Please welcome Jeanne of the BPL back to the blog
today….
I picked up this graphic novel from a review that
ran on the Bristol
Public Library’s Bookblog, so Ambrea did a good job of selling this book!
The short description is that this is a sort of The
Great Detective Meets The Great Cuthulu but of course there’s a twist. As the story opens, a veteran of the campaign
in Afghanistan finds lodging with an idiosyncratic detective—does this sound
familiar?—and the two of them are soon called to the scene of a shocking
murder. Lestrad, the policeman, is suitable astounded by the swift deductions
by the consulting detective and soon they are called to an audience with a
Royal Personage who wants the case solved quickly.
In Gaiman’s
story, we soon learn that The Great Old Ones of Lovecraft conquered Earth and
have become rulers of their various human countries, maintaining the Royal
bloodlines. Let’s just say I won’t ever
quite look at Queen Victoria in the same way.
The graphic novel is based on a Hugo Award winning
short story by Gaiman and now I really want to read the original just to see
how some things are handled. For
example, the graphic novel boasts advertisements for various things, such as
Doctor Jekyll’s Powders which are “Guaranteed to Release the Inner You!”
It’s this sense of playfulness amid the grim
investigation and all the little inside jokes that made this such a hit with
me. I am more of a Holmes fan than
Lovecraft so I’m sure I missed some things there, but the little fannish Easter
eggs delighted me. From some other
things I’ve read, I have wondered if some reviewers missed a crucial plot
point, but that certainly didn’t seem to mar their appreciation.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have actually
read it over a couple of times, finding some new little tidbit each time. For that reason, I highly recommend it.
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