I requested for a copy of a graphic novel, The Baker Street Four Volume 1 in Net galley. I thank Net galley and Insight editions for fulfilling my wish.

The graphic novel "The Baker Street Four" is about the adventures of Sherlock Holmes unofficial force called Baker Street Irregulars. The book has two stories one is "The Blue Curtain" and the second is "The Rabukin Case".

The Blue Curtain:

Chubby Charlie, acrobatic and energetic Tom, Billy and a feline are the Baker street irregulars. Tom's girlfriend Betty is kidnapped in front of his eyes. Tom along with his friends reach Door No.221B to find out that their master Sherlock Holmes has gone to crack a case in Surrey. Tom had glanced at the kidnapper who had a unique tattoo on his hand that of crowned skull with two roses. As they are tutored by Holmes they start to investigate. Did they save Betty?

The Rabukin Case:

The story involves one of the Russian refugee an idealist Viktor Rabukin falsely arrested for killing O' Sally and believed to be new Jack The Ripper. His lover Katya Ivanova try to get the help of Sherlock Holmes on the way she was to be killed by some Russians but the timely intervention by our irregulars saves Katya. She comes to know that Sherlock has left for Austria in search for a stolen Stradivarius. Katya narrates her story that they are from Saint Petersburg, Russia and they are supporters of Socialist revolution. Like others they tried to escape from the clutches of Okhrana (The Russian Tsarist secret police) and stayed some time in France but Okhrana was behind them so they came to London, here Viktor gave speeches about the prospect of planning a future Russian revolution from England. Two days later Viktor was taken into custody as evidence of murder found in the attic room.

After hearing the sad story and their love of murdered O' Sally they convince Katya that they will investigate as they are assistants to Sherlock Holmes.

Did they find out who the real culprit in planting the evidence in Viktor's attic room? Did they found who is the real new Jack the ripper? all are answered in the remaining pages of the novel.

First I have to mention the artwork, it is rich in exhibiting Victorian era buildings, costumes, horse carriages etc. The action scenes are awesome, the acrobatic stunts of Tom are nicely done. The panels are breathtaking and the plot line is good. The characters Tom and Billy make fun of each other which often ends in fisticuffs but their friendship and mutual understanding never gets affected. Charlie is a girl, on advice of Holmes she disguises as a boy. The cat a small character often seen with them helps the three in dire situations. I loved these characters and awaiting to see their next adventure.

A realky great read for Hilmes fans. Lots of action and great charscters

I loved this book when it came out in French, and with my limited ability in French (one years' worth!) worked on translating this book for myself into English. Imagine, then, my delight when I discovered it would come out in English! The characters are richly drawn, both literally and in terms of characterization. I loved the depth of the art itself- nothing was skimped on, everything mattered, details were in every panel. The two stories themselves were also excellent, drawing from the seedier, less romantic Victorian world, the reality of it- as well it should, given this focuses on the street urchin Baker Street Irregulars.

I loved this book, and am so eager for the second volume to come out.

A well-intentioned graphic novel, but one that's far too difficult to even follow, whether it be the spindly tags on the speech balloons so you don't know who says half the dialogue, or the very awkwardly presented 'action'. The first story, with the Irregulars trying to rescue a moll is too slight, and the second where Soviet activists and their rivals and Jack the Ripper all meet is just naff.

I received a free eARC of this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Baker Street Four - Billy, Tom, Charlie, and their cat - sometimes act as the eyes and ears of Sherlock Holmes in London's East End and they know they can rely on him for protection; you might know them as the Baker Street Irregulars. When Tom's girlfriend gets kidnapped, they'll have to put their detective skills to the test and along the way take in a new member becoming the youngest group of Victorian detectives.

Sherlock Holmes is one of my all time favorite characters and I have a hard time resisting anything that in some way involves the character. Of course, this graphic novel focuses on the Baker Street Irregulars and we get an inside look at what they do for Holmes and just how dangerous their lives can be. I've always wanted a greater look at these street urchins from what we've seen of them in the original stories and the adaptations, and this does a wonderful job showing what's on the line. I particularly enjoyed getting to know the Irregulars and their interactions with Holmes - and seeing this Victorian London in graphic novel form. The art, by the way, is excellent - the color palette really suits the story.

This graphic novel's easily a four star read, but my experience reading the eARC, or at least trying to figure out how I'm supposed to read it, made me lower my rating to just three stars. I don't know if it was just me, but it was difficult to enjoy a graphic novel when none of the words are in the right spots. All of the text is below each page worth of illustration, so at times it could be difficult to figure out what parts went in each bubble. That being said it could make it difficult to keep track of who exactly is speaking. Another issue, I went in thinking this would be a graphic novel marketed more toward MG audiences, but just to let you know some of the language and subject gets a bit iffy for that age group and at times this could easily fit the YA categorization.

