Sherlock: A Study in Pink

Product Information

On the basis of this first translated issue, the manga is a classy, faithful rendering of a series that’s bridged East and West in popularity – though it’s hardly the most startling of Sherlock’s guises in Japan. Some of the show’s charm and visual flair gets lost in translation, but it’s still a fun read for those wishing to revisit the episode. Scribble scribble”, etc) are part of the art, so the English words for these tend to appear in the spaces beneath the frames.

Adler pulls Sherlock into a complex web of mysteries involving the CIA and the MoD, with secrets that could threaten to threaten international security and topple the monarchy. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH).

ATarnow (5 works), A_Literary_Fan (5), MisakiReed (5), RLNunezKPL (5), snik (5), skullduggery (5), serpentium (5), eyelit (5), Phayemalia (4), MonicaP21 (4), cispt2 (4), Milo01 (4), Emelia07 (4), jeanombler (4), Maxw3ll (4), Zelda1218--- (4), MandaReads (4), GeekTeca (4), bit-of-a-list-tiger (4), Jussiv (4), LifeAnguish (4), mted2000 (3), LMLinkogle (3), Nexos (3), Cenatory (3) , spookymulder (3), PLC06 (3), Bumblebeefromhell (3), mayonakaokami (3), rahelbooks (3), zen2102 (3), Ahsoka3230 (3), Josukeshair (3), JamesT1 (3), docplux (3), Catsandmice (3), Mendy2383 (3), villemezbrown (3), FaytheShattuck (3), laurenbarrero (3), gspeh1 (3), seaweedotter (3), kmajort (3), WiramihardjaR (3), Shimo (3), amanda4242 (3), jesusandrew (3), goldenbowl (3), -Eva- (3), Sharquin (2), ManderCommander (2), JoKoster (2), swigget (2), BooksOwned (2), SweetCheeri (2), GhadeerA (2), Kelly. Adapting the first series of the smash-hit Hartswood Films television show starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as John, this fantastic slipcase edition brings together A Study in Pink , The Blind Banker and The Great Game in manga format. Later, it is not always entirely clear to whom the speech balloons are pointing when Sherlock, John and Lestrade examine a body on the South Bank of the Thames, and there are some awkward silences here. The placement of an image gallery directly after the strip’s final two dialogue-free close-ups is somewhat confusing (the monthly issue benefited from a “To be continued…” caption at the end).

Much of Steven Moffat’s script is completely carried over, with the dialogue coming directly from the script – though a bit abridged, I suspect. The same can be said of the Southbank Skatepark, which Sherlock and John visit during the course of their investigations. The Titan Comics editions adapted the episodes with the help of the same illustrator, Jay, and the comics were sold in the UK and the US. However, Sherlock arguably succeeded less because of its setting than because of its hugely popular double act of Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Watson.

Accordingly, Sherlock seeks the advice of a character who is clearly inspired by Banksy – for whom the unwitting John ends up taking the rap! His cold logic is reminiscent of the Cybermen in Doctor Who (another show that Mark Gatiss has written for and knows well, of course), in particular Cyberleader Krail.

Other influences include the Sherlock Holmes novels The Sign of the Four (a locked room accessible only by climbing) and The Valley of Fear (a secret society hunting down its victims). Occasionally the sequence of events differs from the way in which they unfolded on screen (for example, the graphic novel of A Study in Pink opens with the first three apparent suicides and the press conferences regarding them, rather than our introduction to John Watson, which takes place later in the opening chapter), but essentially this collection tells the whole story of Series 1 in full detail.There are inevitably a bevy of cute-girl Sherlocks, including Young Miss Holmes, a manga about the detective’s niece, and the terrifyingly-named Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, about four bumbling girl sleuths.

The ballooning is more natural, based on dialogue breaks, and the text is centered in the balloons instead of the left-aligned approach the Japanese manga uses. Almost inevitably, some aspects of the episode come across better in its original television medium than they do in the static imagery of a graphic novel. Adapting the episodes of the smash-hit TV series starring worldwide superstars Benedict Cumberbatch (upcoming Doctor Strange) and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit). And if you want to see Sherlock well and truly baffled, watch this clip of Cumberbatch on Japanese morning TV. The boyish features of Andrew Scott, who played Jim Moriarty on screen, lend themselves particularly well to the manga style.

I’m right in the middle of a date,” Watson tries to explain to Holmes, with increasing irritation, “You want me to chase some killer while I’m trying to… while I’m trying to get off with Sarah! Titan is also the publisher of the Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, in which the detective variously deals with alien attacks and vampires, as well as James Lovegrove’s forthcoming Cthulhu Casebooks series, in which he takes on occult forces. As a boxed set of graphic novel compilations of monthly comic book versions of an English translation of a Japanese manga adaptation of a 2010 television reimagining of the adventures of a Victorian prose character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, there was a danger that this new edition of the first series of Sherlock might end up being far removed from its source material. Holmes is especially active in Japan, where the stories were first translated in 1894, less than a decade after his British debut. boxall (1), hadass4 (1), TheFangirl (1), tarsischwald (1), Mittens1223 (1), maya1616 (1), torygy (1), BananaSquirrel (1), helders (1), maguorui (1), thoroughlyme (1), nikkiroy (1), MaarjaKodu (1), sarahlh (1), Nanigirl (1), twistedprogress (1), Elle2y5 (1), Marxblue (1), nikkiyrj (1), DanielleBates (1), fernandie (1), leperleprechaun (1), czehner (1), Schoeyjr (1), CatieG38 (1), riversnstreams (1), bluegenius (1), BelindaS7 (1), darkingsaunt (1), kristent44 (1), Bradan (1), boldnerd (1), AnneShearer (1), ElodieTheFangirl (1), choolete (1), fairy.