Villordsutch reviews Dirk Gently: The Salmon of Doubt #1…
Plagued by nightmares about a childhood he never had, Dirk returns to Cambridge University to seek the advice of his former tutor, the time-traveling Professor Reg Chronotis. There he discovers that a holistic detective can have more than one past, and his adventures have only just begun… Featuring favorite characters from the original books as well as the cast from the TV series, including Elijah Wood.
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Dirk Gently: The Salmon of Doubt #1 here
Arvind Ethan David is a very brave writer! All Dirk Gently fans know – Arvind especially so – that The Salmon of Doubt was Douglas Adams’ unfinished Dirk Gently novel, and some purists may even go so far to say The Salmon of Doubt was Mr. Adams’ unfinished Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy novel. Yet with the new Dirk Gently television series just around the corner, Mr. David has decided today was the day he’d like to set himself a challenge and interpret this tale in his own words. If it wasn’t for the fact that The Spoon Too Short was anything other than utterly brilliant I’d be snorting in disgust right now; however I’m sticking along for this ride to see what’s in store.
With Dirk, Sally (the Nurse) and Bernice (the Cat (Schrödingers)) arriving in Cambridge, our Holistic detective is discussing his childhood to Sally, weaving through the ins and outs of his years in Transylvania and the reasons why he never completed his years at Cambridge University. There is one issue bothering him, which is that some of his memories – that he recalls – are bad memories; as in memories that aren’t actually his.
Visiting an old friend, who is an absent minded Professor, in a hope to use his time machine and discover where these memories are coming from, we learn the time machine is now located in the bathroom, and is discovered when Dirk manages to upset Sally to which she enters said bathroom. Oh and Bernice left the group to chase a spider and has been captured by a troll with a sack full of cats, just in case you’re wondering.
Reading The Salmon of Doubt is akin for myself to when I first read Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency; here is something that doesn’t feel the need to normalise the world into black and white. Here seeping through the cracks is the odd, yet to the strange it’s normal. Like a very subtle Monty Python, Arvind Ethan David isn’t looking for belly laughs but he will put numerous smirks and grins upon your face with odd little lines, like the Abacus being broke.
As ever the art and colours from Ilias Kyriazis and Charlie Kirchoff are both beautiful. I adore the work of these two and I am glad that they have both carried over to this next series of Dirk Gently, for they both add a lot to the comic.
The Salmon of Doubt is truly fantastic! As an opening issue for this new series I am already hooked and ready to be reeled in, as all involvedcomic have delivered something splendid. I’m just sad I’ve got to wait a month to read #2 now.
Rating: 10/10
Villordsutch
Originally published October 19, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
