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Archive for the ‘Graphic Novel’ Category

Arthur de Pins–Zombillenium: 1. Gretchen (2010)

Posted in Arthur de Pins, Canadian Music, Demons, Foreign Books, Funny (ha ha), Ghosts, Graphic Novel, Magic, Rheostatics, Vampires, Witches, Zombies, tagged on February 15, 2014| Leave a Comment »

zombieSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Record Runner, In Store Acoustic, Ottawa, ON (November 29 1996).

I haverecord already posted about this show before.  And I concur with my assessment of what I said last time.

But I wanted to add a few things.  This was recorded by someone in the audience, I assume.  The sound is good (you don’t hear the audience at all, which strangely almost makes it seem like there is no one there).  But it’s not perfectly clean.

This is an acoustic set done on the morning of their second night opening for The Tragically Hip.  (Dave says that you shouldn’t buy their new shirts at the show that night because they had to charge the same amount as the Hip and you will be able to get their stuff cheaper when they come by again in a few months).

In addition to some interesting renditions of fan favorites, we have a fan singing “The Ballad of Wendell Clark.”  It’s notable not only because of the fan singing it but because they doesn’t really play that song live, at least not circa 1996/1997.  They also throw in some Stomping Tom Connors during the song.

As an intro to “Four Little Songs” Dave says that they were planning on writing a bunch of different little songs so that you might never know which ones they would play on any given night.  He says it’s very easy to write little songs like that and it would be fun.  That seems to have never happened though.  You don’t hear too many acoustic Rheostatics shows.  You can download it here.

[READ: February 11, 2014] Zombillenium No 1

The cover of this book was so arresting I had to check it out.  I don’t know Arthur de Pins.  He’s a French artist and this is his first book to get distribution in America, I believe.  You can tell he’s European from the artwork–I wonder why that is.

Well, I loved this story.  It is very very funny and extremely twisted.  And there is something about the main character Gretchen that is so appealing (I love that her nose is so strangely bulbous, which makes her even cuter, somehow).

As the story opens, we see a man hitchhiking.  After a few panels, it is revealed that he is a mummy. One car speeds away from him, but another soon pulls up.  It is driven by a vampire and there’s a skeleton in the passenger seat. They know who he is, and they’re bringing him back where he belongs.  Which is to Zombillenium: “The Family Amusement Park for Chills and Thrills.” (more…)

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Dave McKean–Celluloid: An Erotic Graphic Novel (2011)

Posted in Barenaked Ladies, Dave McKean, Graphic Novel, Group of 7, Kevin Hearn, Photo Essays, Rheostatics, Sex, Short Books, The National, tagged on February 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

celluloidSOUNDTRACK: RHEOSTATICS-Group Of Seven Live, Ottawa, ON (October 21 1995).

vesely This concert, available from Rheostatics Live, is a recording of the band playing their Music Inspired by the Group of 7 live.  I’m not sure how many of these shows there were, or even if this is the show in its entirety (it seems like it, but there’s no intro, and maybe there was more after the set?).

At any rate, the Group of 7 album is almost entirely instrumental–scored music that is certainly rock, but quite different from typical Rheostatics fare.   In this live setting, we have piano,  upright (and bowed) bass and cello.  And yet it is distinctly Rheostatics.  Band friend (and Barenaked Lady) Kevin Hearn plays piano (he joins them on many of their live shows) as he helped them compose the original soundtrack.

The band doesn’t say much during the set.  In fact, they don’t talk at all until the half way point, when Bidini introduces everyone and talks about how they came to write this music.  He talks about crossing Canada and is generally a jovial fellow.  And then he talks about the reworking of “Northern Wish.”

The Group of 7 album is probably my least favorite Rheostatics album because it is basically a score (I do like it, and think it’s a great audialization of the Group of 7, but it’s not like their proper albums).  And there are some beautiful songs here.  One of the most interesting is “Boxcar Song,” which has a great riff.  It also includes the reworking of “Northern Wish.”

Incidentally the album’s tracks are just listed as one through twelve, but they have gained names from live shows.  And they don’t match up exactly with the album in this concert setting, as this makes it seem that the final song is the long waltz, which it isn’t.

