VICTORIAN UNDEAD

Victorian Undead #1

by Ian Edginton, Davide Frabbri

EL MÁS GRANDE DE LOS DETECTIVES SE ENFRENTA A LA MÁS TERRORÍFICA DE LAS PLAGAS Todos los fans del pulp lo estábamos esperando. El héroe creado por Sir Arthur Conan Doyle se enfrenta a las temibles hordas de muertos vivientes. ¿De dónde han salido estas huestes de nomuertos? ¿Quién hay detrás de tal plaga? ¿Podrá Holmes, con la ayuda de su estimado Watson, salvar un Londres victoriano infestado de zombis? Ian Edginton y Davide Fabbri nos presentan esta terrorífi ca y trepidante historia llena de acción y misterio.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Zombies, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Edginton sees part of the key to his success coming from good relationships with artists, especially D'Israeli and Steve Yeowell as well as Steve Pugh and Mike Collins. He is best known for his steampunk/alternative history work (often with the artist D'Israeli) and is the co-creator of Scarlet Traces, a sequel to their adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. With 2000 AD we has written Leviathan, Stickleback and, with art by Steve Yeowell, The Red Seas as well as one-off serials such as American Gothic (2005).

His stories often have a torturous gestation. Scarlet Traces was an idea he had when first reading The War of the Worlds, its first few instalments appeared on Cool Beans website, before being serialised in the Judge Dredd Megazine. Also The Red Seas was initially going to be drawn by Phil Winslade and be the final release by Epic but Winslade was still tied up with Goddess and when ideas for replacement artists were rejected Epic was finally wound up - the series only re-emerging when Edginton was pitching ideas to Matt Smith at the start of his 2000 AD career.

With D'Israeli he has created a number of new series including Stickleback, a tale of a strange villain in an alternative Victorian London, and Gothic, which he describes as "Mary Shelley's Doc Savage". With Simon Davis he recently worked on a survival horror series, Stone Island, and he has also produced a comic version of the computer game Hellgate: London with Steve Pugh.

He is currently working on a dinosaurs and cowboys story called Sixgun Logic. Also as part of Top Cow's Pilot Season he has written an Angelus one-shot.

http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Edgi...

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

What’s a good literary cash cow if you can’t regurgitate it over and over and over again? In this case, you combine an evergreen literary icon, Sherlock Holmes, with the monster de jour, zombies and viola: Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies. This was published in 2010, so maybe people hadn’t reached the shambling dead breaking point back then.



This one is an entertaining and quick read in a pandering, obvious kind of way. It hits all the Sherlock and zombie formulaic notes and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Moriarity, Mycroft, England in peril, London overrun with zombies and oh yeah, let’s hit them/shoot them/do the stabby to them. In the noggin. It's elementary, kids.



I say, brilliant deductive reasoning and all that.

Bottom Line: If you’re not sick of zombies and/or Sherlock Holmes, give it a go.

Oh, and don’t let Mrs. Hudson near a loaded weapon.



What a fiendish turn of events! The zombies speak English! Bollocks and what, Ho! Cheerio!

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

You must face the facts, gentlemen. This is a foe who never sleeps, who knows neither pain nor fear nor injury, whose ranks swell with every bite and tear.

Armed only with their keen wits and a brace of pistols, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of some rather bitey revenants.

What with all the elegant dialogue and Mrs. Hudson preparing tea, this is certainly the most well-mannered zombie book I've read.

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 2 out of 5]

In 1854, a strange comet enters over London, releasing little fragments in which one fragment penetrates into a street pump near Broad Street in Soho (stop me if you know enough history to see where this is going). Five months later, Soho suffers what appears to be a cholera outbreak.

Doctor John Snow and Reverend Henry Whitehead investigate the outbreak. While Snow postulates the cause for the outbreak, Reverend Whitehead discusses a recent confession from a tanner's apprentice about the dead coming back to life. Soon afterwards, one of Snow's deceased patients is resurrected as a zombie in front of a shocked Snow and Whitehead... So it begins.

