Peter David's Artful #1by Sheena McNeilReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 6 Based on the novel by Peter David, this follows the Artful Dodger's adventures in a world where vampires also exist. In this issue he twice rescues a young lady runaway and tells her a bit of his history.I vaguely remember reading Oliver Twist when I was younger; I better remember some of the movies based on it. It never really struck a chord with me, and it took a bit in reading this to have the remembrance of "oh yeah, it's that story". I don't even remember the character of the Artful Dodger. However, I was intrigued by the idea of putting vampires into that setting and of following a different character in a familiar setting. So far, the vampire aspect is most intriguing. I like how we become privy to some information quite relevant to Dodger's life circumstances because of this addition, though they could have played out that way even with humans. What gets me curious is what will happen now that Fagin, who is secretly a vampire, has been publically hanged? How will this affect Dodger, who was taken in by Fagin to his group of boys as a youngster? This first issue does a good job of giving us a feel for Dodger. He's popular with the ladies and generally seems to get along with everyone he meets ... those he doesn't pickpocket at least. He's a charmer and he's clever ... and a gentleman. The big question at the moment is how will his story will unfold now that he's met runaway Alexandria, who has led a sheltered life and is unaware how anything in the real world works? The art is good and fits well to the time period. The artist captures Dodger's personality and attitude well through his body language. Panel layout is just simple squares and occasionally rectangles -- meaning there's no ebb and flow, it just paces along and is occasionally choppy. The text adds a few colloquialisms to help date the piece and create the setting, but there's not so much that it makes it challenging to read. In fact, so far, I'd say this comic is mostly all-ages. There is a woman working the corner, but that is not explained, and in this time period it's not visually obvious. Like Oliver Twist, there's not enough here to pull me in or make this intriguing enough to want to read more. However, it's well done, and I'd bet fans of Oliver Twist or the Artful novel will enjoy. Written: January 15, 2017
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