Villordsutch reviews Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short #1 …
After last year’s rather excellent comic book series of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency from Chris Ryall and Co., my initial opening fears from 2015 are gone. I know that the team behind the comic can deliver work that pleases any bitter Douglas Adams fan so I’m going in happy. Though there is the hint of “The Second Album” itch in the back of my skull with this new series written by Arvind Ethan David. From the start it doesn’t bode well, as on the first page I’m met with artwork that should be in the pages of My Little Pony and dread strikes me ridged, until my eyes pick something out in the foreground, ‘Is that the Fourth Doctor playing Uno with Marvin the Paranoid Android!?’
The My Little Pony artwork is soon destroyed, as is the treehouse Dirk’s dream is set in, when he’s woken from this nightmare by nurse Sally Mills via phone – she has something rather odd at the hospital which Dirk may find of interest. When Dirk arrives we discover Sally currently looking like an Ann Summers model, due to it being Halloween and she’s decided to wear a Sexy Nurse outfit to work. Sally brings Dirk to meet a family who have recently returned from holiday and they’ve lost all ability to communicate; speech or written word. During an attempt to form a line of communication with the mother, she becomes aggressive and head butts Dirk directly in the nose, leaving Sally to reset it again.
Dirk leaving the hospital with a sore nose -plus the beginning of something yet to be connected – follows a random stranger to see where she goes and it appears she is looking for him. She was recommended to him by the MacDuff’s to help investigate a tribe in Kenya, the tribe without words.
A brand new opening for Dirk here. In the last series we left our detective in San Diego and he was trim; in this new series we jump back in time to just after Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul and before Interconnectedness of All Kings, also before Dirk lost a few pounds. Before Sally points out Dirk’s new found podge, you notice that Ilias Kryiaszis hasn’t been kind to this past Dirk; however the added weight does give him somewhat a foot in realism, an honest, worn and middle-aged appearance. While I really enjoyed last year’s representation of Dirk, I feel already this bulky version will become my preferred one -though the quiff is getting a bit unrealistically large. As with the surrounding art from Ilias and colours from Charlie Kirchoff the comic looks quite fantastic.
With numerous references to classic Adams Science Fiction carefully secreted within the pages, my favourite being related to a certain band called Disaster Area, not only is Dirk Gently – A Spoon Too Short an excellent opener but you can go back and appreciate the art looking for hidden gems.
With Arvind Ethan David’s new story for Dirk, our tale has become instantly darker in tone than the Interconnectedness of All Kings – this really isn’t San Diego anymore! The humour is still there; it’s clever, fast and dances between subtle and obvious. Again I’m caught with this new Dirk Gently release, the mystery is intriguing, but with the narration given throughout and also as Dirk goes gumshoe you’re already being reeled in to the landing net. As soon as the mystery goes into full flow I don’t think people will be able to fault this series. Well, I hope we won’t be able to.
The book has also suddenly become for the more mature reader with Nurse Sally’s Halloween costume being a distraction for Dirk, and getting a number of panels all of its own, highlighting our hero is however only human.
Dirk Gently – A Spoon Too Short shows the legacy of Adams is still flowing strong.
Rating- 9/10
Check out our interview with Arvind Ethan David here.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
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https://youtu.be/b7Ozs5mj5ao?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng
Originally published February 17, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