2/5. Not sure this needed to exist. A piece of nostalgia harkening back to the early 2000s when doing a 'zombie' version of everything was in the vogue. Did. Not. Age. Well.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tend to avoid high-concept stuff from unknown creators like the plague, especially if it features zombies or steampunk, but I also read every bit of Holmes pastiche I can get my hands on, so there you go. This is Holmes in Rathbone mode, a smart, dynamic man of action who solves the mystery and saves the day by bravery and initiative as much as deduction - which is not at all out of character, just one possible perspective. It can be argued that Holmes should be disproving the supernatural, as he did in the case of the Sussex Vampire, but zombieism is presented as a phenomena that is amenable to scientific analysis. The interplay between Holmes and Watson (and Mycroft) is nicely done, the scenes under London are excellent and the great detective actually does do his fair share of detecting, even if you have to pay attention to notice it amongst the more overt hi-jinks.

[Dev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, it's just ...exactly what it says on the tin. Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies. It's a fun time and it has fairly accurate Holmes & Watson characterization [unlike SOME things these days, cough] but it's also incredibly formulaic with no real depth. If you're just looking for a quick read where you can watch Sherlock lopping the heads off of some zombies then this is your thing, but if you're expecting anything more than that you might want to steer clear. Also I'm a bit confused by the ending because it sets up a sequel, but the next book in the series is about something completely different so ???

[Orion · Rating 4 out of 5]

iive always been of the opinion that sherlock holmes was gothic. i love this its beautiful

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, Edginton and Fabbri effectively combine the popular genres of steampunk, zombies, and Sherlock Holmes in a clever tale of Victorian terror. In March 1854, an alien ship lights up the skies above London. Some thirty years later, Scotland Yard calls on Holmes and Watson to investigate the odd occurrence of the dead who refuse to stay dead. Edginton wisely populates his tale with classic Holmesian elements: Mrs. Watson, Mycroft, Lestrade, and most importantly Holmes himself deducing the opaque and improbable. Eschewing the trend to portray Watson as a buffoon, in Victorian Undead the war veteran and respected physician functions as an valued ally and aide-de-camp. Additionally, unlike Tony Moore's cover, artist Fabbri illustrates Holmes in the far more accurate bowler and suit than the popular deerstalker cap and Inverness cape coat, an ensemble never worn in the city. As Holmes digs further, he discovers a massive government cover up and a long-dead foe's horrific machinations. A visual delight, the well written Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies emerges as a welcome addition to the Holmes mythos.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm. This was pretty much what I expected with all the usual characters.

Holmes is a pompous know-it-all,
"No time is ever wasted Watson. You must put such instances to efficient use to exercise the mind,"

Watson is the ever-loyal sidekick,
"I left you to face Moriarty alone once before...I swore to muself I would never do so again. I just pray my nerve will hold."

Mycroft jumps in and saves the day at just the right moment, Moriarty is an evil swine, the zombies says thins like "ggaaaakkkkk" while bearing their teeth. The graphics are great, but the switching between zombies and automatons left me confused a couple of times about which character Moriarty was!

But it's Sherlock Holmes vs. Zombies , so really, don't put too much thought into it. It's not meant to be thought provoking.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can say " a fun twist" on a story about zombies that is how I would describe this book. I'm not sure if anything with zombies in it should be classified as fun but who says we need to take of this kind of genere seriously. Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty meet again this time, man v. zombie. It's a good way to pass an hour or so, the story is ok and the artwork outstanding. If you are a Sherlock Holmes aficionado you might think it silly, but for me who mostly watches Sherlock on the big and small screen, it was fine.

