Sunday, March 13, 2016

Dirk Gently #2



Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: A Spoon Too Short, Issue #2 sees Douglas Adams's eponymous detective investigating the muteness virus in its source in Africa, among the N'Kawa tribe.  There, he and his companion meet a doctor fighting rhino poaching.  The doctor's explanation of why rhino poaching exists in the 21st century is shockingly accurate, reminiscent of the great Douglas Adams's Last Chance to See, in particular the scene about rhino poaching.

I absolutely loved the scenes in the African bush, which were absolutely gorgeous, although a rhinoceros does get poached for his horn in one of the scenes, so sensitive readers might want to... I don't know... read something else?  Suck it up?  The scene reminded me of a similar scene in Hermann's Africa.  The artwork throughout the volume is surprisingly similar, and I mean that in only the most loving of terms.

A Spoon Too Short, Issue #1 was good, and I loved it, but Issue #2 is on a whole other level in terms of the writing, the humor, and the artwork.  It's more interconnected, more grandiose.  Arvind Ethan David is a 10th-degree black belt in Douglas Adams, and the artwork by Ilias Kyriazis and Charlie Kirchoff is amazing.  Shawn Lee's letters use a style I like, with vertical lines and slanted horizontal lines.  I don't know the name of this style of lettering, but I've seen it in the past week or so; I can't remember where.

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