Adapting Holmes: Baker Street, issues 6-10

Baker Street: Children of the Night, consisting of issues 6-10, written and drawn by Guy Davis. Caliber Press, 1991-1992

 Sharon Ford is a former police officer, working unofficially as a consulting detective. She and her girlfriend Sam Neville advertised for a housekeeper, and newly-arrived American med-school student Susan Pendergrass took the job in exchange for rent.

Sue was immediately thrust into the British punk scene, where Sharon (a.k.a. Harlequin) was a major force.  As I mentioned when I reviewed the first 5-issue arc, this series takes place in a neo-Victorian, paleo-steampunk of the British punk scene, in a world where Victorian fashion and ethics still maintain.

This is the obligitory "Jack the Ripper" arc, totally envisioned by Davis, without participation from co-creator Gary Reed. The punk scene has been torn apart by the horrific murders committed on their turf. The police are only mildly interested in the crimes, as along as they stay among the punk scene.

But Sharon just has to investigate, and everything changes. We have met the killer, and the revelation of the Ripper's identity in issue 8 is a shock, although the clues were seeded in prior issues. And it has ramifications in the issues that follow.

This series was nominated for a 1989 Harvey Award for "Best new series," and rightly so. And twenty years later, the is no sense in which the story is "dated," expect for the fact that is black-and-white.

I was surprised to see the $2.50 cover price, which was very high for the time. Standard full-length issues of DC & Marvel books were selling for only $1.00  An issue of Fantastic Four (#358) sold during this time for $2.50, but it was a triple-sized issue.  To be fair ro Baker Street, these issues averaged an above-standard 30 pages of story.

Source: My own collection. I am almost certain that I bought these as they came out, and I would guess it was from Dave’s Comics, in Richmond, Virginia.