[EmBe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Der Prolog zur eigentlichen Handlung findet rund 50 Jahre davor statt. Auf London gehen Bruchstücke eines grünlich leuchtenden Kometen nieder. Die Farbe stellt eine optische Verbindung zu einer unheimlichen Krankheit her: Menschen erkranken und sterben schnell, erwachen aber wieder zum Leben - als aggressive und menschenhungrige Untote.
50 Jahre später im Jahr 1898 (die Jahresangaben spielen bei den Fällen von Sherlock Holmes durchaus eine Rolle) besuchen Holmes und Watson incognito ein Etablisment, dass den Gästen die Erfüllung ihrer geheimsten Wünsche verspricht. Der Gastgeber, ein geheimnisvoller Hope, versucht sie mit Licht zu hypnotisieren, doch sie können die Lichtquelle zerstören. Als sie Hope überwältigen wollen, stellen sie fest, dass es sich bei ihm um ein Simulacra, einen menschenähnlichen Roboter handelt, wobei dieser zeitgemäß rein mechanisch-elektrisch funktioniert. Dieser Hope hat hohe Beamte der Regierung erpresst, deswegen ist Holmes auch aktiv geworden. Doch bevor Holmes die Spur weiter verfolgen kann, ersucht ihn Inspektor Lestrade in einem dringenden anderen Fall um Hilfe, wie man es aus vielen Geschichten kennt, und Lestrade wendet sich nur dann widerwillig an Holmes, wenn er selbst nicht weiter weiß. Er führt Holmes und Watson zu einem Arbeiter, der bei der Erweiterung U-Bahn gearbeitet hat und plötzlich unglaubliche Aggressionen zeigt. Fabbri, der Zeichner, lässt keinen Zweifel, dieser Mann ist ein Zombie, gruselig grüner Teint und nur zu unartikulierten Lauten fähig. Holmes, wie wohl mit Zombies unvertraut, ist jedoch keineswegs geschockt, sondern betrachtet ihn mit wissenschaftlicher Neugier, auch den Kopf eines Zombies, der immer noch zu leben scheint. Der Leser weiß schon, dass der Mann in einem neu gegrabenen U-Bahnstollen von einem Zombie gebissen wurde und so ebenfalls zu einem wurde. Das Interesse von Holmes und Watson ist natürlich geweckt, aber bevor sie weitere Nachforschungen anstellen können, treten einige Herren in schwarzen Anzügen auf, die Lestrade von dieser Sache Abstand nehmen lassen, und er Holmes und Watson wieder nach Hause komplimentiert. Holmes lässt das keine Ruhe, er bricht zu einer nächtlichen Erkundung in den Londoner Untergrund auf, bei der ihn Watson, dem diese lebende Leiche Grauen eingeflößt hat, dennoch begleitet. Sie gelangen in eine unterirdische Kaverne mit altertümlichen Häusern und einer unwirklichen Atmosphäre. Hier werden sie von einer Horde Zombies angegriffen, gegen die sie sich tapfer wehren. Aber als sie sich schon von ihnen umzingelt sehen, kommen ihnen speziell ausgerüstete Soldaten zu Hilfe. Und dann hat ein weitere bekannte Gestalt des Sherlock Holmes Universums seinen Auftritt, Mycroft Holmes als Mitglied des königlichen Geheimdienstes. Er setzt das Detektiv-Duo über die unheimliche Zombieseuche und ihre radikale Bekämpfung durch die Regierung ins Bild.
Es gibt jedoch keine Verschnaufpause, ein geheimnisvoller Unhold, der selbst wie ein Zombie wirkt, lässt eine Armee von Zombies auf London los, gegen die sich das Empire bald mit allen Mitteln verteidigen muss. Holmes hält diese Bedrohung jedoch nicht davon ab, Nachforschungen anzustellen Ein Buch über "Die Dynamik von Asteroiden", von niemand anderem geschrieben als von Professor James Moriarty1, dem Widersacher von Holmes, bringt ihn auf die richtige Spur, die auch wieder zu dem Schurken Hope führt. Hier sollte man erwähnen, dass dieses Abenteuer nach dem Zweikampf zwischen Holmes und Moriarty an den Reichenbachfällen angesiedelt ist, nachdem Holmes bekanntermaßen lange für tot gehalten wurde...
Die Handlung nimmt einen apokalyptischen Verlauf, wie man es aus vielen Zombie-Erzählungen kennt. Davide Fabbri hat nun reichlich Gelegenheit, die Umtriebe der Untoten im historischen Ambiente des London vor rund hundert Jahren auszumalen. Natürlich ist das nicht so grauenvoll und unheimlich wie im Film, aber dafür wird hier eine bekannte Umgebung mit dem Zombiehorror konfrontiert, was den unangenehmen Eindruck vermittelt, dass keine Zeit und kein Ort vor Zombies sicher ist.
Sherlock Holmes wird hier durchaus ernst genommen. Der SH-Kenner findet hier viele vertraute Elemente vor. Holmes ist bei einem solchen Fall natürlich nicht nur der geniale Detektiv, sondern allgemein ein klarer Denker, der sich der Bedrohung sehr bewusst ist und unerschrocken gegen sie vorgeht. Ein Action-Held, was aber durchaus eine plausible Erweiterung der klassischen Figur ist, wie schon der Film "Sherlock Holmes" von Guy Ritchie zeigt. Der Zeichner hat „seinen“ Sherlock Holmes auch äußerlich mit einigen Merkmalen des Originals ausgestattet, wenngleich er sein Raubvogelprofil nicht übernommen hat. Das ist mit den Konventionen des amerikanischen Comic-Stils schlecht kompatibel. Und Doktor Watson wird schon als angejahrter Herr im besten Alter dargestellt. Das ist eine Konvention, die nicht unbedingt stimmig ist, da Watson nur wenig älter wie Holmes sein dürfte.
Der Handlungsaufbau ist geschickt und dynamisch, Spannung ist gewährleistet.
Auch wenn man sagen muss, dass letztendlich die Handlung und ihre Elemente für einen Phantastik-Kenner nicht wirklich überraschend sind, ist die Neukombination doch gelungen, da die Eigenheiten der Sujets in die Geschichte gut integriert wurden. Die im Comic gängige Crossover-Masche hat hier zu einem sehr unterhaltsamen und lesbaren Comic geführt. Freunde des Phantastischen kommen auf ihre Kosten.