Anyhow, this download isn’t a top ten.  Unless you really like the CD, in which case this is a must hear.  The show includes the samples from the album and a bunch of very interesting takes on the songs.

For a brief news story on the collaboration, check out this from CBC’s The National from 1996.

and part two

[READ: February 2, 2014] Celluloid

I actually assumed this was a new title, as it just came across my desk the other day, but I see that it is three years old.  I’ve always admired McKean’s work, which I think is grotesquely beautiful.  His characters always seem somewhat pained, and the angles of his lines are often harsh.  So I was really unsure what to expect in an “erotic” story from him.

The fact that one of the first few pages states that this book is not to be sold to anyone under the age of 18 should let you know that by erotic, they mean explicit. (I did notice that the caveat was buried a few pages in, though).  And, indeed it is.  Far more than I imagined it would be. (more…)

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Mud-Slinging Moles (2013)

Posted in Children's Books, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Maxwell Eaton III, Recess Monkey, Short Books on January 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »

flyingSOUNDTRACK:RECESS MONKEY-“Fish Sticks” (2013).

fishsticksOne of the best names for a kids band ever, Recess Monkey is three teachers who write funny songs that actually educate you.  Although this song doesn’t really have much educational value.

Rather, this is about a fish drummer (named “fish sticks” of course).  The guitar is cool and the bass is fun, but this song is all about the drums.  It’s a slight little ditty, but I love the way they meld all kinds of genres into the middle of the song.

I have to admit that the fish head drummer is a little creepy, but you don’t have to watch the video, right?

And, I do wish I had used this song for a different Flying Beaver Brothers book (the one that is all about Fish Stix, but oh well).

[READ: January 13, 2014] The Flying Beaver Brothers and The Mud Slinging Moles

Here’s another Flying Beaver Brothers book.  Although I enjoyed the premise of this book, I found it less satisfying to read to the kids, possibly because it had more visual jokes than wordplay.

Of course, one of the funniest things in the series is the blank looks that Bub and Ace give to the other characters when they do or say something foolish.  And those abound in this book.  Of course, it’s hard to convey that when reading aloud (although a good Huh?! often works), but it makes me laugh every time, and I’m not sure exactly why–I guess Eaton is excellent at blank looks.

So Bub wakes up to find that all kinds of things on Beaver Island are sinking–trees, rocks, even their house.  They naturally assume that Bob and Bob the evil penguins are behind it, so they go to see them.  There’s a very funny ladder joke that occurs just before the penguin house sinks. They are clearly not responsible either. (more…)

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Maxwell Eaton III–The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies (2013)

Posted in "Weird Al" Yankovic, Adventure, Allan Sherman, Children's Books, Dan Zanes, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Kids Corner, Maxwell Eaton III, Ratboy Jr., Sara Hickman, Short Books, The Board of Education, The Doubleclicks, The Plants, Trout Fishing in America on January 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

bbbSOUNDTRACK: KIDS CORNER Top Ten of 2013 (2014).

kidsEvery year I’m curious to see what the kids who vote for Kids Corner music will pick as their top ten.  It is usually reliably silly.  But this year I have to say I was a bit disappointed in their selections.  Here’s the Top um, Eleven (two were tied of tenth) from 11 to 1.

  • Allan Sherman – You Went The Wrong Way Old King Louie
  • Dan Zanes – Turn Turn Turn
  • The Plants – Aziphrale
  • Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band – Thingamajig
  • Shine And The Moonbeams – Bully Bully
  • Trout Fishing In America – My Sister Kissed Her Boyfriend
  • Weird Al Yankovic – The Saga Begins
  • The Doubleclicks – Worst Superpower Ever
  • Ratboy Jr. – Champion Of The Universe
  • Sara Hickman – Radiation Man
  • The Board Of Education – Why Is Dad So Mad?

I am especially surprised by Allan Sherman as I can’t imagine that too many kids would enjoy that song (which is funny if you know your history, but not really otherwise) and while I love Dan Zanes, “Turn Turn Turn” is not exactly a rollicking fun Top Ten song.  I actually dislike “Bully Bully” and while I love Trout Fishing in America and like “My Sister,” it’s certainly not their best song (and this list isn’t just new songs obviously).  The rest of the list is quite good, though.

