Sunday Spotlight - Dead Boy Detectives

Originally from the pages of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the Dead Boy Detectives have previously had graphic novels written about them, and also appeared in the massive crossover Vertigo had, before they decided not to do those any more. Now, Edwin and Charles, the Dead Boy Detectives, have their own on-going series that has recently been released in trade paperback.



Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland are dead. They both died at the boarding school St. Hilarion's – Edwin in 1916 and Charles in 1990. However, Death was a little busy at the time, and so both boys lingered on, travelling the world as ghosts. To occupy their time, they formed a detective agency – the Dead Boy Detectives. Sometimes they find missing cats, sometimes lost objects. But now they've stumbled onto a much bigger case – they foiled a daring art theft and managed to save Crystal Palace, the teenaged daughter of two prominent celebrity artists. Unfortunately, Crystal saw them and realises that they must be ghosts (she's quite taken with the idea, in fact). She decides to head to St. Hilarion's to investigate further. Edwin and Charles follow, well aware of the horrors that lurk in St. Hilarion's halls, since those are what killed the boys so many years before. Now, they must try to protect Crystal – and possibly discover the truth about their own deaths along the way.

I'll admit to being a fan of the concept of the Dead Boy Detectives since I first saw them in Sandman. Two ghostly boys meandering through the afterlife and solving crimes? It's the Hardy Boys with ectoplasm! When I learned that the artist would be Mark Buckingham, I was sold on the new series. I love Buckingham work on Fables, and he brings the same level of quality to this book too. He melds the fantastic and the mundane superbly, making him a great choice to bring Toby Litt's story to life. Speaking of the story, it has a great mix of “boy's own adventure” coupled with some really dark horror themes that work well with the shared universe of Sandman. Edwin, Charles and Crystal don't bother disbelieving that the spirits, demons and magic they face is real – it's clearly real, so they better just get on with it. The adventures themselves follow the classic children's adventures; they're almost Enid Blyton, sometimes, but with a heavy dose of visceral horror.

This isn't a book for everyone. Sandman fans might find it too light, and younger fans could find the horror aspects a little too frightening – there's a couple of sequences of Edwin and Charles returning to their dead bodies that have been illustrated in beautiful detail by Buckingham, but that makes them incredibly confronting. It works wonderfully as a nostalgia-filled adventure, but I think the main appeal will be to those in their mid-teens, around the same age as the characters. The story develops nicely and introduces some good friendship drama along with the mysteries (ghostly and otherwise) that the characters must solve. It's definitely a series that I'm going to keep reading.

Dead Boy Detectives is available now.

Dead Boy Detectives vol. 1: Schoolboy Terrors – 9781401248895 - $16.99 – 160 pages

Wednesday Weirdness - Dead Boy Detectives

Wednesday Weirdness is the day when we remember that sometimes, comics are just downright WEIRD! We take individual panels and present them out of context. If you’ve got a panel you’d like to submit, you can do so here.


Dead Boy Detectives #5, 2014, Toby Litt (writer), Mark Buckingham (artist)

July recommendations

Here's the Comics Watchtower recommendations for July!


Larfleeze vol. 1: Revolt of the Orange Lanterns | Keith Giffen | 9781401245214 | Paperback | $29.99

LARFLEEZE! Sole possessor of the Orange Lantern, using the power of greed to claim more and more of the universe for the only person that matters – himself. Imagine if someone gave Daffy Duck phenomenal cosmic power and you get an idea of what Larfleeze(!) is like. This series from long time writer Keith Giffen is much lighter in tone than many of the other titles in the New 52. Beginning as back up stories in the Threshold series, these are now collected as part of Larfleeze’s own title – and he’s not sharing anything with anyone. In this first volume, Larfleeze is chosen as prey by a pan-dimensional hunter who, horror of horrors, DARES TO STEAL FROM LARFLEEZE. With lots of action and humour, Larfleeze was a breakout hit when it was released in single issue form.


Justice League of America vol. 1:The World’s Most Dangerous | Geoff Johns, Jeff Lemire | 9781401246891| Paperback | $29.99

The Justice League has been rocked by scandal and the United States decide that they can no longer rely on the goodwill of the superhero group to protect U.S. interests. With that in mind, Amanda Waller creates her own team of heroes – Green Arrow, Catwoman, Katanna, the Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, a Green Lantern, Stargirl and Vibe, under the leadership of Steve Trevor.  Written by Geoff Johns and Jeff Lemire, the two writers who have done so well with other Justice League titles, this title deals with the idea of a manufactured supergroup. While not the most well-known heroes, the book works well with the relationships between the characters and their place in the DC Universe.


Dead Boy Detectives vol. 1: Schoolboy Terrors | Toby Litt | 9781401248895 | Paperback | $16.99

Originally appearing in the pages of Sandman, the two main characters are young schoolboys who were killed horribly soon after arriving at their boarding school – one in 1916 and the other in the 1990s. When Death never arrived for them, they decided to wander off and solve crime!  In classic teenage detective style, the Dead Boy Detectives are on the case. Edwin and Rowland have a pretty good afterlife existence – until Rowland insists on stepping in and foiling a major art heist, saving the life of the daughter of two performance artists in the process. Intrigued by the two spectres, she enrols in the boarding school the two boys both died in, hoping to learn more. Feeling responsible, Edwin and Rowland must head back to the school that killed them, hoping to protect the young girl from the other things that haunt the halls. Highly enjoyable, this series from Vertigo combines the classic genres of teenage mystery and boarding school stories. It’s perfect for readers who love slightly darker comics but aren’t interested in superheroes.