[Octavi · Rating 2 out of 5]

El dibujo es bueno y la ambientación también, pero el guión es una gran mierda. Lástima, porque la idea no es mala del todo.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#Binge Reviewing my previous Reads #Holmes Pastiche

Now, this is where Sherlock Holmes leaves Baker Street and wades knee-deep into something straight out of a fever dream — the undead kind. Ian Edginton’s Victorian Undead: Sherlock Holmes vs Zombies! is, as the title rather enthusiastically announces, not your grandmother’s Holmes pastiche. It’s the foggy gaslamp London of the late nineteenth century, all right — only now it’s crawling with reanimated corpses, necrotic plagues, and an undead Professor Moriarty who refuses to stay politely dead.

And somehow, against all odds, it works.

The first thing you realize when you flip through Edginton’s pages is that this is not a novelty gag. It’s an honest-to-goodness, tightly written detective-horror graphic novel that respects the bones of Conan Doyle’s canon while dressing them in some rather grotesque flesh. Imagine Holmes’s razor intellect and unflappable cool placed under apocalyptic pressure — a London infested by zombies, a scientific mystery that veers into Gothic science fiction, and the rational mind forced to wrestle with the impossible.

The premise: London, 1898. Strange celestial phenomena light up the night sky. The dead start walking. The authorities are helpless. Enter Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson — still grounded, still methodical, but now navigating through a literal epidemic of death. As they uncover the horrifying origins of the outbreak, we find the shadowy fingerprints of Professor Moriarty (of course), and the story becomes an eerie resurrection of one of literature’s greatest rivalries — quite literally so.

