Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon Issue 3 Review

Sherlock Holmes:

The Liverpool Demon #3

By Leah Moore and John Reppion

Art by Matt Triano

Holmes and Watson are investigating a murder of a museum curator.  He was murdered while open crates for his new exhibit and Holmes noticed that one of the crates has gone missing.   So they are off to the boat that the boxes have been delivered on a hunch by Holmes that the missing crate might still be there and was not delivered. 

While Holmes and Watson are doing that, Inspector Thornton has his hands filled with a puma that has escaped from the zoo.  It appears the puma found its way into the illegal dog fighting that is in the cellar of a building in the shadier parts of Liverpool and it appears to have killed everyone there man and dog.   How are these two separate incidents tied into The Spring Heeled Jack case they are working on?  Holmes has a theory and it involves a crooked medium and something that might have been overlooked.

The Liverpool Demon issue 3 was a total spin from the first two issues as it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting.  What I love from Leah Moore and John Reppion is how well they write for Sherlock Holmes as the capture the character really well.  I also like how they tell a story and with The Liverpool Demon I have been kept guessing what will happen next.  Even though my guesses have been wrong I do indeed love that as it tells the reader that the story is not predictable and it keeps you on your toes. 

Another thing I enjoyed in The Liverpool Demon was the fact that the art was better than issue two.  I do not care how well a story is in a comic book if the art sucks then the story sucks also because it really brings it down.  Issue 3 was a lot better than issue two and the art had a good feel to it and wasn’t to dark that you couldn’t see anything.

I have been enjoying this comic book limited series and seeing Sherlock Holmes return in comic book form has been pretty cool to see.  The Liverpool Demon has so far been a good story and fits right in with the classic stories by Conan Doyle for the most part.  I’m really looking forward to the next few issues and to see how this story ends.

Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon Issue 2 Review

Sherlock Holmes: Liverpool Demon  Issue 2

By Leah Moore and John Reppion

Art by Matt Triano

Holmes is now curious about the Demon that seems to be terrorizing Liverpool and decides to postpone going back home to London to see if he can figure out what is actually doing the terrorizing.  Holmes goes to the coroner and looks at the body to see if he can find anything out of the ordinary. Satisfied with that he heads to St. Mary’s Church the scene of the crime and does a look around where things appear pretty strange.  Holmes is pretty satisfied with what he saw in the church and seems to have come up with a couple of ideas.  Then there is the thing with the strange man called Drummond who spends his time with the dog fights and seems to have a peculiarly looking dog with big claws.

The second part of The Liverpool Demon takes delves deeper into the mystery that was started with the 1^st issue.  I really enjoyed the Holmes and Watson part of the issue as I felt that was the strongest part of the story.  The part with Drummond was well kind of strange and the whole dog fight scenes seemed to be excessively gory but I’m sure as the story unfolds in the next issues it will make more sense. 

I had a problem with the art with this issue. It seemed to be pretty sloppy in parts mainly with the part that involved Drummond.  Plus with the scenes in a dark area it made it look a bit worse than it should have.  Put the art on the book besides those scenes are pretty good.  Overall I have been enjoying the story so far and hope the rest of the mini-series turns out to be pretty good but so far so good for Sherlock Holmes: The Liverpool Demon.

Sherlock Holmes - The Liverpool Demon # 1 of 5 Review

Sherlock Holmes – The Liverpool Demon 1(of 5)
By Leigh Moore and John Reppion
Art by Matt Triano

Sherlock Holmes is back and this time he and Watson are in Liverpool finishing up on a case about identity theft and murder.  Upon finishing that up they are invited to dinner by one of Watson’s old colleagues Daniel Denby and his associates.  There he is listening intently to the group’s plans to build an above ground train system for Liverpool when all of a sudden the waiter faints.  Watson and Holmes rush to him and notice he fainted after looking out the window.  The duo run out of the restaurant and hurry to a mob scene where they appear to be looking at something scaling a building. It was something that resembles a demon which the locals call Spring Heeled Jack.

Leigh Moore and John Reppion return to the world of Sherlock Holmes after three years.  I loved their first foray The Trial of Sherlock Holmes which was really good and a must read for any Holmes enthusiast as it captured the way Doyle had written him.  With that said we now have their second helping and a good thing too as the last Sherlock Holmes Dynamite did, Year One, was god awful.

Issue one starts off pretty fast with the first case being completed at the beginning.  The story is set up really well and I look forward to seeing where it all goes in the next four issues. I like the slow pace it takes to get things in motion.  Similar to how Doyle would do it for his short stories.  The demon aspect is intriguing as I’m not a big fan of that type of stuff in Sherlock Holmes but so far I am enjoying the prospect of it.  So with an enjoyable first issue and the table is set for the next issue The Liverpool Demon should be picked up by Sherlock Holmes fans as Moore and Reppion sure know how to write for the detective and his trusted ally.  Looking forward to seeing where this story will go with the second issue next month.