Scarlet Traces: The Great Game

A while back, I found myself having some extra comics dollars, and asked for reader opinion on an series that interested me --- Ian Edgerington and D'Israeli's Scarlet Traces: The Great Game.

Well, last week I picked up the hardcover edition (very nicely produced, and cheap at $14.99).

If I had to pick one word to describe it, it would be "charming".

Set in an alternate England where the War of the Worlds is 40 years old and the English have taken the fight to Mars, it details the efforts of a brash female journalist to uncover a government conspiracy involving the Martians, and it reads like a pulpy potboiler straight out of Analog or somesuch.

The characters are likeable, the story moves quickly, and if D'Israeli's art is occasionally hard to follow in the action sequences, the overall tone and feel more than makes up for it.

It's a little bit V for Vendetta, a little bit H.G. Wells, and a little bit Tom Swift, and with very nice production values (good quality paper, if a little skimpy on the extras), it's a great deal for fifteen bucks. Well done, and I'll be seeking out its predecessor, Scarlet Traces, this week.