The Dead Boy Detectives (2001)
Author: Ed Brubaker | Illustrator: Bryan Talbot | Page Count: 96
"At that moment, Edwin Paine remembered exactly why he used to be afraid of the dark."
The DBD miniseries features Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, characters first introduced in The Sandman: Volume IV: Season of Mists (1992). Some other supporting characters from the Sandman universe pop up and will leave new readers confused because the book offers no explanation as to who they are.
It's set in England. The dialogue is supposed to reflect that, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. It's more like an outsider's view of how they think English people sound.
It can be overlooked when you consider that the characters existed before author Ed Brubaker was given the reins, so he was tied to them having a different geographical origin (and dialect) than himself.
What's more difficult to ignore is the lack of danger or urgency. The youthful Holmes and Watson-esque relationship on the verge of maturity yet still clinging to the ties of childhood was certainly a sensible approach, but deeper introspection, or perhaps more of a focus on the boys' unique position within the world they inhabit, could've improved the narrative, which as it stands is severely lacking in charm.
Brubaker went on to write for some of the comic book genre's most well-known heroes (including Batman, Daredevil, Captain America, and X-Men) but Dead Boy Detectives isn't something that I'd recommend to anyone who isn't a fanatic Sandman collector. It feels too much like an attempt to mimic Alan Moore's period pieces, but without the essential gravitas.
If the DBD title had continued it could've explored a small pocket of the Sandman universe from a murder mystery perspective, which could've been more interesting than the miniseries itself.
The book collects together The Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives issues 1-4.
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