Overall, if you're a fan of any incarnation of the character of Sherlock Holmes, this graphic novel is must read. It's all the better if you want to see Holmes from another fresh perspective. I'm definitely interested in continuing this series (and seeing a finished copy to sort out exactly what dialogue goes with where) in the future.

Though there isn't a lot of Sherlock Holmes in this, it's made up for by the wonderful artistry and great story. I was instantly hooked and couldn't get through it fast enough. I originally thought it was for children, but soon realised that it's probably for a little older (or maybe in the children in us adults).

A wonderful addition to the Sherlock Holmes oeuvre.

The first thing you should know about the graphic novel, The Baker Street Four by Olivier Legrande, J. B. Dijan, and David Etien– the graphics are gorgeous; second - the stories are great fun. With four extremely likable protagonists and with the wonderfully detailed depictions of Victorian London, this is a definite must-read for fans of the Sherlock Holmes tales or just really fine graphic novels.

It should be noted that, although, the main characters here are children, there are some issues that may not be suitable for children.

Thanks to Netgalley and Insight Comics for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review

If I was rating this for the art alone it would be five stars, it's absolutely gorgeous! But the story was really just okay. There are two mini-cases in this particular volume and the Baker Street Irregular kids solve them while Sherlock Holmes is out of the country. I did not care for the first story mostly because it was about a 13 year old girl that was kidnapped and the kidnappers were going to sell her virginity. I don't deny that this kind of thing probably happened a lot in the time period but that doesn't mean I personally want to read about it when I'm just looking for a fun story to read. I probably would have skipped the entire thing if I had known that one of the stories was about sexual slavery. The second case was better as far as the subject matter but I also thought the plotline was a bit more muddled. I did however enjoy that one of the Irregulars was actually a girl in disguise and that she rescued a cat that helped them in their adventures. It was really adorable.

Two graphic novel adventures of mysteries solved by Sherlock Holmes’ young helpers when he is out of town. In the first story, a young lady friend of one of the boys is kidnapped and the boys uncover a sex trafficking ring. In the second story, the boys save a refugee socialist from Russia who is coming to Sherlock Holmes for help. It turns out her friend, a fellow Russian refugee, has been framed by the Tsar’s secret police for a copycat Ripper killing and will likely swing for all the murders if the boys can’t help her clear his name.

I really can’t figure out who the target audience of this is supposed to be. The art style and the main characters being middle school age makes it feel on the surface like it should be aimed at the middle grade crowd. But the content of the stories, discussions about sex trafficking, men paying more for virgins, pimps, naked female statues in illustrations, and murders on page on top of some strong profanity and other moderate swearing is most definitely not middle grade friendly. I would think twice before handing it to some teens too. So the stories feel like they’re aimed at adults, and the packaging makes it look like it’s aimed at kids. I see this as having a small fan base amongst adults who are die hard Sherlock Holmes fans and also enjoy graphic novels. I don’t plan on ordering it for our school library.

(This review will be posted May 2 at the link below.)

The Baker Street Four was not what I expected, but that's not a bad thing. I found that it's more suited towards teens because of it's semi-gritty content that I think will just put younger readers off. The story line was fast paced and interesting, readers will also get a humorous but real look into the lives of people in the 1850s. This is my first time reading anything based on the baker street boys and I thought they were great in this comic. With its mystery, suspense and out of the box characters I can think of lots of readers that i can recommend this too.
J

Such a beautifully illustrated graphic novel, wonderful story and inspired by Sherlock Holmes. What's not to love!?

Highly recommended.

Let me start off by saying the artwork in this book is spectacular. I felt like I was looking at a Dan Bluth cartoon the whole time. It did a really great job of setting the mood.

The Baker Street Four are three street children who work for Sherlock Holmes and I guess their cat. These are the cases they solve when Sherlock is off on cases of his own. The stories are fun, set at a frenetic pace.

<i>Thanks to Insight Comics and Netgalley for an ARC of this book for review purposes!</i>

The Baker Street Four caught my eye because of the vibrant cover. I am often a fan of European graphic novels because the art is so rich and detailed, and this book is no exception. The pages of The Baker Street Four are bursting with life and motion. There are full backgrounds filled with interesting visuals, and the characters are always in motion and a delight to look at. In comparison to the often minimalist designs of manga or North American comics, it's always refreshing to see the visually stunning artistry of a comic of this sort.

