores in the wider reaches; here's another review I invite you to click through: "I have encountered many variations of both Holmes and his counterpart, Watson, in many forms over the years. To memory, this is probably the most depraved version overall..."

April 09, 2008
permalink

Ain't It Cool News' master-tastemaker Ambush Bug on Holmes: "I reviewed HOLMES a while back when it was released as individual issues by writer/artist Omaha Perez. The book promised a new vision of Sherlock Holmes and his dutiful assistant Dr. Watson. I found this miniseries to deliver in spades. Holmes isn't the master sleuth depicted in film and stories of old. He's more of a bumbling idiot who is smart enough to make it seem as if he has solved the case. Drug addled and definitely delusional, Perez' Holmes infuriates Watson by dragging him all over London, pursuing a fictional Moriarty and leaving chaos in his wake. I know depicting Holmes in this light is not completely new, but I found this take to be entertaining and fascinating to read. The story cleverly positions Holmes on a tightrope. His actions clearly aren't sane, but with the help of his assistant Watson, he is able to solve cases and maintain his reputation. The best part of this compilation of the original miniseries is Perez' art. Occasionally his figures can be awkward and abstract, but Perez utilizes a scratchboard technique with the covers of these books and also during a dream sequence that makes for some of the most eye-appealing panels I've seen in recent memory. In the back of this book, Perez says that if he were to use this technique for the whole book, he would have never finished. Here's hoping he's able to do this type of work on future projects. The book is a delight from story to art. And now that AIT/Planet Lar picked up the book, it is much easier to find a copy."

April 07, 2008
permalink

Some more praise for the critics' darling, Holmes. First, from Iain Jackson: "A story of Sherlock Holmes, narrated by John Watson. Perfectly normal, right? Exactly what you expect a Holmes story to be ... only not quite. In this case, we discover that HOlmes is seriously into drugs and may or may not be a touch unbalanced, and Watson is a man of mighty mighty appetites, who manages to clean up the stories considerably to present the both of them in a much better light before committing the stories to print. In this case, the skull of composer Joseph Haydn is stolen from a graveyard (a true event), and somehow winds up in London. Holmes immediately fixates on Moriarty as a possible suspect in the theft. Along the way to the solution, we make stops in the British Museum (it gets broken -- again), a bar with Holmes in very very bad drag, an opium den, a brothel (Watson is not only a man of mighty appetites, he also has -- to be a bit Victorian about it -- a mighty truncheon and he likes to use it), and of course back on Baker Street, where we discover that Mrs Hudson is a very longsuffering landlady indeed. The highly stylized art works well to convey the inner insanity of the story, and it's a fun read from beginning to end. A Very Good story."

...and one from Laura Gjovaag: "I will confess that I've never been a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. In fact, I consider him an unsufferable twit. I adored a Doctor Who novel (All-Consuming Fire) that took Holmes into a fantastical setting in which Watson could cope but Holmes could not. This graphic novel goes quite a bit further, making both Watson and Holmes out to be insane drug-addicts. It's very strange, very raunchy, and a bit over the top in places. I can't really recommend it to most folks, but if you dislike Holmes already or like re-imaginings of classic characters, this is one you should check out."

April 06, 2008
permalink

Find any AiT/Planet Lar publication at your nearest comic store.

Can't find it at your local retailer? Get it online at Khepri.com