The Hound Of The Baskervilles Day!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on this date in 1859. He of course is most famous for the creation of Sherlock Holmes. He also created Professor Challenger, a gruff scientist who was unafraid of new ideas. Doyle himself became fascinated with spiritualism. 

When people ask which novel is my favorite, I often reply with The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. It was sometime in 1968 when I was eleven when this magnificent tale first came into my ken, and it left its marks for certain, perhaps less savage than the titular hound, but no less permanent. One of the earliest projects here at the Dojo was to serialize the novel. You can find the beginning of that long ago project here. Below is a copy of the Whitman book which lit intrigue into this most famous of Doyle's canon. 

Jim Steranko must really like Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles as well, as can be seen from the double-page spread below from Mediascene. 

Steranko not only did a first-rate pastiche of the classic Hound tale in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #3, but he's also illustrated a sequel to that story by Michael Hardwick, titled Revenge of the Hound.

Here are some sample pages from Steranko's SHIELD/Sherlock story.

Here are a few of his illustrations for Hardwick's book. The portrait of Holmes at the top of this post is from this project as well. 

The painting above of the great detective also served as a cover for a revived Argosy Magazine.

Holmes and Watson might have rid Dartmoor of the Hound, but they could not rid the world of it fascinating terror. 

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DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told?

DC's Greatest Detective Stories Ever Told is a collection which sadly does not live up to its name. But what we do have is a healthy sampling of stories from across the many decades giving a glimpse of what comics were like at various times. It's an eclectic collection with some pretty good stories, but not as many great ones as it should have. I do love that Mike Kaluta cover though. 

First up is a Slam Bradley story from the second issue of Detective Comics. Produced by the Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster team, this is a rousing adventure with a nifty blend of two-fisted action and humor. Slam's partner Shorty is the source of the humor of course. I enjoyed this little tale immensely. 

The Sandman story "The Van Leew Emeralds" by Gardner Fox and artist Creig Flessel might me my favorite in this collection. This story from Adventure Comics #51 has got solid art and the Sandman slips in and out of his mask more than a few times. This is an excellent 1940 Golden Age yarn. 

Behind this Batman and Robin Detective Comics cover is an Elongated Man story titled "The Purple Pony". This is well drawn as usual by Carmine Infantino, but the 1964 story by Gardner Fox is not to my mind the best example of what Ralph and Sue Dibny have to offer the reader. It's fine, but nothing special. 

Perhaps my greatest disappointment was the expansive Lois Lane story which occupies nearly one hundred pages of the collection. The upside is the typically fine Gray Morrow artwork, but the story by Mindy Newell strives for realism at the cost of excitement. The prospective reader is warned that at no time does a scene like that picture on the cover of the second issue occur. This is grim tale about child abuse, kidnapping, and runaways. I admire the desire to focus attention on a problem, but it could've been done with a bit more verve. 

From the fiftieth anniversary issue of Detective Comics we get a darn good yarn. Mike Barr's story is divided into chapters with each drawn by specially selected artists. We begin with a Slam Bradley tale drawn by Alan Davis in which we learn that Shorty has been killed and Slam is drawn into a case when his prospective client is whisked away violently. A certain dynamic duo help. Then in a chapter drawn by Terry Beatty and Dick Giordano Slam seeks his lost client by trying to find a missing woman. This takes us to London where in a Carmine Infantino drawn tale Elongated Man seeks a long-lost document. That document proves to be a forgotten Sherlock Holmes story which we get to enjoy thanks to artist E. R. Cruz. Alan Davis returns to wrap things up as the collected heroes team up. It's a fun romp. 

From the pages of 1987's The Question #8 we get a grim story by Denny O'Neil and artists Denis Cowan and Rick Magyar which pits the faceless hero against a deadly and devious killer of criminals. 

The secret origin of Detective Chimp is brought to us by artist Mark Badger and writer Andy Helfer. It's a truly strange few pages from Secret Origins #40 which feature aliens from beyond the stars who find their way into a small and humble chimp. 