What elevates Edginton’s narrative beyond pulp silliness is his respect for the Holmes–Watson dynamic. Watson is no bumbling sidekick here — he’s a veteran, a man who has seen war and is again thrown into horror. Holmes, though incredulous at first, brings the same cold precision to a world that seems to have abandoned reason. It’s this dissonance — the ultimate rationalist facing the irrational — that lends the story its weight.

Ben Templesmith’s art, though often stylized, captures the chaos and filth of a city succumbing to decay. The panels are drenched in smog and shadow, with the occasional splash of fire and gore. It’s visually sumptuous in a macabre way — like From Hell had a wilder, more cinematic cousin. London itself becomes a living, rotting organism, and the familiar gaslit streets of Baker Street are now corridors of terror.

What’s fascinating is that this isn’t just a random mash-up. Victorian Undead slots neatly into the continuum of Holmesian reinvention that began with Nicholas Meyer’s The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and flourished into our modern appetite for genre collisions. Edginton seems acutely aware that Holmes has always been a man of his era — and so, by setting him against the ultimate late-Victorian anxiety (the fear of contamination, disease, and moral collapse), he’s actually staying weirdly faithful to the period’s psyche.

If you read this right after something like G.S. Denning’s A Study in Brimstone, which pits Holmes against demons and hellfire, Victorian Undead feels leaner and meaner. Denning plays his absurdities for comedy and affection; Edginton plays his with a straight face and a scalpel. Both, though, explore that delicious territory where logic crashes into the supernatural — and Holmes, the avatar of deduction, refuses to blink.

Holmes pastiche fans often debate the line between homage and parody, and this comic sits comfortably in the middle — more Guy Ritchie than Granada, but with enough canonical flavor to satisfy the purists. It’s not pastiche as imitation; it’s pastiche as evolution. The story recognizes that Holmes has survived because he adapts — to modern neuroses, to shifting fears. Here, he adapts to zombies, and instead of diminishing him, it somehow makes him even more indomitable.

Thematically, it’s not far off from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Both center on the terror of the irrational invading the rational. The undead are just an escalation — what happens when Victorian anxieties about contagion and class decay become flesh. The infected masses are the literal embodiment of London’s underbelly rising up — Dickens’s moral rot with teeth.

And then there’s the haunting irony of Moriarty as the puppet master of reanimation — the man of science turned necromancer. His “return” mirrors the undead themselves, and Holmes must confront the one adversary who truly mirrors him — only this time, stripped of all moral restraint. The final confrontation isn’t just hero versus villain, but intellect versus entropy.

Comparatively, if we set Victorian Undead against something like The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Michael Hardwick, we see two divergent impulses in the Holmesian afterlife. Hardwick sought to humanize Holmes — to explore his loneliness, his repressed desires, his quiet melancholy. Edginton seeks to mythologize him — to throw him into the inferno and see if reason burns. Both are valid and essential. Hardwick asks: what makes Holmes human? Edginton asks: what makes him immortal?

There’s also an argument to be made that Victorian Undead anticipates the pop-cultural mania that would later give us Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. But Edginton’s take predates that trend — and it’s far more literate in its Gothic sensibilities. You can feel the ghost of Mary Shelley here, the scent of Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde, the paranoia of H.G. Wells. It’s zombie horror filtered through Victorian science fiction, and Holmes, ever the empiricist, fits right in.

The humor is subtle — usually arising from Watson’s unflappable decency amid carnage, or Holmes’s cutting remarks about the government’s incompetence (“A plague, Watson, is rarely as fatal as bureaucracy.”). Yet the story never descends into camp. The tone is serious, the pacing brisk, and the violence — while graphic — is purposeful.

Where Victorian Undead truly shines, though, is in its emotional undercurrent. Holmes, surrounded by death, finds himself confronting his own alienation. The living are outnumbered; the city he protects is crumbling; and for the first time, he faces a problem that deduction alone cannot solve. That tension — between intellect and impotence — gives the comic its bite.

By the end, you don’t just admire Edginton’s creativity; you respect his courage. He dares to drag the great detective out of his comfort zone, into the apocalypse — and somehow, Holmes still wins. He survives, intact, uncorrupted. Logic endures, even as civilization rots.

