A Study in Emerald: impressions
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victorian221bA Study in Emerald, in all its iterations, is delightful. The graphic novel was a feast to the eyes, and it was fun to listen to Neil Gaiman reading, while the print version is available on Neil Gaiman’s website for free.
The world of the short story took me in instantly. It’s such a curious mirror universe where the world is ruled by Lovecraftian monsters. So in this case, loyal subjects of the Crown (the protagonists) are baddies while anarchists (the outlaws) are good. Both the narrative and the drawing style are exquisite.
The idea that Moriarty and Moran are Holmes and Watson’s mirrors is developed to its utmost. I especially enjoyed that in the graphic novel Moriarty and Holmes are lookalikes.
Also, A Study in Emerald must have influenced Petr Kopl’s graphic novels because there is a similar way of introducing small skits as funny advertisements between the chapters.
And then there is a paragraph which can rival with the canon in its romantic tension between the two protagonists, when the consulting detective says to his companion:
“I have a feeling that we were meant to be together. That we have fought the good fight side by side, in the past or in the future, I do not know. I am a rational man, but I have learned the value of a good companion, and from the moment I clapped eyes on you, I knew I trusted you as well as I do myself. Yes. I want you with me.”
The companion fully reciprocates:
“I blushed, or said something meaningless. For the first time since Afghanistan I felt that I had worth in the world.”
Another point: the circumstances of the murder seem to be a reference to Jack the Ripper.
Of course there are numerous parallels with STUD and SCAN and references to other cases, but it’s the ending I liked the most. Just as in SCAN, the detective is outwitted by his adversary. In SCAN Irene Adler flees with her husband Godfrey Norton, while in this story Holmes escapes with Watson and writes to Moriarty something like “too late, but you played well”.
The world of the short story took me in instantly. It’s such a curious mirror universe where the world is ruled by Lovecraftian monsters. So in this case, loyal subjects of the Crown (the protagonists) are baddies while anarchists (the outlaws) are good. Both the narrative and the drawing style are exquisite.
The idea that Moriarty and Moran are Holmes and Watson’s mirrors is developed to its utmost. I especially enjoyed that in the graphic novel Moriarty and Holmes are lookalikes.
Also, A Study in Emerald must have influenced Petr Kopl’s graphic novels because there is a similar way of introducing small skits as funny advertisements between the chapters.
And then there is a paragraph which can rival with the canon in its romantic tension between the two protagonists, when the consulting detective says to his companion:
“I have a feeling that we were meant to be together. That we have fought the good fight side by side, in the past or in the future, I do not know. I am a rational man, but I have learned the value of a good companion, and from the moment I clapped eyes on you, I knew I trusted you as well as I do myself. Yes. I want you with me.”
The companion fully reciprocates:
“I blushed, or said something meaningless. For the first time since Afghanistan I felt that I had worth in the world.”
Another point: the circumstances of the murder seem to be a reference to Jack the Ripper.
Of course there are numerous parallels with STUD and SCAN and references to other cases, but it’s the ending I liked the most. Just as in SCAN, the detective is outwitted by his adversary. In SCAN Irene Adler flees with her husband Godfrey Norton, while in this story Holmes escapes with Watson and writes to Moriarty something like “too late, but you played well”.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-29 06:36 pm (UTC)I will take this chance to rec a story set in the Emerald AU. I think the Watsonian narrative voice in this fic, in particular, is wonderfully distinctive and well done.
(I just looked up the review I left when I first read this fic, and (without spoilers) here's the impression it created in me: This story kept me constantly absorbed, intrigued, and excited, and occasionally it completely pulled the rug from under me. It was darkly operatic in the best sense, theatrical and unashamedly Victorian but grounded in truly complex characterizations with delightful touches of dry wit. It has one of the best Watson narrative voices I have *ever* encountered -- I just love this Watson so much, I can't tell you. He and Holmes are more broken, more desperate, more afraid and more bloody than I am used to seeing them, but they live in a horror show of a world, and despite it all they are deeply recognizable: Holmes fights for justice, and Watson fights for Holmes.)
A Study in Midnight (41537 words) by M_Leigh
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Emerald - Neil Gaiman, Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, James Moriarty, Sebastian Moran
Summary:
In a world dominated by an alien monarchy, criminals Sherlock Holmes and John Watson work to take down the royal establishment while detective James Moriarty and his associate Sebastian Moran try to track them down. Also featuring Irene Adler and Roderick Maclean, who did in fact exist. AU based on Neil Gaiman's phenomenal short story "A Study in Emerald."
no subject
Date: 2019-12-29 06:57 pm (UTC)UPD. I read it and am very grateful to you for recommending it. What a gem! It left me both satisfied and unsatisfied. Exquisite.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-30 03:36 pm (UTC)