The collection wraps up with a back-up story from 1989's Batman #441 in which Tim Drake introduces himself to Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth. Despite featuring some decent art by Jim Aparo we only get a few pages of this Marv Wolfman story. I'm not quite sure what was the intent here and it's the weakest part of the collection. 

I want to like this collection more than I do. Some of the choices seem odd. And the lack of creator credits in the table of contents is frustrating. I had to use the Grand Comics Database to fill in some gaps for this review. This collection does not live up to its grandiose title. But that is a great cover. 

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Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century!

This late 90's Sherlock Holmes in The 22nd Century cartoon series is not that bad actually given the nature of animation at the time. It's evidence that Sherlock Holmes can work in many different environments and eras, just assuming the creators are savvy enough to keep the essence of the classic Arthur Conan Doyle stories in some kind of recognizable form. This show is successful in this area to a great extent but also falls down in some basic ways which are largely due to the perceived nature of the medium. 

For one thing as an animated feature there is a perceived need for action and movement, so our characters are in nigh constant motion. The fighting in the most acrobatic ways against foes which attack with brawn more often than with brain. A Sherlock Holmes story certainly has action, but it is subservient to the thought process which is often expressed in periods of inaction and quiet. None of that here. 

On the plus side the creators cleave close to the original stories by using those classics as the basis for their own high-tech variations. Seeing how they make these changes is intriguing and keeps the show interesting even when it descends into 90's cartoon cliches. 

Holmes finds himself in the 22nd Century thanks to having been preserved in honey and revived by the police when they are confronted by a baffling case which seems just his cup of tea. Watson is a robot who after a few episodes, assumes the face of the detective's great biographer. Lestrade is a woman, a police officer who is prone to taking action and is not necessarily comfortable playing by the rules. Even the arch-foe Moriarty is revived thanks to clone technology to become the main villain of the series appearing many times, often as the mastermind of a crime and is revealed at the end. Holmes is often assisted by a version of his "Irregulars", street-smart kids named Wiggins, Diedre, and Tennyson. 

But what I admire most about this series is the setting or more specifically the design of the setting. The makers seem to have been influenced heavily by Syd Mead's designs for Bladerunner with many sequences evoking that classic sci-fi flicker. There are a number of stories set on the Moon and the installation there seems clearly to me to evoke the wonderful painting of Vincent Di Fate who did so many wonderful covers for many a science. fiction magazine. 

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Sherlock - Season Four!

Season Four seems to have put a pretty good little bow on the run and for the first time we don't have a monumental cliffhanger which is highly suggestive to me that new ones will be far off if ever. The shows in this most recent trilogy had the kinetic fun we've come to expect from the series and some pretty well-done deduction scenes for the classic Sherlock fan, but the constant twisting and turning gets a bit tiresome after a bit. It's rather like a roller coaster that goes too long, eventually the fun begins to wear off and the whole shebang becomes somewhat of an ordeal. These shows don't quite reach that point, but there were places in the storytelling where I did just want the plot to progress a bit more rapidly and to dispense with the quips.

More after this break for SPOILERS.

Of the three episodes this time, my favorite was "The Lying Detective" which delivered a proper villain played brilliantly by Toby Jones. The malignant Culverton Smith was the most odious TV villain I've seen since this same show gave us Charles Augustus Magnussen a while back. Sleazy and oily and just plain vile, he was a truly bad man. Now Sherlock's scheme to capture him seemed a bit overheated and wildly unreliable, but I guess his ability to read people and anticipate them was the point. Best twists of the season. And an immoral man who is too rich and famous and so powerful to be properly brought to heel by his fellows seems a very timely creation indeed.

"The Six Thatchers" began wonderfully, but the secret was a bit too apparent though the action sequences were very compelling. The death of Mary was a surprise but not a shock. Her continued appearances as a ghost giving advice to the two of them was a nifty twist and added a bit of heart to a show that can depend a bit too much on intellectual whimsy.