And it’s a great choice for number one.  But next year, kids, more silliness!

[READ: January 1, 2014] The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies

We were unreasonably excited to see that there was a new Flying Beaver Brothers book out!  We loved the first two quite a lot, so any return of Ace and Bub is a good thing.  But to also have the return of a nasty villain is quite nice too.

Yet it’s not all the same faces, because this time there are birds and bunnies causing havoc with our heroes.

Bob and Bob (the penguins who get a brief cameo) are rebuilding Beaver Island and Bub and Ace are heading there in a boat.  But a storm rages and makes them crash.  They walk around an island where they are quickly captured by an angry bunch of bunnies who accuse them of being bird spies (those are real?).  Indeed, the birds have been playing a  very loud sound that hurts the bunnies ears and makes them go underground.  So the bunnies are fighting back with a wind machine that makes the birds leave the sky.  Both of these machines were funded by a mysterious fellow named Wally (unbeknownst to the others). (more…)

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Manami Okazaki & Geoff Johnson–Kawaii! Japan’s Culture of Cute (2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Bob Atcher, Christmas Album, Culture Shock, Cute, Food, Funny (strange), Graphic Novel, Huh?, Kawaii, Manga, Punks, The Dinning Sisters, Violence on December 23, 2013| 1 Comment »

kawaiiSOUNDTRACK: BOB ATCHER AND THE DINNING SISTERS-“Christmas Island” (1950).

xmascocktailThere is something so charming and wonderful about white people co-opting Hawaiian music in the 50s.  I know fully well that there is nothing ‘authentic” about the whole AH-LOH-HA-AY business and that they have made it smooth and “sexy” for “bachelor pads” and all of that.  I know that I should be offended on everyone’s behalf.  And yet I can’t be.

I find bachelor pad kitsch to be fun (Esquivel’s Christmas Album is a perennial favorite), and so I was delighted to be introduced to this song from the 2007 NPR Holiday show.  I actually don’t know anything about Bob Atcher or the Dinning Sisters, but this song is a delightful trip through faux Hawaiian music–slide guitars and a very hula-feeling rhythm.

It even features Santa arriving on a canoe.  Yup, the whole simplification of Hawaiian/island culture is in poor taste, but man, it’s such a swinging and trippy take on a Christmas song.  And I’m sure no islanders were hurt in the making of the recording.  Aloha-ay.

[READ: December 15, 2013] Kawaii!

I’m fascinated by manga and the whole, as the subtitle says, Japanese culture of “cute.”  I don’t really get it.  I mean, I get it, that cute things are cute, but the whole cultural love of cute is so peculiar to me–especially when reading this book and seeing that it is a cultural explosion of cuteness.  This book was a great introduction to so many different aspects of this culture. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #5] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, Julian Koster, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach, The Flaming Lips on December 20, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes 5SOUNDTRACK: THE FLAMING LIPS-“Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (2008).

FlamingLipsSilentNight-e688b9521eb5a5b691fc125bf0de77277e6fb7e9-s1The last Flaming Lips Christmas song I heard was their rendition of “White Christmas” which is creepy and just awful.  For this one, they picked a much prettier song (“Silent Night”) and they don’t mess with it at all.  They keep it very simple–echoed keyboards and some backing vocals with Wayne Coyne’s autotuned voice singing properly.  It is certainly not the best version of the song I’ve heard, but it is at least pretty.

The song segues into “Lord, Can You Hear Me” which follows the same simple instrumentation as “Silent Night” and nearly keeps the same melody.  It’s not so much a song as a coda to “Silent Night.”

This single came out around the time of Christmas on Mars and includes as the B-side “It’s Christmas Time Again.”

