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Dead Boy Detectives #3
The Dead Boy Detectives (2013-2014) Vol. 1: Schoolboy Terrors
From the pages of THE SANDMAN, Neil Gaiman’s dead boys get their own monthly series! As fans of storybook detectives, Edwin Paine (died 1916) and Charles Rowland (died 1990) will take on any and all mysteries—including their own untimely deaths! The dead boys head back to St. Hilarions, where bullying headmasters continue to rule the school. But when they investigate the lingering mysteries of their own deaths, they meet a young girl named Crystal whose tech skills and strange link to the undead earn her a place as a new detective. DEAD BOY DETECTIVES is a fast-paced adventure series that takes us from the bustling streets of contemporary London to Japanese-inspired video games and dangerous worlds perched somewhere between the now and nevermore.
Incluces: Issues #1-6. Also includes the short stories “Run Ragged” from WITCHING HOUR #1, GHOSTS #1 and TIME WARP #1.
Incluces: Issues #1-6. Also includes the short stories “Run Ragged” from WITCHING HOUR #1, GHOSTS #1 and TIME WARP #1.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 31, 2013
157 people are currently reading
827 people want to read
About the author
Toby Litt
89 books210 followersToby Litt was born in Bedfordshire, England. He studied Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia where he was taught by Malcolm Bradbury, winning the 1995 Curtis Brown Fellowship.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
He lived in Prague from 1990 to 1993 and published his first book, a collection of short stories entitled Adventures in Capitalism, in 1996.
In 2003 Toby Litt was nominated by Granta magazine as one of the 20 'Best of Young British Novelists'.
In 2018, he published Wrestliana, his memoir about wrestling, writing, losing and being a man.
His novel, A Writer's Diary, was published by Galley Beggar Press on January 1st 2022.
A Writer's Diary continues daily on Substack.
He lives in London and is the Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 116 reviews
August 8, 2015
Dead Boy Detectives is another fruitless attempt to give these minor characters from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics a series of their own. The reason why this idea keeps failing is that there’s nothing to Charles or Edwin: they’re around 12 years old, they’re ghosts, and they decide to solve supernatural mysteries. That’s it?! It might work as a series for younger readers but, this being a Vertigo title, it’s clearly being aimed at the adult market and I’m not sure it should be.
Novelist Toby Litt doesn’t know what to do with these characters and bundles them up in several uninteresting stories to kill time. The riveting opening sees the pair go looking for a fucking CAT! Later they help out a ghost stuck in a mirror. Then they decide to protect the daughter of a pair of rich artistes for no reason when she decides to go to the school where they were murdered, St Hilarion’s, for no reason, and then the three become a trio of detectives for no reason. Awful, awful stuff!
Even though there’s not much to these characters, I have read Gaiman’s Sandman before so I was already familiar with the Dead Boy Detectives. Anyone who hasn’t and picks up this book might be confused. Who are they? Why are they ghosts? How did they die? Why are they detectives? What are their powers? What is their goal? Litt does a piss-poor job of explaining all of that (when he does explain anything at all), choosing instead to barrel through his badly plotted, boring stories.
The powers question must’ve bothered a number of readers because towards the end of this book a double splash page explaining the Dead Boy Detectives’ ghost powers is shoe-horned in out of nowhere. But it’s indicative of the lack of thought and the shoddy way this series was thrown together.
Mark Buckingham’s art is very good as always and I enjoyed the old-timey comics way (image with block of text beneath, six to a page) he told the older ghosts’ story. Lee Loughridge’s colours are lovely too – he seems to be the go-to guy for school-set comics (he’s the colourist on Deadly Class too, a far better comic I’d recommend over this drivel)!
The characters are dull and poorly written, the stories are all over the place and there’s no real reason behind why this series exists in the first place, other than to try to capture some of the Sandman audience. The art team produce good work but it’s not a strong enough reason to check out this forgettable series. Charles and Edwin work fine as supporting characters in a larger story; they completely fail to captivate on their own. As I slogged through this I was wondering where it was all going and then by the end I knew – cancellation!