"The Final Problem" had the most potential, seeing as the we were on an island of madmen, but somehow the incessant games Euros played with Sherlock, Watson, and Mycroft became tiresome before the final revelation and that seemed a tad overheated. The secret of Redbeard was properly gruesome, but the web of deceptions was a bit opaque at times. The death and mayhem were pretty strong in this one and the ending seemed a tad antiseptic given all of that destruction. Nonetheless the end of this series did leave a good feeling overall as the heroes are finally fully formed.

This marks the end of the SPOILERS.

What we have at the end of this series are a fully functioning Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson team, both men more emotionally stable than they've been in the entire run, both having to some extent come to terms with the torments of their personal lives. Sherlock's fractured personality seems to have healed itself as he allows himself feel, and Watson's survivor's guilt has transformed into a life of service which helps him and us all. They are properly heroes now, less concerned with themselves than helping others. It bodes well for any new ones they do decide to cook up. Personally, I like how it "ended" (or "began" if you prefer) and I'm satisfied if it ends on this exceptionally high note.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Sherlock - The Special!

One of the true absolute joys from the television world have been the infrequent but always fully packed episodes of Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sturdy detective duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson.

This series has the conceit (shared by the also rather diverting Sherlock Holmes adaptation Elementary) of shifting the Holmes saga to the modern world and letting him have a go at our problems. This opens up the storytelling and we find that Holmes is of course a rather modern figure after all is said and done.

But the installment in the series for 2016 titled The Abominable Bride reverses that situation and instead gives us a grand old Sherlock Holmes mystery steeped in the Victorian era, rife with its fixed class structure, backwards attitudes about women and men, and noxious odors such as sweat, decomposition and horse shit. To be fair this story pays a lot of attention to the two former problems and less on the latter, but I'm always reminded of that particular nasal dilemma when folks wax on about the good old days which when we take a second or two to reflect were rich with singular banes we've kindly forgotten.

The story here is a lurid and gothic mystery in which a mad bride commits suicide then seems to many to rise from her grave and commit a range of murders. Holmes and Watson are brought into the case which stretches over many months and have to confront their own fears, attitudes and weaknesses to find a way to discover and reveal the truth which turns out afterwards to have been staring us in the face all along.

The story is brimming with the entertaining banter we've come to expect from this series, as Watson and Holmes exchange jibes and Holmes in his own snotty fashion snipes at the rest of the world. Mary Morstan Watson is along for the ride as well and the delightful Mycroft Holmes, Mrs. Hudson and Inspector Lestrade are on board as well. Molly Hooper turns up as does the enigmatic and excitable James Moriarty. The gang is all there, and believe it or not this does all fold back into the regular story line we've been following now for several years.

This impressive twist on the original twist is quite entertaining. It's a hoot and highly recommended.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Sherlock - Season Three!

The BBC series Sherlock which cast Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern version of Sherlock Holmes aided by his own equally modern John Watson played by Martin Freeman continues to be excellent in its third season. Both actors have moved on to significant success since this show debuted with gusto several years ago, Cumberbatch turning in a fascinating turn as a Star Trek villain Khan and the great dragon Smaug, and Freeman making a favorable impression as peripatetic resident of Hobbiton, Bilbo Baggins. Thankfully both have decided to return to the parts which made them stars. Getting them there becomes increasingly difficult. 

The third season begins where the last left off, with Sherlock seemingly dead but now necessarily returned to life to battle a significant threat to the heart of London itself. Watson having dealt with Sherlock's seeming death for two years is necessarily startled by this sudden resurrection. Watson himself has moved on and has found a wife, Mary Morstan who steps in and becomes a core part of the story.  Amanda Abbington is magnificent in the role and slides in alongside the quirky duo as a strong personality well capable of holding her own creating a whole new and highly entertaining dynamic. Also back are Gregory Lestrade (Rupert Graves), Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey), and Mrs.Hudson (Una Stubbs), vibrant and distinctive characters who are often hilarious and in moments touching.  In fact humor seems to have been a key to this third season.

In a new trio of stories, we see the relationship of Watson and Morstan develop and its no giveaway to say their wedding is the pivotal event of the third season, in a story which adapts The Sign of Four in some very clever and imaginative ways.

