Product Description: The newest addition to Warren Ellis' Apparat line of original graphic novels has arrived! The year is 1907, and Britain has entered into a terrifying war with Ruritania, whose strange metal planes darken the skies, and whose monstrous war engines cast looming shadows from across the channel. Doctor Robert Watcham, lately returned to London from the front, makes his homecoming to Dilke Street. There lives his old friend, and England's greatest amateur detective, Sax Raker. Even as his beloved city prepares for war, Raker is himself about to embark on the strangest (and, perhaps, the most important) investigation of his career: The case of the man who wasn't there. This is no simple matter of murder - Sax Raker faces haunting questions to which there are no cut and dried answers. Is the mysterious killer, at last, evidence for Raker's long-held belief in a secret criminal mastermind? Is it some apparition uniquely belonging to this singular city, a place that seems to have lost all semblance of sense two years ago? Or do all the signs point to something much, much worse? Following up the huge success of Crecy, Ellis turns his spark of mad genius to bring us a fantastical tale in this all-new original graphic novel illustrated in detailed perfection by Gianluca Pagliarani.
A Fun Read at a Good price With Aetheric Mechanics, Warren Ellis melds sci-fi, alternate history and Sherlock Holmes into a story that feels longer and more fulfilling than its 48 pages. I felt this effort proved that Ellis is capable of writing fully realized characters rather than the 'mean bastard' types we sometimes see over used in his work.
The artwork fits the story perfectly and it's really a shame that we don't get to see it colored. I hope to see more from this artist.
This is a great read for a good price.
Awesome work This is a Warner Ellis work that I missed somehow when it first appeared. Yet it is just my meat: alternate history and Sherlockian content! I read about it on science fiction author Chris Roberson's blog and realized that I had to track it down.
I'm very glad that I did.
A delight, but too short A number of authors lately have toyed with the concept of a Victorian world in which all the iconic characters of Victorian fiction simultaneously live and breathe. The most famous example is Allan Moore's LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Here is Warren Ellis's contribution to this new genre.
I picked up the book without reading the blurb on the rear cover, so it was a pleasant surprise a few pages into the story to find Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes (under slight disguises) tackling the case of a killer who fades in and out from invisibility to solidity. Irene Adler soon shows up as well.
My only complaint is that the story is much too short. It wraps up abruptly almost as soon as one has figured out what's really going on in the strange and war-torn parallel world that lies beyond Baker Street.
The artwork by Gianluca Pagliarani is staggeringly detailed and completely appropriate for the circa-1900 setting. I haven't seen anything like it since the heyday of Geof Darrow!
Recommended on all counts.
Another great Apparat comic. Warren Ellis rarely disappoints. Aetheric Mechanics is a good little read at a very reasonable price. The story grabs ahold of your attention quite nicely and there are some intriguing plot twists and interesting ideas in there too. If you're a fan of Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or any of Ellis' own works, don't hesitate to pick it up. And share it with friends.
Challenging, entertaining fiction from a experimental publisher Aetheric Mechanics is one of the newest releases from Apparat, the independent line of Warren Ellis-dominated comics. As a vanity press, Apparat publications have a tendency to vary wildly in their quality of work. In Aetheric Mechanics, however, the creative team of Ellis and Pagliarani has produced something very close to perfect.
In Aetheric Mechanics, Doctor Richard Watcham reunites with his old friend, detective Sax Raker. Against a backdrop of zeppelin attacks and mysterious 'aetheric' technology, the pair chase down an elusive serial killer - one who flickers in and out of existence like a ghost.
Despite the short length (40something pages), Aetheric Mechanics manages to introduce a fantastic steampunk universe, craft an engaging mystery and then introduce a plot twist that successfully tossesevery other steampunk world into the backseat. If it sounds complicated, it actually isn't - thanks to the writing and the art, the story is so absorbing it is easy to follow from start to finish. In further testament to the creative team's skill, the clever narrative devices and plot twists are also all secondary to the characters. Although the reader is constantly rocked by fantastic revelations, the emphsis is always on the characters and never on self-congratulatory world building.
Gianluca Pagliarani is an inspired choice for an artist. Although black and white, Pagliarani manages to lever in the detail necessary to bring the world of Aetheric Mechnics to life. The layout - especially vital in a space this short - is neatly done, balancing small panels of minute detail with breath-taking city-scapes.
Aetheric Mechanics is clever, clearly experimental and very entertaining. It pushes the boundaries of a fledgling genre, challenges the reader and, above all, gives fans of the graphic novel another rare and must-have read. -- PORNOKITSCH
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