[READ: December 6, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Speckled Band

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This is the last book of the series that I have read–there are apparently 14 as of this writing.  I don’t think I’ll be reading any more as I feel like I am getting such a small amount of the story that it would be more worthwhile to simply read the actual stories (which I had planned to do anyhow).  Reading these feels like I’m getting the answer to the puzzle ahead of time. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #4] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, John Vanderslice, Josh Ritter, Lucius, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach, St. Vincent, The Flaming Lips on December 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes4SOUNDTRACK: BOB AND ROBIN’S EXCELLENT HOLIDAY ADVENTURE, NPR, December 19, 2013 (2013).

bobrobinEvery year NPR airs a holiday music special (I’ve been posting from them for the last few days).  Initially, they were like any of the episodes, with descriptions of the songs.  Then they became a music only playlist (which was kind of nice).  Then they added some guests.  Last year they did a very enjoyable story of Bob and Robin together having a party that no one came to.  This year, today, they have released the 2013 edition.

In this story, Bob and Robin are driving to Kansas in a huge snowstorm.  They listen to some carols on the radio.  And then when the snow gets too bad they pull over into a small hotel.  Then Bob falls asleep and is visited in his dream by Annie Clark (St. Vincent), John Vanderslice, Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips), Josh Ritter and Jess Wolf (Lucius) who tell some great memories of Christmas.

The songs they play are wonderfully diverse as usual (although there’s no Hanukkah songs this year, as Hanukkah was last month).  They range from standard favorites (Burl Ives’ “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”) to very traditional songs (“Coventry Carol” an instrumental “sleigh Ride”) to funny songs (“Christmastime for the Jews”) to a brand new one: The Flaming Lips playing “Silent Night/Lord Can You Hear Me” (which completely makes up for their dreadful “White Christmas” from several years ago).

This is a wonderfully enjoyable story/holiday special.  Listen and enjoy.

[READ: December 7, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Dancing Men

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story features the fascinating name of Hilton Cubitt.  He comes to Holmes with a confounding problem. He has discovered a slip of paper with stick figured men drawn on it.  When he showed it to his wife, she absolutely freaked out.  But she won’t tell him why.  So he brings the paper to Holmes to figure out what the heck is going on.

Since I haven’t read the original of this story,  I feel like the graphic novel is a better medium for this story because of the titular dancing men.  Perhaps the original has drawings in it, but if not, the graphic novel’s version which contains the stick figures corresponding to letters is a very successful way of quickly showing the trick.  (Even if, again, I don’t love the illustrations).

Holmes can’t do much with one slip of paper–he can’t even decode the pattern because there’s so little to go on.  But then more dancing men appear, and Cubitt brings more evidence to Holmes.  Holmes is able to crack the code (I couldn’t, but I wonder if there was more information given in the real story?).  Anyhow, Holmes has cracked the code, but that still doesn’t really solve the problem, which is the message within the code.

This may have been another case where more information would have made the story a bit more compelling.  It seems a little too easy that the “bad guy” is spotted, giving Holmes a pretty easy capture. Nevertheless, I do love a good puzzle and I’m curious to read how well the dancing men are described in the original.

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Blue Gem [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #3] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Bootsy Collins, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 18, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes3SOUNDTRACK: BOOTSY COLLINS-“Sleigh Ride” (2006).

I4evern 2006, Stephen Thompson from NPR made a list of the Best, Worst and Weirdest Holiday Albums. One of the weirdest is Christmas is 4-Ever by Bootsy Collins.  Starting with the wonderfully weird cover art.

Bootsy starts out by thanking Mrs Claus and then calls himself Booty Claus.  He tells us also that he named his weird reindeer Chucky coz he’s funky.

Once the song itself starts, the verse is pretty straightforward, but it’s interspersed with Bootsy’s peculiar sultry talking.  About 2 minutes in (the song is 6 minutes long) a new singer introduces some new lyrics, although it quickly gets back on track.  The song also features a crazy fiddle solo from Charlie Daniels.

What I find so weird about this song is the presumed funk doesn’t really seem to be in the music.  Bootsy’s speaking is certainly funky, but the music itself doesn’t have a lot of funk.  And yet, by around 4 and a half minutes I was starting to feel it (perhaps it was the bow wow wows).

Experience it yourself

[READ: December 7, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Blue Gem

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This was one of my favorite of the five stories I read because of the humorous (in my opinion) way that the titular blue gem was hidden–and ultimately found. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure at the Abbey Grange [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #2] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, Julian Koster, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 17, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes2SOUNDTRACK: JULIAN KOSTER-“Frosty the Snowman” (2008).

sawThe name of this track doesn’t prepare you for what lies inside.  For that, you need the album title: Singing Saw at Christmas.  Julian Koster (who is part of the Elephant 6 collective) and has a love it or hate it voice, also plays the singing saw (another love it or hate it sound).