The looming figure though in this saga is the heinous Charles Augustus Magnussen (Lars Mikkleson), a villain based on Doyle's Charles Augustus Milverton a blackmailer extraordinaire. Like Moriarty before him, Magnussen proves to be an intellectual rival to Sherlock, but with a different most distinctive and exceedingly repulsive personality. His core secret is a true revelation and ties into the larger themes of the show exceedingly well. The banter between Holmes and Watson remains fervent and crackles with wit and humor, perhaps too much at times, but nonetheless its heady and you need to keep your wits as you watch this show which bristles with charm.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

 
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Sherlock - Season Two!

The second season of Sherlock picks up where the first left off, literally. Then we transition to three more wonderful episodes. Cumberbatch and Freeman never miss a beat, and if anything. are even more comfortable in the skins of their classic interpretations.

In the first story "A Scandal in Belgravia" (a take on "A Scandal in Bohemia" of course) we meet Irene Adler, a dominatrix who has embarrassing photos with royal interest. Sherlock and Watson are to get these back, but quickly learn there is much more at stake. "The Hounds of Baskerville" is a simply brilliant spin on classic and exceedingly familiar but in fantastically surprising ways. A young rich man comes to Sherlock to help him solve the twenty-year gone murder of his father by a giant hound and Sherlock and Watson find themselves investigating a government laboratory filled with mutant animals. "The Reichenbach Fall" (based on "The Final Problem") brings all of the stories to stunning climax when Moriarty returns to wreak his revenge on Sherlock, and that's enough said, save that the story begins with an assault on the Crown Jewels no less.

These are well-crafted television shows, with clever camera work and scripts which sing out with character. As it turns out, Sherlock Holmes as a modern man who texts and is adept with all things technological is still the character Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created so long ago. He was a modern man then in the waning days of Victoria's England and he became one again in the final years of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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Sherlock - Season One!

Season one of the series Sherlock, originally aired on the BBC in 2010 and adapted three of the classic Conan Doyle stories for a new audience with a hero plunked right down in the middle of twenty-first century London. Played stunningly by Benedict Cumberbatch (also infamous as Star Trek's Khan Nonnian Singh and most recently Doctor Strange), this Sherlock Holmes has all the acid wit of the classic character along with the arid intelligence and fundamental misanthropy which define the character for me. He is joined by Martin Freeman (now at least equally famous for being Bilbo Baggins among other things) as a stalwart, brave, and even daring Dr. John Watson. This is a Watson with PTSD who finds in his dangerous association with Sherlock the juice he misses from his warfront days, which in a peculiar way heals his spirit.

The three tales in the first season are "A Study in Pink", "The Blind Banker", and "The Great Game". The first, clearly a spin on "A Study in Scarlet" introduces Sherlock and Watson as they meet and move into 221 B Baker Street just in time to try and solve a series of seemingly disconnected suicides.  The second has echoes of "The Sign of Four" as weird symbols left in peculiar places send a myriad of folks running in fear for their lives. Set in London's Chinatown this one has a real exotic flair to it. The final episode of the season reveals Jim Moriarty, a grinning ghoul of a criminal mastermind who openly pits himself against Sherlock by having him solve puzzles and crimes on a clock before innocents are killed.

It's all heady stuff, filled with mysteries with some real twists. The stories are plotted and told with a forward-thinking sense of detail which keeps you watching for clues in every moment. The two characters of Holmes and Watson are at once hilarious and compelling as they bolt around London trying to stay ahead of the criminals they seek to uncover.

NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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The Adventure Of The Grumpy Elf!

It's the holiday season once again. Take it easy friends and relax during this time. And if you live in my neck of the woods try to stay warm. Today at my house it's scheduled to be a rainy day in the forty- degree Fahrenheit range, but by this time tomorrow it's scheduled to a mere four degrees (negative fifteen Celsius) with a wee bit of snow. 

For some true holiday detecting entertainment, here is an actual Sherlock Holmes Christmas-season story, take a gander at Arthur Conan Doye's "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle".

NOTE: This is a Revised Dojo Holiday Classic.   

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The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes!