Novelist Toby Litt doesn’t know what to do with these characters and bundles them up in several uninteresting stories to kill time. The riveting opening sees the pair go looking for a fucking CAT! Later they help out a ghost stuck in a mirror. Then they decide to protect the daughter of a pair of rich artistes for no reason when she decides to go to the school where they were murdered, St Hilarion’s, for no reason, and then the three become a trio of detectives for no reason. Awful, awful stuff!
Even though there’s not much to these characters, I have read Gaiman’s Sandman before so I was already familiar with the Dead Boy Detectives. Anyone who hasn’t and picks up this book might be confused. Who are they? Why are they ghosts? How did they die? Why are they detectives? What are their powers? What is their goal? Litt does a piss-poor job of explaining all of that (when he does explain anything at all), choosing instead to barrel through his badly plotted, boring stories.
The powers question must’ve bothered a number of readers because towards the end of this book a double splash page explaining the Dead Boy Detectives’ ghost powers is shoe-horned in out of nowhere. But it’s indicative of the lack of thought and the shoddy way this series was thrown together.
Mark Buckingham’s art is very good as always and I enjoyed the old-timey comics way (image with block of text beneath, six to a page) he told the older ghosts’ story. Lee Loughridge’s colours are lovely too – he seems to be the go-to guy for school-set comics (he’s the colourist on Deadly Class too, a far better comic I’d recommend over this drivel)!
The characters are dull and poorly written, the stories are all over the place and there’s no real reason behind why this series exists in the first place, other than to try to capture some of the Sandman audience. The art team produce good work but it’s not a strong enough reason to check out this forgettable series. Charles and Edwin work fine as supporting characters in a larger story; they completely fail to captivate on their own. As I slogged through this I was wondering where it was all going and then by the end I knew – cancellation!
June 21, 2024
4 stars for the story ...
2 stars for the presentation.
I won't read more ...
but, at least, I now
have a baseline concept
with which to go into
the Netflix series. 😁
2 stars for the presentation.
I won't read more ...
but, at least, I now
have a baseline concept
with which to go into
the Netflix series. 😁
January 15, 2018
I enjoyed these stories. We are introduced to two boys who are dead and they go around solving mysteries. They died at a boarding school and they go back to the haunted torture chamber and clear out the old ghosts. I think there are basically 3 stories in this volume.
The art is decent, it is more on the horror side, gothic and macabre. I will continue on.
The art is decent, it is more on the horror side, gothic and macabre. I will continue on.
May 15, 2024
3/5
Started these after the show was released. I really liked Charles and Edwin in the sandman universe but I actually never got around reading this spin off.
The art was absolutely brilliant. I like the ground work, the character dynamics are cool and the cases are just enough combination of gore, creepiness and mystery. I could do with more depth in side characters though.
And can I just say my love for Edwin is unconditional. I need to adopt that kid and keep him safe.
Started these after the show was released. I really liked Charles and Edwin in the sandman universe but I actually never got around reading this spin off.
The art was absolutely brilliant. I like the ground work, the character dynamics are cool and the cases are just enough combination of gore, creepiness and mystery. I could do with more depth in side characters though.
And can I just say my love for Edwin is unconditional. I need to adopt that kid and keep him safe.
May 25, 2015
I couldn't get much a of a grip on anything like none of it made sense. This one was sadly not for me.
January 8, 2016
It's always good to see new Mark Buckingham Vertigo art. Hearkens back to the 90's Sandman era when Vertigo was in it's heyday.
July 18, 2014
I rather enjoyed this book, although I don't usually go in for graphic novels--and I must confess I spent most of the time reading this book uncertain of what was going on or why it was happening. You may laugh, but I think I was into the "second comic" before I realized the two boys were actually ghosts and "Dead boy" was a literal description. I was also surprised to learn after finishing the book that it wasn't aimed at a juvenile audience--as I'd assumed based on the cover and age of the primary characters--but was written for an adult audience. Regardless of age, it really wasn't written for me!
