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Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber

By Leroy Douresseaux
October 9, 2011 - 21:05

Moriarty Volume 1 cover image

Moriarty is a mystery thriller from Image Comics.  This new series focuses on Professor James Moriarty, its title character and central protagonist.  Moriarty was the archenemy of Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories.  I’ve only read a few of the Holmes stories written by Doyle, so I didn’t know that this famous fictional villain and adversary only appeared in “The Final Problem” and is a behind the scenes player in “The Valley of Fear”

Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber is set at the dawn of World War I.  It is also 20 years after the death of Sherlock Holmes at the hand of Moriarty, and the master villain is a lost man, with his once-vaunted criminal empire now just a pitiful shadow of its former self.  Still, Moriarty is a formidable man, which is why Section 5 (MI5) is blackmailing him to find Sherlock Holmes’ missing brother, Mycroft Holmes.

What at first appears to be a routine case turns out to involve someone Mycroft was investigating, another person who is now missing, Rupert Thomason.  Both men have apparently fallen into the clutches of a dangerous new villain, the mysterious Tartarus.  With the help of the Jade Serpent, who also has her own criminal empire, Moriarty doggedly pursues his quarry across England and finally to a showdown that will decide the fate of London and perhaps, the world.

THE LOWDOWN:  I was not exactly pleased when I received a copy of Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber for review.  I was not interested in another Holmes pastiche.  Feeling obligated, I eventually started reading and then couldn’t stop.  This is every bit as fun as Guy Ritche’s fantasia, Sherlock Holmes, with a Moriarty every bit as interesting and as fun to follow as Holmes.  Sometimes, we have to learn to love a great villain (Iago, Hannibal Lecter), and in writer Daniel Corey’s clever story, I found myself loving Moriarty, even if he is a murderous bastard.

Something else that grew on me is Anthony Diecidue’s art with its woodblock sensibilities and expressionistic inking.  You may think of Kevin O’Neill when you see this; I did.  If you’ve been waiting for a real Sherlock Holmes comic book, you’ll be delighted by the fact that Moriarty is the one to give it to you.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of Sherlock Holmes and detective fiction will find in Moriarty Volume 1: The Dark Chamber a comic book to love.

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Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12