Injustice: Gods Among Us vol. 1 | Tom Taylor | 9781401248437 | Paperback | $26.99

Ties in with the popular ‘Injustice’ video game. Down into a paperback, this title has topped the New York Times bestselling graphic novel list. In another universe, the Joker had destroyed Metropolis by tricking Superman into attacking his friends and allies, killing millions. His mind broken, Superman tells the other heroes to make a choice – his way, or death. Batman attempts to mount a resistance against the Man of Steel as the world slowly becomes a dictatorship under Superman’s rule.


Injustice: Gods Among Us vol. 2 | Tom Taylor | 9781401246013 | Hardcover | $34.99

Ties in with the popular ‘Injustice’ video game. Tom Taylor is a Melbourne-based writer who’s creator-owned work, The Deep has just been made into an animated series. A rising star in the DC writers stable, he has begun writing the Earth 2 series. This volume continues the battle between the tyrannical Superman and Batman’s Resistance. Which heroes have chosen their side? Who has doubts? And who will fall before the might of Superman’s World Government?


EVE True Stories | Daniel Way | 97816165525725 | Hardcover | $22.99

A fascinating idea that should appeal to video game players everywhere. EVE Online, the massive multiplayer game, has been hugely popular since it’s inception. With a large amount of user-created content, the game experience varies depending on how the player decides to play. This series, created by the game developers and Dark Horse, focuses on some of the incredible events that have occurred in the game universe – events that usually have been initiated and controlled by the players themselves.



Art of Sin City | Frank Miller | 9781616552473 | Paperback | $49.99

One of the most visually striking comic books to date, Sin City combined the shadowy style of film noir with the ultra-violence of Quentin Tarantino. Frank Miller is one of the foremost artist/writers of the 1980s comics scene, delivering outstanding images drawn from the contrast between light and dark. Each page of this collection is amazing, influenced heavily by the original film noir style, which originally drew on German Expressionism. Miller’s stories were always gritty and dark but his art shines, capturing the mood of a scene through stark lines. Often monochrome, occasionally there will be a burst of colour to emphasise something that stands out in the world of gumshoes, private investigators, mobsters and enforcers.



Sherlock Bones 6 | Yuma Ando | 9781612625553 | Paperback | $17.99

Takero and Sherdog are on the case again! The reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes in a small terrier, able to talk to his owner through the means of an antique pipe, is one of the most adorable characters you will ever encounter. A great series aimed at boys 10-14, but also suited for girls who love a good mystery, Sherlock Bones has exciting adventure as well as strong friendship themes.

Sunday Spotlight - Coffin Hill

Eve Coffin – of the Coffin Hill Coffins – just got out of hospital after being shot in the line of duty. She knows that there's darkness in the world, and it's not always natural. Ten years ago, she performed a magic ritual with two friends on the night of Halloween. When she woke up, one of her best friends had vanished and the other had to be committed to a mental institute. Returning to Coffin Hill, Eve must face the demons of her past – both figurative and literal. But the darkness has been waiting for Eve and it's had years to prepare...

Written by Caitlin Kittredge for Vertigo comics, Coffin Hill is a new dark fantasy series that reads like FOX's Sleepy Hollow. Kittredge is the author of a number of fantasy and young adult novels but this is a little bit different (although to be fair, I haven't read Kittredge's dark fantasy stuff). Most urban fantasy you find is pretty dark, like The Dresden Files and Rachel Caine's Weather Warden stuff – the less said about Anita Blake the better – but there's always hints of levity and a hint of eroticism. Coffin Hill doesn't really have these. This is grim stuff, more about passion than sex. The evil isn't something from a fairytale or folklore – it's just Evil. It's the thing that makes people commit bad acts, the horror that lurks inside us all. It's different and incredibly creepy.

I have to say that what kept me reading was the character of Eve. She's not a good person, never was, never will be. In fact, for most of the book she's a jerk. It makes sense in story why she's a jerk, but it's also really fun to read. There are a lot of jerk-y male characters that it's good to see a well-written female one. Eve has her reasons for being a jerk – everyone around her doesn't believe her, or won't do as she says and she's clearly the only one that knows best. What starts as teenage rebellion becomes a natural state of mind. It's perfect because Eve never says anything jerk-y to be funny or cool (unlike other anti-heroes I could mention) but because she's irritated or can't be bothered taking things seriously or just doesn't have time for other people.

With all this to recommend it, the book does have a couple of downsides. The pacing is a little slow – the first volume is seven issues and the plot didn't go far beyond getting Eve to town and revealing some of her past. There's some epic magic sequences that look fantastic, as well as a great suspenseful atmosphere, but it takes a while to get to those. The flashbacks don't precisely pad out the book – they're more akin to the one's on CW's Arrow but seeing the same events from different angles to understand more about the characters.

If you're into good horror stories, or creepy dark fantasy, Coffin Hill is definitely one to pick up.

Coffin Hill vol. 1: Forest of the Night – 9781401248871 – Caitlin Kittredge - $16.99 – 168 pages

**EDIT - it turns out that Coffin Hill isn’t actually going to be released as a bind up until June. My bad! However, you can still buy the individual issues or place an order for the book at your comic bookstore or bookshop.**