I had never read the works of Toby Litt, and was mostly interested in the book because of the reference to Neil Gaiman. Disclaimer and explanation: I received a digital copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. This digital copy on my e-ink ereader was in black-and-white (or more accurately, black-and-gray) which made it more difficult to read and probably less entertaining than if I'd read it in color (knowledge thanks to a brief color section provided on Amazon).
Overall, I thought it was an interesting book that drew me in, but confusing beyond belief. I'd recommend it to fans of graphic novels and people who have some clue what the back story is!
I had never read the works of Toby Litt, and was mostly interested in the book because of the reference to Neil Gaiman. Disclaimer and explanation: I received a digital copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. This digital copy on my e-ink ereader was in black-and-white (or more accurately, black-and-gray) which made it more difficult to read and probably less entertaining than if I'd read it in color (knowledge thanks to a brief color section provided on Amazon).
Overall, I thought it was an interesting book that drew me in, but confusing beyond belief. I'd recommend it to fans of graphic novels and people who have some clue what the back story is!
July 24, 2014
Zwei Schüler müssen an ihrer ehemaligen englischen Schule ein attraktives Mädchen retten. Problem: die beiden Schüler sind schon lange tot, nur ihre Geister sind noch als "Detektive" unter uns. Aber auch der fiese Schulleiter und seine Bullies sind schon lange tot...
Stimmungsvoll, witzig, ansprechende Artwork:
Die DEAD BOY DETECTIVES haben durchaus Kult-Faktor und machen Spaß!
March 20, 2021
This could have been 4 stars if the artwork was better. I want to know what happened to those boys, but the bad artwork won't let me.
April 12, 2023
I'm officially old, because modern comics are just not fun for me to read. Two of my favorite characters from the original Sandman comics but I just couldn't connect with a lot of this. Now if we could get more stories from Necropolis Litharege...
August 1, 2024
I love my lil dead boys. This volume felt closer in style to the show and had familiar characters. Very obvious in the comics that Tragic mick used to be a walrus, and I loved learning that Crystal Palace’s full name is Crystal Palace Surname Von Hoverkraft.
July 1, 2014
Actual rating 2.5. Dead Boy Detectives is a Sandman spin-off, so I grabbed it from the comic book shop expecting it to have some of that same magical brilliance that most Sandman-related stories have. Unfortunately, while the premise is good, the writing in this volume is choppy and confusing, making for an unsatisfying read.
Charles and Edwin are two young, school-age boys who were murdered in their boarding school by bullies, though many years apart from each other. Their story was a rather chilling part of the Sandman series, and their characters have been brought back multiple times in the Vertigo universe. This lengthy and rather horrifying history is not well portrayed in this new ongoing as the comic seems to rely on the fact that readers have been following these characters around since the 1990s. However, assuming that readers already know the background to a new story is a great way to alienate and lose readers. Even as a fan of these two characters, I felt like this introductory volume was really a book from the middle of the series given how much information I was already expected to know. Sure, the plot of two dead boys solving supernatural mysteries is not hard to figure out, but the narrative should have been more focused on setting this idea up in these first few issues. Instead, readers were thrown into a story that seemed to have started much before the first pages of the book, and that's not a great way to endear your readers to a new series.
Furthermore, while it is possible to start a story in the middle of the action, that requires careful writing, something this book just doesn't have. The main story of Schoolboy Terrors brings our characters back to the boarding school where they were murdered, and finally tells readers what was going on in that school that would allow for such evil acts to occur. Unfortunately, this narrative didn't really tie itself back well to the frightening imagery of the original appearance of the two boys, and the reasoning behind why they were killed was quite a disastrous mess of storytelling. Demons are involved, and other ghosts, but the story doesn't really coalesce into a good horror tale, or even one that makes a lot of sense. Additionally, as suddenly as the evil background to the school is revealed, the entire place is burned down, and the characters are off following Crystal (a new character) on another adventure. While I am sure that we will hear more about the school in the future, it seemed strange to deal with this massive part of the history of these characters so briefly and without much denouement.
