IDW Publishing 2016
Written by Arvind Ethan David
Illustrated by Ilias Kyriazis
Coloured by Charlie Kirchoff
Lettered by Robbie Robbins
It’s time for the second limited series featuring Dirk Gently from IDW. I was so impressed with the first one and couldn’t wait for this to come out. Granted this time around we’ve got a different writer so it’s not going to have the same tone and feel of the first one. Still it’s great to see this incredibly fun and quirky character getting the spotlight and since it’s going to be a television series as well it’s a great chance to get to know more about the character before that happens. Though I do recommend the BBC series if you can watch it because that was a lot of fun to watch!
This one opens up with a strange little tale of young Dirk playing in a treehouse. I’m not sure if i’m a fan of the Sunday Funnies style that is happening here. While silly and descriptive and very much leads into the main event it just I dunno didn’t suit me. Though his Doctor Who doll and juice box were nice touches, but wow that hair. Still it’s a nice bit of characterization nonetheless.
Once we get into the main story things go a little more what I think of as according to normal. Now if you know Dirk than normal is relative what with the interconnectedness of it all. Still England on Halloween at a private hospital yeah it seems like a perfect place to get to know Sally and his newest case. There is tongue in cheek humor here that only Brits can do best and when you see Sally for the first time and learn who she is and what she does well it’s delightfully ironic.
Speaking of Ilias and Charlie’s interiors are incredibly fun to see. Specially when we get to Sally but more so with Dirk and his unique sense of style. That hair kills me every time too it’s just outrageous enough that it’s cool. Honestly i’m also a fan of Ilias’ sense of direction, body proportion and the way he uses the pages and panel layouts to keep the story flowing. If there’s one true highlight, standout page it’s the one with all the circles I mean c’mon even a bloke like me can love this!
Once we get into main story here things move along and nice clip. Unexpected events lead to the interconnectedness of it all and if you don’t know what that means read the story and you’ll come to understand. It really is one of those things you have to experience to fully understand there’s no other way around that. Still that it becomes this surreal, supernatural type event comes as no surprise all things considered it’s one of the consistents in Dirk’s life really well that and someone will try to kill him.
Definitely an interesting premise and great characters. It’s small let down from the last story for me but we’ll see how it all plays out.