Title A Study of Emerald Series --- Author Neil Gaiman Illustrator Rafael Albuquerque, Rafael Scavone, Dave Stewart Publisher Dark Horse - 2018 First Printing Dark Horse - 2018 Category Horror Warnings None Main Characters The Detective, The Major Main Elements Lovecraftian, demons, gods

This supernatural mystery set in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos features a brilliant detective and his partner as they try to solve a horrific murder.

The complex investigation takes the Baker Street investigators from the slums of Whitechapel all the way to the Queen's Palace as they attempt to find the answers to this bizarre murder of cosmic horror!

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula award-winning, and New York Times bestselling writer Neil Gaiman comes this graphic novel adaptation with art by Eisner award winning artist Rafael Albuquerque!

Hmm, what do I say about this graphic novel. It's not that I didn't like it, on the contrary its twists and turns were deliciously creepy and mind bending, nothing is as it seems. But it's those twists and turns that make it so wonderful and if I talk about them, then I'm giving all the good stuff away!

So what can I mention without giving too much away? Well, it's basically taking the Cthullu mythos from Lovecraft and dumping it into a Victorian London familiar to Sherlock Holmes. Ok, maybe not familiar since murder victims bleed in green and have a few more limbs than the average human...

What else, well there are old Victorian advertisements at the start of each chapter. Need some professional exsanguination to deal with a host of medical ills? Well contact V.Tepes. Is your soul constipated? Well, Jekyll's Powders will help solve that. Though don't let those humorous but disturbing inserts make you think this is a parody, those are just for fun. The tale itself is dark and vaguely disturbing without being outright nightmare producing.

I felt the Lovecraft/Doyle merge was done well (heck, it's a Lovecraft/Doyle/Gaiman mash up really!), exactly because it was done in a way I didn't expect it to be done. And the artwork was great, most of the time you don't get to see much, just a hint of something being a little...well, wrong. But that's pretty Lovecraftian where he leave you with an idea and not go into details, letting your imagination fill in the rest. I thought the artwork was perfect as well, I mean how do you stick a tentacled Elder God into a great coat and top hat?

So if you enjoy Lovecraft, Sherlock Holmes and The Sandman, this might be a book you shouldn't miss.