Overall, as a fan of the Dead Boy Detectives, I found this a passable read, but I cannot imagine that new readers would be very enthused about this ongoing. The art is only okay, the writing is clumsy, and the stories aren't nearly as horrifying or creepy as the original Sandman series. I am not sure who the targeted audience for this book is, but I don't expect it to last long.
Charles and Edwin are two young, school-age boys who were murdered in their boarding school by bullies, though many years apart from each other. Their story was a rather chilling part of the Sandman series, and their characters have been brought back multiple times in the Vertigo universe. This lengthy and rather horrifying history is not well portrayed in this new ongoing as the comic seems to rely on the fact that readers have been following these characters around since the 1990s. However, assuming that readers already know the background to a new story is a great way to alienate and lose readers. Even as a fan of these two characters, I felt like this introductory volume was really a book from the middle of the series given how much information I was already expected to know. Sure, the plot of two dead boys solving supernatural mysteries is not hard to figure out, but the narrative should have been more focused on setting this idea up in these first few issues. Instead, readers were thrown into a story that seemed to have started much before the first pages of the book, and that's not a great way to endear your readers to a new series.
Furthermore, while it is possible to start a story in the middle of the action, that requires careful writing, something this book just doesn't have. The main story of Schoolboy Terrors brings our characters back to the boarding school where they were murdered, and finally tells readers what was going on in that school that would allow for such evil acts to occur. Unfortunately, this narrative didn't really tie itself back well to the frightening imagery of the original appearance of the two boys, and the reasoning behind why they were killed was quite a disastrous mess of storytelling. Demons are involved, and other ghosts, but the story doesn't really coalesce into a good horror tale, or even one that makes a lot of sense. Additionally, as suddenly as the evil background to the school is revealed, the entire place is burned down, and the characters are off following Crystal (a new character) on another adventure. While I am sure that we will hear more about the school in the future, it seemed strange to deal with this massive part of the history of these characters so briefly and without much denouement.
Overall, as a fan of the Dead Boy Detectives, I found this a passable read, but I cannot imagine that new readers would be very enthused about this ongoing. The art is only okay, the writing is clumsy, and the stories aren't nearly as horrifying or creepy as the original Sandman series. I am not sure who the targeted audience for this book is, but I don't expect it to last long.
August 18, 2014
Edwin and Charles are two schoolboys who have set up their own detective agency. They investigate supernatural crimes because they also both happen to be dead, hence the name, Dead Boy Detectives. They get pulled back to the school where they both died while trying to protect a young girl. Working to solve the bizarre conspiracy at the school leads to the dead boys teaming up with the girl.
The Dead Boy Detectives are a spin-off for Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Unfortunately, I never followed that series. I saw that this was collecting issues 1 to 6 of the Dead Boys and figured it would be a good place to start reading about them. I was wrong. It was pretty obvious that this was written with the belief that the readers would be familiar with the characters and their backstory already. As another reviewer said, it wasn't even that apparent that the boys were dead in the beginning of the book. I still am not sure what the boys can or can not do. I could never figure out when they (and the other ghosts) were supposed to be visible to living people. Like I said, a lot of this can be explained by me being a new reader. But some of it is also due to choppy, confusing writing as well.
I found the artwork to only be so-so throughout the book. It didn't help to clarify what was happening most of the time.
Overall, I would have to say that while the characters seem interesting, this was a collection of confusing stories that were the entirely wrong place to jump into the narrative. It would probably appeal more to established fans though, so I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt and give it a 3 star rating.
The Dead Boy Detectives are a spin-off for Neil Gaiman's Sandman series. Unfortunately, I never followed that series. I saw that this was collecting issues 1 to 6 of the Dead Boys and figured it would be a good place to start reading about them. I was wrong. It was pretty obvious that this was written with the belief that the readers would be familiar with the characters and their backstory already. As another reviewer said, it wasn't even that apparent that the boys were dead in the beginning of the book. I still am not sure what the boys can or can not do. I could never figure out when they (and the other ghosts) were supposed to be visible to living people. Like I said, a lot of this can be explained by me being a new reader. But some of it is also due to choppy, confusing writing as well.
