Review: MORIARTY VOLUME 1: The Dark Chamber

MORIARTY VOLUME 1: THE DARK CHAMBER
IMAGE COMICS

WRITER: Daniel Corey
ARTIST: Anthony Diecidue
COLORS: Anthony Diecidue and Perry Freeze (issues 3 and 4)
LETTERS: Dave Lanphear
ISBN: 978-1-60706-450-3; paperback
128pp, Color, $14.99 U.S.

Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes is the most famous literary detective. Such an illustrious protagonist needs an illustrious adversary, and Holmes had one in Professor James Moriarty. Although referenced in various Holmes short stories, Moriarty first appeared in “The Final Problem,” an 1893 short story. Moriarty played a direct role in the Holmes novel, The Valley of Fear, but is apparently unseen.

Moriarty is a recently launched comic book series from Image Comics. This mystery thriller focuses on Professor James Moriarty, as its title character and central protagonist. In late September of this year, the first trade collection of Moriarty was published.

Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber is set at the dawn of World War I. It is also 20 years after the death of Sherlock Holmes at the hand of Moriarty, and the master villain is a lost man, with his once-vaunted criminal empire now just a pitiful shadow of its former self. Still, Moriarty is a formidable man, which is why Section 5 (MI5) is blackmailing him to find Sherlock Holmes’ missing brother, Mycroft Holmes.

What at first appears to be a routine case turns out to involve someone Mycroft was investigating, another person who is now missing, Rupert Thomason. Both men have apparently fallen into the clutches of a dangerous new villain, the mysterious Tartarus. With the help of the Jade Serpent, who also has her own criminal empire, Moriarty doggedly pursues his quarry across England and finally to a showdown that will decide the fate of London and perhaps, the world.

I was not exactly pleased when I received a copy of Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber for review. I was not interested in another Holmes pastiche. Feeling obligated, I eventually started reading and then couldn’t stop. This is every bit as fun as Guy Ritche’s fantasia, Sherlock Holmes, with a Moriarty every bit as interesting and as fun to follow as Holmes. Sometimes, we have to learn to love a great villain (Iago, Hannibal Lecter), and in writer Daniel Corey’s clever story, I found myself loving Moriarty, even if he is a murderous bastard.

Something else that grew on me is Anthony Diecidue’s art with its woodblock sensibilities and expressionistic inking. You may think of Kevin O’Neill when you see this; I did. If you’ve been waiting for a real Sherlock Holmes comic book, you’ll be delighted by the fact that Moriarty is the one to give it to you.

A-