It’s the ultimate tribute, really.

To compare it across the spectrum of Holmesian pastiche:

A Study in Brimstone (G.S. Denning) — Holmes vs demons: witty, irreverent, pulpy fun.

The Trial of Sherlock Holmes (Leah Moore) — Holmes under the moral microscope: clever meta-commentary.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (Hardwick) — Holmes unmasked: intimate, tragic.

Basil of Baker Street (Eve Titus) — Holmes reimagined for innocence: childhood wonder.

Victorian Undead (Edginton) — Holmes against annihilation: apocalyptic reason.

Each pushes a different facet of the same diamond. Edginton’s shines darkly — glittering with decay, gleaming with intellect.

And in an odd way, this graphic novel reaffirms why Holmes remains timeless. Whether in Baker Street, Hell, or a zombie-ravaged London, he stands for the same unyielding faith in human reason. That’s why he endures — because even when the dead rise, Holmes still deduces.

So yes, if you’re the kind of reader who likes your deerstalkers with a dash of dystopia, your fog with a side of flesh-eating, and your logic tested against literal madness — Victorian Undead is your poison. It’s absurdly entertaining, sharply intelligent, and, in its own grotesque way, a love letter to the world’s greatest consulting detective.

Try it by all means.

[Luke Zwanziger · Rating 4 out of 5]

While skeptical of the series being able to capture the essense of Holmes with the added Zombification, I took a leap and was pleasantly surpised by the series.

While the initial pages didn't draw me in completely, by the end of the first issue I was hooked. The pacing of the series is very much akin to traditional Sherlock Holmes, full of investigative detective work, slow reveals and wonderful dialog. The writer captures the dialog of Holmes and Watson very well.

I was also very pleased to see the inclusion of several other characters from the original works (who will remain unnamed for the sake of those who have not read the series yet). The art was good. Not mindblowing but enjoyable and not distracting. Even the zombie plot was plausible and not over the top extraordinary as it could have been.

At the end of the series, I truly felt I had read a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Definitely worth checking out.

[MKF · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes I am tired of all the new Sherlock Holmes stories. Then I saw this and thought wow at least it is something different and the cover is pretty cool. Reading it though was a bit confusing since it appeared as if a lot of things were missing or left out but I guess nothing was. I kept having to flip back to make sure I got what was happening. The ending was bad since it makes you think there is going to be a sequel and there is a Victorian Undead 2 but has nothing to do with this one. So it leaves you hanging a bit.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with his one! Watson and Mycroft both rang quite true for me. Holmes was a bit off, like they were trying to make him a leading man, but it's only a minor distraction. The premise, action and art were all engaging and I will now happily pick up any further books n the series!

[Darko Šunjić · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ništa specijalno, pročitao sam i ovo da vidim o čemu se radi, ali nije me dojmilo, nimalo..

[The Cannibal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Voilà un apocryphe de Sherlock Holmes que j’aime ressortir de mes étagères de temps en temps.

Là, ça faisait un certain temps que je ne l’avais plus lu… Et il me fallait un truc pour mon 665ème post sur mon blog avant le 666ème !

Pas de diable ou de sorcière sous la main (posté Black Butler trop tôt, la 659), donc, on récupère les zombies qui puent avant de sortir le diable demain.

Ce livre – un comics en fait – je l’avais zappé en découvrant sa couverture pour le moins « horrible ».

On y voyait une sorte de Sherlock Holmes en zombie, bouffé par les vers, en décomposition totale.

Bref, peu séduisante… J’imaginais un Holmes en zombie, revenant d’entre les morts, les bestioles en prime. Beurk !

C’est sur un forum holmésien que j’appris que la couverture était indépendante du contenu (merci à Jean-Claude pour l’info, en passant). Il y a des zombies, mais ce n’est pas le grand détective !

