In Review: Adler #3

Synopsis: Irene Adler and her team of Victorian heroines encounter a mysterious villain, even more dangerous than Moriarty!

The Story

Picking up from the last issue. Orphan Annie has arrived at Dover and has gotten a coach to London. Meanwhile, Jane Eyre continues to document her adventures with Irene Adler as the arrival of a visitor reveals that Ayesha is still alive and at large, but before he can provide more information he is shot by Ayesha’s loyal sniper. At that very moment and right on cue Orphan Annie arrives and presents Adler with plans for a death ray device from Madam Curie who is severely ill with radiation poisoning. Elsewhere in London Ayesha with some help from Nikola Tesla tests her very own version of the death ray with gruesome results.

The Artwork

Paul McCaffrey’s artwork continues to leap from the pages as a turn of the century London is brilliantly brought to life. We get a lot of fantastic panels in this issue, but the ones that really stand out are the most gruesome. I really loved the blood splatter as Adler’s visitor is murdered by a sniper at a vital moment, but the best panel is the one where Ayesha uses Tesla’s Death Ray on one of her captives who defiantly screams, “Go to hell” just before she is subjected to a gruesome death and burned down to ashes.

Overall

Lavie Tidhar continues to hit all the right notes with her League of Extraordinary Women story. I love the fact that she has Jane Eyre in the role of Irene Adler’s version of Dr. Watson. I also love that Lady Havisham is an inventor who is as mad as a box of frogs and every bit as eccentric as a number of literary male contemporaries from the time period.

Overall. I hope it’s not too much of a long wait for issue 4 because I’m really enjoying this book and would love to see it as a movie someday.