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is a Holmes film that carries a great deal of panache and that mostly comes from the fact it was written and directed by Billy Wilder. The film starring Robert Stephens as the great detective and Colin Blakely as his trusty biographer, was met at the time in 1970 with glowing reviews and some regard it as the best Sherlock Holmes film ever made. All this hullabaloo made me eager to see it. I have at long last had that pleasure, securing a copy from the folks at Kino-Lorber. My assessment is that the movie falls well short of its reputation. 

For one thing it's too long, clocking in at a cool two hours and five minutes. Like most movies that are too long and the product largely of one creative mind, it's relatively easy to find spots to cut. These kinds of projects often lack the perspective to see where precious words need not appear. The movie's plot is actually fairly simple. Holmes is ordered by his brother Mycroft (played wonderfully by Christipher Lee) to help guard a secret military project. He refuses but then gets involved with a lovely young woman looking for her husband. There are other details such as missing midgets, cages full of canaries, obscure Scottish castles, and a submarine. This movie does offer up the allure of Holmes confronting the Loch Ness monster mystery, but the solution is pretty humdrum and is even given away on the poster. (The poster is a humdinger by artist Robert McGinnis who offers up one of his exceedingly tempting semi-dressed dames.) 

The solution to the Loch Ness mystery (it's a secret military project) reminded me of the third issue of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD in which pretty much the same solution is offered, and a bogus ghostly hound is bounding to boot. Steranko really smashed it all together quite neatly. 

Maybe in 1970 the actress Genevieve Page romping around 221 B Baker Street in the nude was provocative (they show nothing) but it's pretty mild by modern standards. Perhaps folks were provoked by the film's hints here and there that Sherlock Holmes might have a preference other than lovely women. There's little sizzle there for a modern audience. 

Don't get me wrong, this is a perfectly fine flick. It does the usual stuff that a Sherlock Holmes movie does and does it in a calm reflective manner, but it is hardly the finest Sherlock Holmes movie ever made. Any moviemaker who treads on this territory has to contend with the legends of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and alas this one doesn't cut the mustard much in that regard. Though I was happy to see that Watson was treated as a buffoon as often as was the charming Bruce, something hardcore Sherlockians claim to hate. 

 Oh, and the Loch Ness Monster is a submarine. I'd say I was spoiling the plot but it's on the fricking poster. I do like that poster! 

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Sherlock Holmes - Murder By Decree!

Murder by Decree is a robust 1979 movie with an exceedingly strong cast which purports to tell how Sherlock Holmes and Dr.John Watson confronted the malevolent violence of "Jack the Ripper".

The story is one familiar to anyone who might have seen From Hell based on the work of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell puts forth the theory that the Ripper was actually working for Queen Victoria to cover up an affair by Prince Albert which produced a bastard heir to the throne. Sadly this knowledge does undermine the movie a bit, but it's clear from the beginning that both films are plowing the same territory.

Mason, Finlay, and Plummer

The most peculiar thing about the movie though is Christopher Plummer's decidedly different take on Sherlock Holmes himself. This Holmes is polite, thoughtful, emotional, and downright caring. Not the usual self-absorbed hyper-intellectual normally presented. And frankly I missed the old cantankerous Holmes. This character did not feel like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's detective for me despite Plummer's layered performance and despite the omnipresent deerstalker hat and Inverness cloak.

One oddity about this movie is the presence of Frank Finlay in the role of Lestrade, since Finlay had portrayed the ineffectual Scotland Yard man in another Ripper meets Holmes film, specially A Study in Terror. Watching these two back to back, it was odd to see Finlay show up again among a different cast and in a very different atmosphere.  Anthony Quayle is in both movies too, but plays radically different parts in each.

One of the delights of the movie is the portrayal of Dr.Watson by James Mason, who finds at once humor, feeling, and intelligence in the role. This Watson is no buffoon, but a man who seems oddly put upon by his friend Holmes but is very willing to support and work for him. My favorite scene in the movie might be the exchange between Holmes and Watson about the way he eats a pea. I know it sounds strange, but there you have it.

 NOTE: This is a Dojo Revised Classic Post. 

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