En fait, la couverture était juste là pour un coup de pub. Cela avait eu l’effet contraire chez moi, ne cherchant même à découvrir cet album.

Une fois que je le sus, je me mis en quête de cet album et je le dévorai, tel un zombie assoiffé de chair humaine.

Oui, il est bien ! Du moins, pour ceux que la présence de zombies dans un univers victorien ne rebutent pas.

Je n’ai rien contre les zombies, mais ce n’est pas mon genre de prédilection. Walking dead, avec tout le succès qu’elle a, je ne regarderai pas. Je hais les zombies, ça pue et je les trouve un peu trop affectueux.

Des morts-vivants mélangés à une histoire où Holmes est présent, ça pouvait être casse gueule au possible et j’aurais pu détester l’ouvrage. Examen réussi : les auteurs ne se sont pas plantés.

Voyons ce qu’ils nous ont concocté comme histoire…

L’histoire démarre par un flashback, nous ramenant en 1854 alors qu’un météore traverse le ciel londonien, emmenant dans sa traîne un mal profond et inconnu.

Et, comme un malheur n’arrive jamais seul, c’est forcément sur l’East end que s’abat cette vague de peste zombie. Les gens meurent, reviennent à la vie et contaminent les vivants…

Oui, pas de nouveautés dans le genre : les bons vieux zombies restent les mêmes.

Les services secrets réussiront à contenir la menace, ensevelissant au passage une partie de la ville pour prendre le maximum de précautions.

Mais 44 ans après (alors que le quatrième de couverture parle de « 20 ans après »), à l’aube du XXe siècle, le mal refait surface. Mhouhahahaha.

Sherlock Holmes est revenu d’entre les morts (façon de parler, hein) après l’épisode des chutes du Reichenbach (mais nous savons qu’il n’était pas mort puisque non tombé, au contraire de Moriarty – vous suivez toujours ?) et il est bien décidé d’enquêter sur ces morts qui ne le sont pas tout à fait, quand bien même les services secrets le lui interdiraient.

Quant à l’origine de ce regain de peste moribonde… Chuut, c’est un secret !

Comme je vous le disais, le scénario aurait pu sombrer dans les tréfonds de la connerie ou du farfelu, surtout avec une couverture kitch à mort et son côté « série B+++ ».

Cela ne laissait pas présager une véritable histoire, avec une intrigue développée et bien construite.

Bon, je ne vais pas vous mentir non plus, je me suis doutée de certaines choses…

On sent que l’œuvre de Conan Doyle n’est pas une inconnue pour l’auteur et la passionnée de l’œuvre holmésienne que je suis, ça fait toujours plaisir.

Grâce soit rendue à l’auteur : Watson n’est pas le benêt de service ! Alléluia ! Les auteurs en auraient-ils fini avec le Watson bête comme ses pieds ? C’est à espérer vu que les derniers Watson sont plus relevés au niveau intellectuels que certains que j’ai déjà lu et vu.

Non seulement il est intelligent (mais moins que Holmes, normal) et sa relation avec Holmes est celle d’une amitié profonde. Un plaisir aussi de découvrir que Mycroft, le frère de Sherlock, est également bien utilisé.

N’oublions pas Lestrade et ce bon vieux colonel Moran… Ironie, pour le colonel.

Graphiquement parlant, le dessinateur s’en sort haut la main.

Les décors de Londres sont fouillés, on a l’impression d’y être, les plans sont très variés et le rendu des scènes d’action sont de bonne facture.

Oui, il y a de l’action, des combats et du dégommage de zombies à la sulfateuse (de l’époque), ça éclabousse la cervelle et les morceaux un peu partout, mais je vous rassure de suite, ça tache pas les mains et ce n’est pas en odorama !

Bref, une belle variation sur notre légendaire détective tout en introduisant un élément fantastique sans (trop) dénaturer le mythe.

Comme pour les bédés où Holmes était face au suceurs de sang, les auteurs s’en sortent haut la main.

