Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes - Comic Books

Comic Books

There have been a number of Sherlock Holmes comic books, notably from Dell and DC. The 50th anniversary issue of Detective Comics features a cameo from a 135-year old Holmes, who congratulates Batman for defeating Professor Moriarty's descendants. He explains "A proper diet, a certain distillation of royal jelly developed in my beekeeping days, and the rarified atmosphere of Tibet, where I keep my primary residence," have kept him alive. When Batman tries to light his pipe, Holmes states "Thank you, but I'm afraid the pipe is purely for show these days."

Holmes was also featured prominently in issue 13 of the DC/WildStorm series Planetary. Holmes is shown to be in league with Bram Stoker's Dracula in the story. A Charlton Comics series depicted a Holmes based in New York City.

SelfMadeHero published "Hound of the Baskervilles", adapted by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Ian Culbard, in May 2009.

Holmes is referred to and briefly featured in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Holmes appears in a flashback sequence depicting the climactic scene of The Adventure of the Final Problem and is still believed by the public to be deceased following the events of that story, although it is revealed in the second volume that Mina later meets with him.

Warren Ellis's Aetheric Mechanics is primarily inspired by Sherlock Holmes, while being a mashup of Holmesiana with other contemporary works.

In the Italian comic book Martin Mystère and spin-off series Storie di Altrove/Stories from Elsewhere Holmes is a historical character. In late 1880s he worked on the case of Jack the Ripper and met professor Richard Van Helsing, a vampire who destroyed Count Dracula. Along with Professor Challenger, Holmes visited a secret valley of dinosaurs in South America in 1896. The same year he worked with the American Secret Service "Elsewhere" to stop paranormal threats from another dimension. In 1910 he discovered a life extension serum. At the beginning of World War I he had a final confrontation with Professor Moriarty. After the war, he moved to Ukraine, giving Arthur Conan Doyle the task to convince everyone that he was just an imaginary character. With the help of his serum, Holmes prolonged his life for several decades. In 1990s he indirectly helped Martin Mystère to capture a villain who found a formula of his serum.

In the 1990s, Caliber Comics issued a four-part Sherlock Holmes Reader which featured quotes from Holmes, a map of 221-B Baker Street, and canon story adaptations as well as individual stories such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes and The Sussex Vampire.

2009 brought the Black House Comics series The Dark Detective: Sherlock Holmes. The series is written by Christopher Sequeira with covers by Academy Award winning artist Dave Elsey.

In 2010, Boom! Studios published a four-part series entitled Muppet Sherlock Holmes which featured Gonzo as Holmes, Fozzie Bear as Dr. Watson, and Kermit the Frog as Inspector Lestrade.