I found the artwork to only be so-so throughout the book. It didn't help to clarify what was happening most of the time.
Overall, I would have to say that while the characters seem interesting, this was a collection of confusing stories that were the entirely wrong place to jump into the narrative. It would probably appeal more to established fans though, so I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt and give it a 3 star rating.
July 28, 2014
I was so excited to win this comic from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaways. I started reading it immediately and that is where my excitement ended. As you can see, I gave it 2 of 5 stars. The premise is interesting. Two boys who met their demise and are now ghosts. They are, for some reasons, now detectives who help the world of the dead solve problems. Seems reasonable enough to be interesting.
Unfortunately, the story was all over the place. I couldn't follow the story and keep my interest in it. It took me way too long to read it. I felt I was missing a lot of story to truly understand what was going on. I understand from some of the description that this story is a spin off from Neil Gaiman comics, which I've yet to read, so perhaps reading that would be helpful.
I hate to give this book such a low rating, but I find I have to. The artwork was the best part of the book, but the story was just so difficult to follow that I found I wasn't looking at the pictures. In my opinion, less dialogue and/or narration might have helped the story. Let the pictures do more of the work.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It just didn't accomplish anything for me.
Unfortunately, the story was all over the place. I couldn't follow the story and keep my interest in it. It took me way too long to read it. I felt I was missing a lot of story to truly understand what was going on. I understand from some of the description that this story is a spin off from Neil Gaiman comics, which I've yet to read, so perhaps reading that would be helpful.
I hate to give this book such a low rating, but I find I have to. The artwork was the best part of the book, but the story was just so difficult to follow that I found I wasn't looking at the pictures. In my opinion, less dialogue and/or narration might have helped the story. Let the pictures do more of the work.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It just didn't accomplish anything for me.
July 11, 2014
This was one of those books where you couldn't wait to read it and when you actually started to read it. You were like what the hell!?
I could not finish this book. It honestly felt more like a chore then a hobby to read this.
Snooze fest.
The only great thing about this book is that it did help me sleep at night....
I could not finish this book. It honestly felt more like a chore then a hobby to read this.
Snooze fest.
The only great thing about this book is that it did help me sleep at night....
July 11, 2014
I wanted an all-ages mystical romp... Not for all ages... It was decent but not to my taste... Potential is there but writing is at times choppy and confusing.
May 8, 2024
Having just finished the new Dead Boy Detectives series on Netflix, I thought I’d go to some of the source material and give it a spin. I found myself mostly enjoying the series, although its attempt to balance the desire to go very dark and yet at the same time somehow be appropriate for a tweener audience just doesn’t work out too well. Last year I was quite amused to see the boys pop up on Max’s Doom Patrol. And, if we want to go way back in time, I really enjoyed meeting Edwin and Charles for the first time in the ‘90s back in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman #25. So I was hoping that this would appeal to me, but alas, it did not. While there are a few good moments here in this first volume collecting the first six issues of Toby Litt’s run from 2013–for example, I like the way we return to St. Hilarion and see Edwin’s hat still there on the gateway to the school—overall it’s really not worthy of Gaiman’s original material, and I kept thinking as I was reading it how much better and smarter and more engaging it would be if he were writing it. Unfair, I know, but true.
January 25, 2021
Set in the same universe as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, this book follows two formely alive school boys who form their own detective agency.
This book collects the first six issues of the series and follows several different arcs. I know we were introduced to the characters in Sandman, but I feel like more time should have been spent examining these two dead boys, one from the early twentieth century, the other from the late twentieth century. Most of the book is about some mystery or another, but we don't get to see a lot of who these two are.
This book seems to be set some ten years or so after we last see them, so it makes sense they've changed since then, but it still kind of sudden without covering what they've been doing.
The art is great, Mark Buckingham of "Fables" suits it well, and I think it's the highlight of this book for me.
This book collects the first six issues of the series and follows several different arcs. I know we were introduced to the characters in Sandman, but I feel like more time should have been spent examining these two dead boys, one from the early twentieth century, the other from the late twentieth century. Most of the book is about some mystery or another, but we don't get to see a lot of who these two are.
