Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Moriarty #4
Image Comics
Corey, Diecidue, Lanphear & Freeze
The first arc of the comic book devoted to Sherlock Holmes' archenemy wraps up with an extremely strong effort. The comic book succeeds in turning Moriarty into a protagonist in a believable way. The comic book is not without its flaws as the actual plot and story surrounding it aren't terribly as tight as the clues around them. The art continues to impress with another dark and detailed effort. Overall this book is a good capper to the first arc.
While this comic book and arc have been about Moriarty, the shadow of Sherlock Holmes has hung around waiting to make a real and tangible appearance. This book does not disappoint in that regard. I'm not saying Sherlock Holmes (or any Holmes) actually makes an appearance but the book ends with a reveal of a series of clues that have had a hold of the story from the beginning. It's classic Sherlock Holmes and true to form, Moriarty seems to have missed some minor details along the way.
The comic book also provides a good gray area for the characters to operate in. Moriarty is a hero, but does he really want to be? What about the other surviving characters also play multiple roles? The characterizations allow for the key characters to operate on either the good or the bad sides fairly easily. This flexibility is going to help this comic book in future arcs.
The difficulty I had with the book was the actual plot. The machine that is the main threat seems so far removed from where this arc started. I'm still not even sure what the next step would have been if Moriarty had failed to stop him. Luckily, in a classic villain move, much of the plot is revealed to Moriarty. Since he was going to be dead in a matter of minutes anyway, why not?
The artwork is extremely dark and it reminds me so much of the tone for the Young Sherlock Holmes film from the 1980s. I liked this style for the story and I felt it captured the feeling for the story very well. The sequences I thought were the best was when Moriarty took to flight using the chains in a move that seemed to jump out of a swashbuckling movie. Overall, this was a very good visual companion to the story.
Moriarty is a good idea and it has its moments. I think everything ties together nicely after multiple reads of the entire arc and that level of detail is always welcome in a story. While I struggled with the villain's plans and even his motivation at times I loved the Sherlock-like ending to this comic book. There promises to be another arc in October and I know I will be there.
3 out of 5 geek goggles
