Villordsutch reviews Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short #3…
After the last issue [read our review here] in which Dirk Gently so proudly announced, “solved it!” after he’d spoken with Mwassa – a large female elephant – in regards to the Kingdom-Brown family and the Tribe in Africa both losing the ability to speak, we’ve been left an entire month to see what has been written by Mwassa.
Before we get to the wrinkled, grey cows words of wisdom we once again arrive back in Dirk’s past, fifteen year prior. Here we find Dirk strapped to a disc, blindfolded with a sock and dozens of television screens all pointing towards him, shining with numerous images. An anonymous General is asking Dirk to use his powers; when the disc begins to spin rapidly, Dirk screams “This is 9-1-1” back at the General and promptly vomits like a grotesque Catherine Wheel.
Back in present day and we finally get to see the elephant’s words of wisdom. Ipon witnessing them both Madluck (the Ranger) and Dirk’s new assistant/client Tamasha aren’t overly impressed with the seemingly random squiggles currently adorning the piece of paper.
After being unceremoniously dispatched from the car as Tamasha and Madluck have a moment alone, Dirk discovers he’s arrived at the village of the Tribe of No Words. Meanwhile back in the UK, Sally has enlisted Susan McDuff in an attempt to reach out to the Kingdom-Brown family via the medium of music to see if this helps with their condition, and instantly they begin to sing. This vital information is relayed to Dirk.
After a lesson in what led to killing of Sid the Black Rhino, Dirk discovers what Mwassa actually drew upon the paper; here he leaves Madluck and Tamasha with a shopping list. It’s at the closing pages we see the outcome of the experimentation upon a young Dirk Gently.
The threads are coming together – I know not what into as yet, as I haven’t seen the pattern to say what the final image will look like, but within issue #3 you can feel Arvind rather neatly bringing this all together. I adore how even as a reader you feel a mild frustration – as do the assistants/clients of Dirk’s – when you expect a reveal or some such and we have to wait via the means of interconnectedness to get to our destination. Arvind is delivering a perfect slice Dirk Gently each month and I’m loving it.
On top of this, once again we’ve got outstanding art and colours from Ilias Kryiaszis and Charlie Kirchoff. Both do a fantastic job of bringing the world of Dirk Gently to life with the images they create. This being said his massive hair still bothers me, but I’m not the artist and they clearly love it.
Dirk Gently: A Spoon Too Short #3 should be in the hands of any Douglas Adams fan, as it has clearly been written by one of his biggest. Go and buy it today.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=Ys8Ux2sy1fo
Originally published April 20, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