This book seems to be set some ten years or so after we last see them, so it makes sense they've changed since then, but it still kind of sudden without covering what they've been doing.
The art is great, Mark Buckingham of "Fables" suits it well, and I think it's the highlight of this book for me.
October 9, 2021
A quirky fun book about two young detectives who just so happen to be dead. The book contain two arcs and I really enjoyed the first one but the second one fell a little flat. Charles and Edwin are an intriguing pair and the creative team of Litt and Buckingham had fun with the book. At times I felt some more exposition would have helped the title but overall, this was a fun read.
April 18, 2024
I definitely liked this more than Free Country but this still didn't work for me as well as I would have liked.
May 23, 2024
I started reading this because I had an interest in the Netflix series. Not only was the artwork awful, the plot was very confusing and I lost interest in contuning it. This was a definite no for me.
July 11, 2024
This was a cute read but I couldn't help but be disappointed.
I loved the Netflix Show. I knew this would be different I just didn't realize by how much.
The art was okay, not my favorite style, but passable. The plot made no sense.
I think I'll just wait for the rest of the TV show to come out.
I loved the Netflix Show. I knew this would be different I just didn't realize by how much.
The art was okay, not my favorite style, but passable. The plot made no sense.
I think I'll just wait for the rest of the TV show to come out.
April 13, 2016
Did you hear that? That was the sound of me getting sucked into another series. I don't have strong memories of these two from "The Sandman," but I have already gained a strong connection to these boys after this one issue. I am in love with the premise (I'll have to find the comics I missed out on). Even the new characters are interesting.
This story takes the boys back to where it all started, or rather ended for them: St. Hilarion's, the place of their murder. Crystal is the subject of their investigation right now. They saved her from dying in a rogue grenade attack. I am not sure if it was part of the act her parents was putting on, and it just went wrong, or if it was something else altogether. Her parents are weird, concept artist type folk.
After her near death experience, Crystal decides she needs to go to a new school: again, St. Hilarion's. I am not sure why she has made this choice. Maybe, when she got close to death, she picked something up from the two boys. Back at the school, the old head master is still ... well, old--but no older than the last time we saw him 24 years ago. He smokes a pipe with a devil carved into it. Something is up with this dude.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/dead...
This story takes the boys back to where it all started, or rather ended for them: St. Hilarion's, the place of their murder. Crystal is the subject of their investigation right now. They saved her from dying in a rogue grenade attack. I am not sure if it was part of the act her parents was putting on, and it just went wrong, or if it was something else altogether. Her parents are weird, concept artist type folk.
After her near death experience, Crystal decides she needs to go to a new school: again, St. Hilarion's. I am not sure why she has made this choice. Maybe, when she got close to death, she picked something up from the two boys. Back at the school, the old head master is still ... well, old--but no older than the last time we saw him 24 years ago. He smokes a pipe with a devil carved into it. Something is up with this dude.
Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/dead...
October 17, 2017
Not bad. I may stick around to read the other volume. But it's just lacking in its quality without Neil Gaiman. I knew obviously, that he wasn't author of this but I let nostalgia get the best of me. Still I didn't hate it. But, jumbled as it was, Free Country has this beat by a mile.
Also, it seems that a lot of people got lost while reading this book. I didn't have that problem so I'll assume it is a must to read the sandman books first.
Also, it seems that a lot of people got lost while reading this book. I didn't have that problem so I'll assume it is a must to read the sandman books first.
December 31, 2017
I enjoyed this. It’s not a very serious read, so far. It was confusing at some points but I’m willing to read volume 2 before I make a decision on whether or not I like the series. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it either.
January 4, 2014
Picked this up today. I love it so far. Can't wait for the next one to come out on my birthday. Vertigo always has the most stunning artists. I suggest this.
July 7, 2024
I loved the Dead Boy Detectives on Netflix, so wanted to get a sense of how they were portrayed in the comics. I much prefer the streaming series, which preserves some of the original’s themes albeit in remixed form, but I’m glad I took the time to read Volume 1.
