Honour Among Punks: The Complete Baker Street Collection

The contents of this lengthy graphic novel were first published in the '80s and '90s to some acclaim. Baker Street takes place in an alternate version of contemporary London, in a world where the Victorian age simply continued, and the first World War was a minor skirmish, while the second never even occurred. Into this odd, slightly backward reality, Reed and Davis import a modern Sherlock Holmes, in the form of a punk rocker named Harlequin and a Watson given life as a bookish American named Sharon. A slightly naive foreigner, Sharon is our way into the punk world of Reed and Davis's London, which leads into mystery upon mystery. Davis is able to blend the already Victorian sensibilities of the punk and goth esthetics with a dingy architectural vision of the city. It's teeming with inky detail, almost to the point of claustrophobia. Equally adept at subtle characterizations and straightforward, cinematic storytelling, Davis makes the sometimes clunky dialogue a little easier to swallow. Honour Among Thieves is a solid mystery tale given a fun, unique twist by Davis's expressive artwork.