IDW Sherlock Holmes books

[Owain Taggart]

I came across these while browsing a local store, but I wasn't entirely sure I wanted them, but seeing that they were in the graphic novel section that I was browsing, when I came in to look for something else, I figured why not? I didn't buy them in the store, but I later bought them online, with the expectation that I'd be buying graphic novel versions of the original stories.

Let me be upfront here by stating that they are NOT graphic novels. I and probably many other people seeking graphic novel adaptations have probably also been lead to believe they were by what I feel are deceptive descriptions of the book content. I figured that, being an IDW publication, that I would be safe with the expectation. They could not be any further from being a graphic novel. In fact, there are probably less illustrations in these publications than the original Sydney Paget illustrations, as there are only 1 illustration per story. The rest is just a regular printing of the stories we've all seen, in very small text I might add, and I wouldn't have bought these if I had known exactly what they were as I already have a collection of the stories. So, I'm pretty disappointed with these.

As such, I'll be returning them to the store. Save your money. These are not the books you are looking for. Buyer beware.

 

[Kail]

As a huge Holmes fan, I appreciate the heads up.

 

[Brikar99]

Why didn't you look at them in the store to make sure they were something you wanted?

 

[Owain Taggart]

Why didn't you look at them in the store to make sure they were something you wanted?

Good question. It simply didn't occur to me. It was in the graphic novel section, therefore, I assumed they were graphic novels and not a regular book, and I figured with IDW being a big name in the business, that they were a good bet on what I would be getting. I think anyone would have similar lines of thought regarding them. It was only after my order arrived that I felt severely let down by seeing they were simply yet another run of the mill reprint, and as far as reprints go, there are far better ones out there. And they're classified by IDW as Graphic Classics, which only help propagate the feeling of deceptiveness, because about the only graphical thing about them are the few illustrations marking each new story. No reviews anywhere mention this.

 

[Saga]

i made a similar mistake with a Phantom book. it was a Moonstone publication and since they had the rights to the comics i assumed it was going to be a Phantom graphic novel and ordered it. a month or two later i get it and its a book. but i'm a big Phantom fan so i got over my initial disappointment.

 

[JoeZhang]

The biggest current swizzle is the adaption of the upcoming red riding hood film, instead of a final chapter, it has a URL link and tells you to go online after the film is released to find out the ending!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Why didn't you look at them in the store to make sure they were something you wanted?

Good question. It simply didn't occur to me. It was in the graphic novel section, therefore, I assumed they were graphic novels and not a regular book, and I figured with IDW being a big name in the business, that they were a good bet on what I would be getting. I think anyone would have similar lines of thought regarding them.

I bought the first volume, but I did know what I was getting. (Also, I've only ever seen these in bookstores in the Mystery sections, never in the graphic novel sections.)

IDW has, over the past two years, published a few illustrated editions of public domain classics. They did an edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and they did an edition of Dracula with illustrations by Ben Templesmith. (The Dracula, by the way, is a nice edition. It's not my favorite illustrated edition; that would be the one illustrated by Edward Gorey.) When IDW announced the first Holmes volume, they said it would be illustrated by Kelley Jones and Ashley Wood, but when the book arrived, there were no illustrations from Wood.

The only thing I find of interest about the IDW series (which is why I haven't continued with it, now that the third volume is out) is that the stories are presented chronologically in terms of Holmes' career. (I presume IDW is using the Baring-Gould chronology, but they could be using someone else's.) I also don't believe it will be a complete series; all but two stories of The Casebook are still copyrighted to the Doyle estate.

There are better editions of the Holmes stories out there. Kelley Jones' artwork is okay, even good but he's not in the upper echelon of Holmes artists. (Personally, I long for a day when an edition of the Holmes stories with Frederic Dorr Steele's illustrations is published; it's always Sidney Paget we think of, never Steele.)

 

[Owain Taggart]

I bought the first volume, but I did know what I was getting. (Also, I've only ever seen these in bookstores in the Mystery sections, never in the graphic novel sections.)

I'm mostly new to the whole genre, so I guess I didn't really know what to look for and expect. Well, Chapters here in Canada put them with all the comic books and graphic novels, which is very misleading. I'm guessing if they were in the mystery section, then I'd have more of a clue what to expect.

I agree, there are far better editions out there. The print in these is too small to be read comfortably. Personally, I think they should do better job describing what these entail. There was a description, but it was confusing as to what it actually was. Is it a Graphic Novel, or is it a novel? That type of thing.