There are decent to good page layouts, pacing and drawing throughout by Mark Buckingham. Unfortunately, much of this is spoiled by the mostly dreadful blotchy inking by Gary Erskine and Andrew Pepoy. Together, Erskine and Pepoy seemingly never meet a three-dimensional form they can’t flatten into illogical splotches and render comprehensible three-dimensional space into ambiguous abstractions. The placement of their heavy-handed black blobs too often fails to reinforce a panel or page’s overall compositional logic, leaving us with inelegant splatters. The end effect is that too much rides on the success of Lee Loughridge’s colors - which nonetheless do succeed in downplaying the abysmal inks, preserving the spirit of Buckgham’s pencils, and adding their own eerie twist to the story.
Oh for the lyrical drawings and nuanced inks of P. Craig Russell. I guess draftsmanship is too much to expect from some comic artists.
That said, the finishing work by Russ Braun on the last two story (in two parts) has a visual clarity and coherence lacking in the other stories. Unfortunately, this story also trades on racist tropes about Africa.
There are decent to good page layouts, pacing and drawing throughout by Mark Buckingham. Unfortunately, much of this is spoiled by the mostly dreadful blotchy inking by Gary Erskine and Andrew Pepoy. Together, Erskine and Pepoy seemingly never meet a three-dimensional form they can’t flatten into illogical splotches and render comprehensible three-dimensional space into ambiguous abstractions. The placement of their heavy-handed black blobs too often fails to reinforce a panel or page’s overall compositional logic, leaving us with inelegant splatters. The end effect is that too much rides on the success of Lee Loughridge’s colors - which nonetheless do succeed in downplaying the abysmal inks, preserving the spirit of Buckgham’s pencils, and adding their own eerie twist to the story.
Oh for the lyrical drawings and nuanced inks of P. Craig Russell. I guess draftsmanship is too much to expect from some comic artists.
That said, the finishing work by Russ Braun on the last two story (in two parts) has a visual clarity and coherence lacking in the other stories. Unfortunately, this story also trades on racist tropes about Africa.
July 24, 2024
5 stars.
I should preface with the fact that although the protagonists are children, this is not for children. It has a lot of gore and violence, as well as graphic depictions of abuse. Think Sandman Universe.
I'm here after watching Dead Boy Detectives (the netflix show) and honestly this book is not as bad as the ratings would lead you to believe. This is just different from the show. It wasn't that hard to follow as long as you know who's talking. And to the artist and the writer's credit, they drew different styles of text bubbles for each character so you can keep track of multiple point-of-views at the same time. You can even go back and only read one character's thoughts. I think most people just aren't used to multiple povs in supernatural fantasy comics so the combination of the plot, the supernatural things happening and the multiple pov presented by a lot of text just takes them out of the experience. But I enjoyed it very much, even if it wasn't as enjoyable as the tv show.
I should preface with the fact that although the protagonists are children, this is not for children. It has a lot of gore and violence, as well as graphic depictions of abuse. Think Sandman Universe.
I'm here after watching Dead Boy Detectives (the netflix show) and honestly this book is not as bad as the ratings would lead you to believe. This is just different from the show. It wasn't that hard to follow as long as you know who's talking. And to the artist and the writer's credit, they drew different styles of text bubbles for each character so you can keep track of multiple point-of-views at the same time. You can even go back and only read one character's thoughts. I think most people just aren't used to multiple povs in supernatural fantasy comics so the combination of the plot, the supernatural things happening and the multiple pov presented by a lot of text just takes them out of the experience. But I enjoyed it very much, even if it wasn't as enjoyable as the tv show.
March 17, 2022
Lots of good ideas executed just alright. Doesn't help that it came out at that weird time when writing had this certain sense of shallow progressiveness to it (the main girl in particular was written with a "two steps forward, one step back" sensibility). Even the main allure of ghosts feels like it was handled more as an afterthought than anything else, with the lore/rules to how ghosts work in this series barely being established until 6 issues in. Would love to see the series get a second chance with a different writer at the helm though since, again, the ideas are there for a solid series.
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