The stories are quite fun as well. The first deals with Betty, beloved of one of the Four, being kidnapped by a pimp. Sherlock's little band of helpers has to track her down and rescue her. In the second, the Four are embroiled in a Russian Tsarist plot against socialists and a mystery surrounding the return of Jack the Ripper. Sherlock himself only appears at the end when he debriefs the kids on what happened, but even without him, the book features interesting mysteries and some great action. It's not very kid friendly despite the child protagonists. There is a lot of violence, talk of rape, and general scuzzy things occurring. This is a book for adults and it managed the blend of youthful characters, but adult themes quite well.

While I have not read the original French, the translated text flows well, and the characters all have their own voice. All in all, this was a great comic to bring over to North America, and a delight to read!

The Baker Street Four follows the adventures of the street kids that helped Sherlock Holmes with his investigations - they snooped for him, actually. Baker Street Irregulars consists of mostly boys and then a girl disguised as a boy and it's quite logical considering the time period. I'm not a fan of Sherlock Holmes and I've only read The Hound of Baskervilles and I wasn't a big fan of that either. Thus I wanted to try this, since I liked the different approach. The comic consist of smaller stories and in all of those the kids try to solve a situation of sorts. There's kidnapping, Jack the Ripper and whatnot, but hardly any Sherlock Holmes in any of these. He's always away, which was kind of stupid. The comic was very sporadic and hard to follow. The plot of the stories didn't really work and it was hard to keep track what was happening in any of them. Also, the stories weren't that interesting either and hardly anything happened, which made this quite boring. It's hard to say to whom this was meant and that was the downfall eventually.

The art is magnificent in all its detail! The thin line work works well and the panels are full of magic and wonder, which I enjoyed a lot. The colors are beautiful too and everything in the comic looks so interesting, which was also the reason why I decided to try this. Because of this it's sad that the content otherwise is meager. Art-wise this is totally five stars. Perhaps one story would've worked better and a slower pacing would've made wonders too. The Baker Street Four is a different kind of Sherlock comic, but not there yet. It's not a bad comic per se, but just not there yet.

Oliver Twist meets Sherlock Holmes in this fantastic graphic novel about a rag-tag group of street urchins that lead their own investigations when the great detective is unavailable.

I really enjoyed both the story and artwork. The story flowed well and the dialogue between the young characters was great.

This is an excellent graphic novel. The artwork, the story and the characters all come together really nicely.

The Baker Street Four are a group of children who assist Sherlock Holmes, but when 'Sherlock is away the children play' and they solve their own mysteries. All based in London, in the first story the children solve the crime of a missing young girl who is kidnapped from the streets. In the second story the children get mixed up in the conflict between the Russian Tsar and the Revolutionaries he is trying to put down.

The storylines are engaging and have a good pace and they certainly held my attention. The artwork is excellent with really clear and bright colours, and very detailed pictures. It was a pleasure to read and easy to follow.

The one aspect I truly enjoyed was the context. The pictures really illustrated London and I especially liked the drawings of St Paul's and the Embankment. It was all done really well.

In summary this is a great graphic novel and an entertaining story.

Book – The Baker Street Four, Vol 1
Author – Olivier Legrand, J. B. Dijan, David Etien (Illustrations)
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages – 96
Cover – Perfect!
Would I read it again – Yes
Genre – Comic, Crime, Sherlock Holmes


** COPY RECEIVED THROUGH NETGALLEY **


NOTE: So, thanks to the handy warning at the beginning that it might not read correctly on all devices, I wasn't freaked out that my Kindle copy didn't read right, at first. The text wasn't inside the text bubbles, so I went back to Netgalley, downloaded as a acsm file and that worked just fine once uploaded into Adobe Digital Editions! If you want to read this as Kindle and get the same problem, this is your solution.

~

Well, I'll admit that I'm a little surprised. I kind of expected this to be YA friendly, but with the swearing and talk about pimps it really isn't. More NA and up. For fans of Sherlock Holmes, it's a great read and an intriguing one, but definitely not for kids.

This was a fun, adventurous collection of two stories that kept the excitement going from one page to another, including Sherlock Holmes just enough to show the connection. The art/illustrations are gorgeous and so detailed. The attention to detail in the historical period and the Sherlock Holmes situation are spot on and well integrated into the story.

Story 1, The Blue Curtain, is a little more adult than the other, what with swearing and talk about a pimp and a brothel, with less than appropriate language for a YA market. The second story, The Rabúkin Case still has the swearing but the story is more political, about a copycat Jack the Ripper and Russian refugees being tracked by Tsarists.

Overall, it's a great compilation of two Sherlock Holmes inspired stories that really do the original man justice and stick faithfully to the type of adventure and investigative techniques he would use, while allowing the kids to take center state.

This is a fun graphic novel for Sherlock fans young and old.