Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859. He became a
doctor in 1882. When this career did not prove successful, Doyle
started writing stories. In addition to the popular Sherlock Holmes
short stories and novels, Doyle also wrote historical novels,
romances, and plays.
French artist Sophie Rohrbach began her career after graduating in
display design at the Chambre des Commerce. She went on to design
displays in many top department stores including Galeries
Lafayette. She also studied illustration at the Emile Cohl school
in Lyon, France, where she now lives with her daughter. Rohrbach
has illustrated many children's books.
Adapting Holmes stories into comics is very challenging, which
makes these books all the more impressive. Very little happens in a
typical Holmes story: something goes wrong, the detectives
interview a series of people, the hero sits around thinking, and
eventually he confronts the culprit. Comics are a visual medium,
and in the same way that readers of novels--in which it's perfectly
all right to describe at length the thought processes of a
brilliant detective--tend to enjoy detective stories better than
moviegoers do, comics readers tend to want to see things
moving...not smart people sitting in chairs and thinking deeply.
Sophie Rohrbach's illustrations are cunningly designed to address
this challenge. She moves the point of view around dramatically,
zooming in on Watson, for example, when he finally figures out
something Holmes realized an hour ago, or swiveling the perspective
so that we fail to see the face of a suspect whose identity would
eliminate the mystery. The creators also interject short bits of
narration on Watson's notepad to maintain the sense that Watson is
writing down these adventures shortly after he has experienced
them. The result is a mystery that is always engaging, even when
the action is mild. --Teacher Librarian-- "Journal"
These graphic novel-style adaptations of Holmes's adventures are
well suited to middle graders. The dialogue is reminiscent of Conan
Doyle's writing yet easier to follow. The illustrations' cartoon
characters are appealing, but the heavy black lines and dark
palette are sometimes intrusive. --The Horn Book Guide-- "Journal"
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