Eddie Campbell on "The Black Diamond Detective Agency"

[andy khouri]

Comics innovator and "From Hell" co-creator Eddie Campbell talks to CBR News about his new graphic novels, "The Black Diamond Detective Agency" and "Fate of the Artist."

http://www.comicbookresources.com/ne...m.cgi?id=10706

[DWEarhart]

I'm in, have been since it was solicited in Previews. I'm excited about this book and about :01 Second Books as a publisher. I'm so glad they brought The Professor's Daughter to the states; excellently fun read, and The Black Diamond Detective Agency really looks like another winner.

[ultramandingo]

........i was just thinking about dedface today. 144 pages of eddie camble in color! helloooo amazon

[Ryan K]

I just read this and was thoroughly underwhelmed.

I usually like Campbell's stuff quite a bit and I'm a fan of detective fiction, so I assumed this would be right up my alley. But the mystery left me uninterested. And like a lot of mysteries there's so many characters and character names its very hard to keep track of who's who and their motivations. Campbell's art makes things even murkier as every character looks basically the same except with different facial hair. Halfway through (and I read this in one sitting) I found my self constantly back tracking to make sure I had characters right (often I didn't).

Even the art's pacing often didn't feel right to me. There's several poignant moments within the art, but often I felt panels just didn't flow together nicely. The lettering and blurred word balloons were slightly off putting as well.

The plot's pretty complicated and I'm sure this would make more sense on a second read, but I didn't enjoy it nearly enough the first time to revisit it. Oh well.

[FanboyStranger]

I just read this and was thoroughly underwhelmed.

I usually like Campbell's stuff quite a bit and I'm a fan of detective fiction, so I assumed this would be right up my alley. But the mystery left me uninterested. And like a lot of mysteries there's so many characters and character names its very hard to keep track of who's who and their motivations. Campbell's art makes things even murkier as every character looks basically the same except with different facial hair. Halfway through (and I read this in one sitting) I found my self constantly back tracking to make sure I had characters right (often I didn't).

Even the art's pacing often didn't feel right to me. There's several poignant moments within the art, but often I felt panels just didn't flow together nicely. The lettering and blurred word balloons were slightly off putting as well.

The plot's pretty complicated and I'm sure this would make more sense on a second read, but I didn't enjoy it nearly enough the first time to revisit it. Oh well.

The first time I read it, I felt the same as you-- it was okay, but far from great, too many characters, dicey storytelling in places, etc. I really thought it would have been better as a movie, and it certainly was not up to Campbell standards.

The second time, however, I enjoyed it a great deal more. Knowing what was coming helped a great deal in sorting out the characters, particularly those that didn't seem that important until the plot reveal and the final showdown. It's still far from Campbell's best, but I'd rate it a lot higher now.

Still think it probably would have worked better as a movie, though.

[ultramandingo]

.....that c gaby michell guy wrote "blood dimonds" - another story about a villian who saves the day . i thought "black diamond " was great the first time - kinda of a alienist , devil in the white city , deadwood feel . hope they do a sequel