And so, in 2008 he released an album of Singing Saw Christmas Carols.  And NPR played it on their Holiday Show.  The version is simultaneously beautiful and terribly unsettling.  It’s hard to even know what it is if you aren’t aware that it is a saw (I at first guessed theremin).

I enjoy hearing it (and it is very short), but I don’t think I could bring myself to listen to a whole album.

Koster released a short holiday video in which he plays a song and tells a story.  To watch him play the saw (with a fellow saw player, tune in around 3:50).

[READ: December 6, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure at the Abbey Grange

Since I’m going to write about a few of these, I’ll keep up this little intro bit so I don’t have to re-write the general ideas/criticisms.

These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.  The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story also struck me as unusual (perhaps I just have certain expectations of Holmes’ that are not quite right).  Holmes usually comes across as cocky (and frankly, obnoxious) when he finds a clue.  In this case he seemed almost deferential to the police (maybe the modern interpretations of Holmes show him to be more obnoxious).  Even though he felt things were not right about the clues, he didn’t insist upon correcting them immediately.  He even took the police’s word for things (unheard of!).  Although perhaps that was all planned out because of what happens at the end. (more…)

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Murray Shaw and M.J. Cosson (illustrated by Sophie Rohrbach)–Sherlock Holmes and a Scandal in Bohemia [On the Case with Holmes and Watson #1] (2010)

Posted in Adventure, All Songs Considered, Arthur Conan Doyle, C., Children's Books, Christmas Album, Graphic Novel, James Brown, M.J. Cosson, Murray Shaw, Mystery, Short Books, Sophie Rohrbach on December 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

holmes1SOUNDTRACK: JAMES BROWN-“Soulful Christmas” (1968).

Ibrown enjoy the funk.  And I enjoy funking up The Christmas.  So this seemed like a song or album I should have been familiar with already.  And yet I wasn’t.  I fear I know too much of Brown’s less than stellar 80s work rather than his awesome 60s and 70s work.

So NPR played this song in the 2010 Holiday Show, and I was immediately grabbed by the funky bass of the song.  The song is all about how much Brown loves us and wants to wish us a Happy Christmas and New Year.

The song doesn’t really deviate from the funky bass line (and indeed why should it?) and it turns more or less into an improv.

The song gets a little weird around 2 and a half minutes when he starts telling us how much he loves his fans, well, because they buy his records and come to see his shows (that’s why he loves us so).  It’s a weirdly worded sentiment, but I’m sure it’s heartfelt.  Next year there may have to be more funk at Chritsmastime.

[READ: December 5, 2013] Sherlock Holmes and a Scandal in Bohemia

I’m always looking for interesting graphic novels for the kids, so I was pretty excited to see this Sherlock Holmes collection (although maybe more for myself than them).  In fact, C. didn’t seem that interested in them.  I was a little surprised as he enjoys detective stuff but when I read this first one I felt the language was a little stilted (for a comic book).  These are indeed the actual Arthur Conan Doyle stories just severely edited and truncated.  In other words, a lot of the story is cut out and yet the original language is still in place (at least I hope it is, I hope contemporary writers didn’t write the dialogue), so for young kids I think the wording is a little confusing.

The drawings are a little too simple for my liking as well.  They do effectively convey the story, but I didn’t like the very basicness of them.  I feel they make the stories seems a little more childlike than they actually are.

Having said all that however, I found the graphic novels to be a compelling introduction to Sherlock Holmes’ shorter stories (although not for my 8-year-old apparently).

This story introduces us to the infamous (in Holmes’ circle) Irene Adler, the woman who was able to best Holmes. It seems like a really odd place to start this series of books if you are new to Holmes, because Holmes more or less admits that Adler has outsmarted him, which seems to undermine his skills somewhat.  This story was the first short story to feature Holmes, but he had already appeared in two novels.  So readers were familiar with his skills, whereas contemporary readers might wonder what the fuss is about., which you don;t get to read here. (more…)

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