In the special Preview comic for The Twilight Age that appeared as a free give-away at the Supanova pop culture convention in Sydney in June 2008 there was a nice, 2-page full colour glimpse of the series I'm writing (Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes), and the editorial page for that same comic gave it a little bit of fanfare; describing me as a 'noted Holmes author'. I figured some folk might wonder if that was hyperbole, and in fairness, I think I do have the runs on the board to cover that one. So, where's my proof?
OK, s'like this...
I'm what you call a Sherlockian, a Holmesian, a Doylean. I'm a devotee of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, but most particularly his Canon of sixty Sherlock Holmes stories. I have immersed myself in the detail and studied the background to a greater degree than I've absorbed the Kirby-Lee Fantastic Fours, the Wolfman-Colan Tomb of Draculas, or the Dent Clark Savages.
I know the material, and love it. More importantly, I think it is absolutely crucial, from an historical and artistic perspective, to try and determine why Doyle's 'lesser work' (as HE called it) is a a well-spring for series (as distinct from serial) fiction, and not just series fiction in literature, but television, comic strips and comic books and cinema.
So, I read the Holmes stories, I read the pastiches, I read the scholarly criticism, I read the psycho-analyses and I read all the silly stuff, too.
I'm one of the first dozen members of the Sydney Sherlock Holmes Society. I own my own deerstalkers and Inverness capes. I've appeared as Moriarty on TV, I've appeared as Holmes in the newspaper.
I've written many a pseudo-scholarly paper on the great man of Baker Street, one example of which was even praised by the doyen of contemporary Sherlockian annotations, Leslie Klinger (google him) in his annotated series of the Canon as a 'brilliant paper'.
And I can’t get enough of it. I would find it as easy to write about the original caped crusader as I would to write about his very contemporary bat-eared literary descendant; the problems of a hundred year old London can be inscribed, for me, with as much meaning as the issues that might beset today’s Gotham City – I can make that journey really easily.
And recently, apart from the top-secret job that led to the new series with Black House Comics (upon which I shall expound upon in due course, when I introduce one of my main partners in crime, the incomparable Mr E in a future blog entry) I had the chance to do just that, in these two delightful books, which I urge you to buy as soon as is decent:-
http://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Games-Mystery-Supernatural/dp/1840220716/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214913219&sr=8-2
In which I have two stories
and
http://www.amazon.com/Gaslight-Grimoire-Tales-Sherlock-Holmes/dp/1894063171/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214914122&sr=8-1
which doesn’t come out until October and wherein I have one tale, but it’s a little beaut, AND this luvverly li'l tome is full of superb illustrations by my mate, Philip Cornell.
So, enjoy. And get ready for the main event: Sherlock Holmes in comics as never before.