Le découpage est très « cinématographique », c’est rythmé, on ne s’embête pas, on frissonne et c’est visuellement soigné.

Le seul problème pourrait venir du trop-plein d’action. Oui, il en faut, mais trop d’action nuit à l’action et aurait pu causer la mort de ce bon scénario.

Attention, je ne sous-entend pas que le trop-plein d’action est pas là pour masquer le manque de scénario, comme dans certains blockbusters.

Non, le scénario est fouillé, mais nous avons l’habitude de voir (enfin, de « lire ») Holmes disserter et aiguiser son sens de l’observation et de la déduction. Ici, il le fait moins. J’aurais aimé plus de réflexion et moins d’action à la James Bond (Sherlock a les gadgets en moins).

Malgré tout, hormis ce petit bémol, j’ai passé un bon moment auquel je ne m’attendais pas du tout.

Un récit culotté, fallait oser, ils l’ont fait, prouvant que avec un bon scénario, rien n’est impossible.

Lecteurs sensibles, attention, il y a de la décapitation dans l’air… ça grouille de vermines et quand il faut s’en débarrasser, on ne le fait pas avec de la dentelle. On dégomme et on ferraille sec !

N’oubliez pas de bien nettoyer votre sabre ensuite. On ne sait jamais, vous pourriez en avoir besoin dans quelques secondes…

A découvrir.

[Harley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book one of the best massing in Comedy and Zombie's.

Pros
Great Comedy mixed with Action and zombie killing, if you love either like me it will be amazing.
Great storyline which links up very well.
Artwork is amazing, the zombies look really cool how they are designed.
Great setting, i mean having Sherlock Holmes Vs. Zombies who ever thought of that is a genius.
Cons
Some of the story gets boring as he tries and discovers it before actual killing the zombies.
In Conclusion
I enjoyed it very much will look at him vs Frankenstein as that seems interesting.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sherlock Holmes and his faithful Watson go up against an undead Moriarty to save London and the Queen.

3.5 stars This is exactly what it sounds like with decent artwork and a fairly good representation of Holmes.

Normally I'm not a big fan of quotes but this one got the book the half star added on: "I am a reanimated corpse with a barely reined craving for human flesh - and only now you question my sanity?!"

[Ruben Monteiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like all of the zombie parts, just really missed a Sherlock "mystery". Which is even surprizing for me, since normally, Sherlock's smart-a$$-smugness makes me cringe! So I didn't mind that it isn't here. But give me a mystery! Any mystery! Make it worth being in the Sherlock world! There's no payoff. Shame. I did have fun with Sherlock slice and dice some zombies.

[Andrew Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun: great pencil, moody and atmospheric colouring, and all the main characters from the franchise that you could wish for.

And Holmes killing zombies. Honestly, want more could you want?

Edginton does it again.

[Pedro Plasencia Martínez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entretenido, los personajes se ajustan a lo que se espera de ellos más o menos, pero la trama queda algo simple y meten demasiadas locuras irracionales con Moriarty. Lo de los robots tb sobraba, mucha ciencia ficción para mi gusto. Con los zombis ya bastaba xd.

[Sarah Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smarter than I thought it would be! I appreciated the deep cut to Snow's cholera graph, and I loved getting to see the Holmes + Watson friendship as they faced zombies along with Holmes + Mycroft sibling banter.

[Conan The Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buena trama y desarrollo, me gusto.

Lo único que no me gustó fue el arte. Los diseños de Sherlock, Mycroft y Watson por alguna razón no me parecían adecuados.

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, if forgettable. Liked how it tied together wormwood and the John Snow's cholera outbreak epidemiology though.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Netflix's series please

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tale, hope to write a full review soon.

[Judy · Rating 1 out of 5]

An awful holiday read.

[Ione DeOllos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not a regular graphic novel reader but I thoroughly enjoyed this story. A fun venture into the world of the undead.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a graphic novel that is about Sherlock Holmes versus zombies. It takes place during the 1800s and is a pretty good book but the story drags a little in the middle of the novel.