Somerset Holmes

by Bruce Jones (text), April Campbell (Editor & co-plotted), Brent Anderson (Colored & co-plotted)

SIX BOOKS IN TOTAL. Story by Bruce Jones. Co-plot by April Campbell. Co-plot, art and cover by Brent Anderson. A young woman awakens by the side of a country road with no idea where she is or WHO she is. She finds a local doctor, but before he can help her, he is murdered. A strange telephone call puts her on the run. But why does the first person she meets try to kill her, and why does she have a key fastened inside of her belt? Taking her name from a housing development, she sets off to find out some answers. " Chapter Jungle peril". 8 pages. Part 1 of 6. Story by Bruce Jones. Art by Al Williamson. Jill Masterson crashes her plane in the South American rain forest. She seems destined to be crocodile bait unit adventurer Cliff Hanger shows up. He might not be much help when the flash flood hits however. Includes 3 pages of prose and photos detailing the development of the lead story.

Genres: Comics, Mystery, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Fiction

128 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 1 out of 5]

No.

Stinker.

I just hate the type of story where EVERY LAST PERSON met by a protagonist is part of some vast conspiracy crusade against them. Not even halfway through this book it became clear that if Somerset had parachuted from an airplane onto a moving train, then ramped a motorcycle off the train's moving engine, drove that motorcycle on a random route across four state lines, then stopped into a diner at three in the morning, then the diner's waitress would be a Specially Trained Killer who was just waiting for Somerset to arrive.

Goddamn. This book sucked.

Also...a note to All The Writers In The World---here's the grand total of scenes I need to see/read wherein a woman in lingerie gets half raped by an assailant but eventually (or quickly) starts to like him---

Zero.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little noir comic about an amnesiac woman being pursued by a mysterious organization and unsure of who she can trust.

Stumbles a little bit at the big reveal, but the rest is a well-written tense story with some great art.

[Matt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 6 issue mini-series starts off with a great mystery. A woman is hit by a car and when she comes to she doesn’t remember anything about herself. As she tries to regain her memories she is attacked at every turn by trained assassins.

For the first 4 issues I was completely engrossed by this story. But ones the mystery is solved, I found the reason for it all convoluted and not very compelling.

I was getting Bourne Identity vibes as story progressed since Somerset Holmes, the name the MC chooses for herself, seems to dodge all attempts on her life as if she has some special training. Which only deepened the mystery of her character until the unsatisfying end.

The art is fantastic the whole way through and for a comic book from the early 80s, I was surprised to see non-stereotypical queer characters in it.

Even with the lackluster ending I still enjoyed the majority of the story and would recommend for fans of crime comics.

[The_J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This read still remains striking even if the story seemed to jump off the page in the individual comics more effectively, or perhaps just stood out more as an outlier in 1987. At the end it could easily be considered convoluted, but it flows so easily, and you have immediate connection with the characters, and nothing feels secure. This allows to reader to learn with and through the main character and experience the ride strapped in as an active learner passenger.

[Gold223 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man the artwork was cool and I loved the story but it got a little convoluted near the end but I really enjoyed it. Also Cliff Hanger is super pulpy fun.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork is amazing, that's the only thing going for it.

[Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bruce Jones had the idea to make a comic book intended for silver screen adaptation about 25 years too early. Today every summer blockbuster is a comic book adaptation of one type or another. This 1984 story from Pacific Comics (with the final two issues published by Eclipse after Pacific's collapse) is your basic thriller/chase plot, a Hollywood format that proved a huge success in the following decade with films like The Fugitive. Sadly, Somerset Holmes never made it past the hollywood scripting phase, although the premise of this book was allegedly stolen and unofficially adapted as the 1996 film The Long Kiss Goodnight. I've never seen this movie, but I am putting it on the Netflix queue now.

This is easily the most cinematic art I've ever seen from Brent Anderson. His use of co-writer April Campbell as inspiration and real life model for the title character gave each panel a realism that is on par with masters such as Al Williamson (who's Indiana Jones-inpired "Cliff Hanger" back-up story was featured in each issue of Somerset Holmes, though it has been collected elsewhere in Al Williamson Adventures). This book is on par with the excellent quality of story I've come to expect from Pacific Comics.

[Jimmy Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have seen this as a movie from the 80s (that's when the comic was produced) it is nicely drawn but it got convoluted towards the end. It gets three stars for the art alone, it really was good. The women weren't drawn too beautiful with huge breasts, everyone looked normal. I liked that.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow is all i have to say.