Reviews

This is probably the best of the Rivers of London comics so far - not because of the plot, which is fine - but because of the way it makes use of the comic medium to tell the story in a unique way. Over four issues, we see the same day from different characters' perspectives, with each revealing another part of the story and another step towards solving the crime. It's also refreshing to have DI Stephanopolous as the point of view character, rather than Peter (who is the first person narrator for all the novels) or Nightingale (who we also have learned a lot about through the novels and earlier comics). However, the true genius of how the authors and illustrators use this medium is in issue 4 - told through the eyes of Foxglove, the new faery living in The Folly. She doesn't speak, and so most of the issue is dialogue free, with the story being told entirely through the pictures.
Also, given that each issue takes place on the same Monday, I had to read the whole thing through twice to spot all the subtle bits in the background where earlier issues showed glimpses of things that came to the foreground in later issues - it just shows that everything was well planned and scripted in advance. The art has lovely clean lines, consistency and you can read every emotion on the character's faces, everything slots together wonderfully, and the bonus material (one-pagers, variant covers, and script-to-page) is also really great. Definitely recommend this one.