"Sherlock Holmes and the Necronomicon" by Sylvain Cordurié

This book uniquely forces the question of the different criteria with rating a book vs. a graphic novel. You don't read a graphic novel the same way as you read a book. A graphic novel must be rated on a) its story and its tellingb) its artc) use of its art in its story telling.

It is a herculean undertaking and challenge to write a story in the shadows of two literary giants: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and H. P. Lovecraft. But also is the interesting characters and universes these two 'mythos' potentially bring to the table.
However, there was no unsolvable Sherlock-Holmes-like mystery to unravel. There was no 'pulling back the veil', revealing the cosmic horror of a truly Lovecraftian reality. Unfortunately this story fails both its titanic influences.
The Necronomicon was misused (abused?) as an entity in itself. Its origin and its obscure and brief 3-page flashback to what I can only assume to be the Mad Arab, Abdul Alhazred, was a missed opportunity in both story telling and graphic art medium. Assuming this graphic novel is a complete and self-contained story, it left something to be desired.
Which brings us to a point worth making note of. Unlike traditional books or literary pieces, graphic novels need special consideration with a few extra criteria. Like traditional books, the graphic novel's story itself is important as is its telling. I would give this story only one star. (*)
However, the graphic novel has access to a completely different medium in both art and story telling! The art in and of itself was disciplined, clean, and accurate! (Pay close attention to the backgrounds, buildings, details, and architecture!) The art is worthy of 4 stars! (****)
However, the use of a graphic medium to tell this story (especially with the potential of Lovecraft's plethora of Great Old Ones and monsters) was a painfully missed opportunity.Graphic medium to tell a story: One star (*)

Sadly, I would have to rate “Sherlock Holmes and the Necronomicon” overall as only two stars (**).