Sherlock Holmes Omnibus Volume 1 (SHERLOCK HOLMES OMNIBUS TP)

There much to like about this collection of three stories. Many of the illustrations are lovely. The quality of the book is top notch, from binding to paper. This is not generally the case with graphic novels (AKA comic books).Here's my bias...my primary criterion for assessing yet another Holmes book: to what extent does it conjure up the magic, imagery, and emotions present years ago when I first read 56 short stories and 4 novels? These stories fail to do so. This Holmes is Robert Downey (and most certainly not Basil or Jeremy), rampaging through endless fights, riots, monsters, and villains. The stories herein have the feel of a modern Batman comic, rather than being true to the Conan Doyle creation.The story lines are non-linear in presentation. Many times i turned the page and erroneously assumed I had accidentally turned 2 or 3 pages, as the "transition" was abrupt enough to land in another story altogether. This sort of presentation is OK when used with discretion, but here it's utilized so often as to become tedious. It seems like the intended audience is youngsters with attention deficits, capable of appreciating a page or two of exposition at most, in order to get to the next violent confrontation. The end result is not a flowing storyline, but rather an endless series of very short vignettes. Bottomline: none of the pleasures of the original stories are captured in this book.Four other irritants: (1) Blood, violence, and gore galore. Maybe this gets the attention of adolescents weaned on video games, but it comes across as out of place here; (2) The characters faces are altered significantly from story to story, and even to a lesser extent within individual tales; (3) There is no ""221B" address in London. Correct is "221 Baker Street." The "B" designates an apartment or flat, and would not appear on the exterior of the building, as it does in some but not all illustrations in this comic; (4) There is a reliance upon huge nonsense words splayed across the artwork in an effort to convey...excitement? action? violence? Actual examples, that read and look like they're copied right out of a 1960's TV Batman episode: HAAKA, HAKK, KRAK, KRAKKK, WHMPP, SKKRAKKK, PAKK, AAAGHH, GUAA, HHHULGG, HAHUKAHA! "Holy Baloney Batman! This is WHMPPING exciting!"It's easy enough to criticize this sort of presentation, but best to end with an encouraging positive note: if you're not familiar with Conan Doyle's tales, if Brett and Rathbone do not ring a bell, and if blood and gore excite you, you might enjoy these stories. Also, as previously mentioned, the quality of the paper really is nice.

Excellent!