Salmon of Doubt
IDW Publishing 2016
Written by Arvind Ethan David
Illustrated by Ilias Kyriazis
Coloured by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Plagued by nightmares of a life he never had, Dirk Gently discovers that a holistic detective can have more than one past, and they're about to catch up with him!
While i have been enjoying the new revamped version of the televisions show, the guy who plays Dirk is great and well it has Elijah Wood I do rather enjoy the 2010-2012 series better. That being said that we’re seeing how both can co-exist is fine so long as one isn’t going to be favoured over the other from here on out. The trend to make characters younger to reach a newer audience is fine and all but just remember there are those of us who love the older version as well.
This issue has a few things that really capture the attention. If you aren’t familiar with the show then there’s a possibility of getting lost but not entirely. Farah Black is introduced and her upbringing and her current position, which leads into the new series by the way, is brought to light. How she meets young Dirk well that’s something you’ll have to read the story and wait to see how that actually comes about.
Meanwhile old Dirk is with his Professor and I have to admit this guy really does make me smile. This is the kind of wonderfully insane writing and conversation that just makes you giggle and wonder how the heck Arvind can even think this way. The myriad of guest stars this issue was another giggle and honestly I thought okay this is getting a bit ridiculous but still all within the realm of Dirk’s world. The need to find Bernice, whom we haven’t seen in a while is still being held by that Ogre or whatever it was, takes them to places that really bring the science fiction aspect to life here.
I’ve said I love Ilias’ work and I do. This issue his rendition of the characters are as delightful as ever but it’s young Isaac Newton that steals the show here. Handsome, quirky with that spot of hair on his chest with all those cats in various states, yeah these are too funny to see how much time is spent on them. His use of page layouts are so good and his use of angles, perspective and backgrounds or lack thereof just really highlight exactly the right things.
By the end of this issue Arvind finally won me over with the blending of the two realities. I like that both can exist and one is replacing or erasing the existence of the other. He provides us with some excellent characterisation and the continues to show that he can structure a story to surprise readers in how it unfolds before us.
While feeling like a vehicle for the new series there is still plenty of great things happening on it’s own and the potential for both versions to be on stands makes me happy.