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I have to hand it to IDW Publishing for having the valor to go where most large comic book companies dare to dream—not just producing comic books for kids, and relying on superheroes as their main source of characters. On top of this venture, IDW has successfully brought CSI into the comic book format with tremendous success, and anyone who has seen the TV show and reads the series will realize that this product is well worth the investment.
The main characters Gil, Catherine Warren, Sarah and Nick are all in the mix and they look and talk exactly like their TV counterparts. Gabriel Rodriguez really fleshes out the characters with great detail while Ashley Wood, who really shows some skill in her own comic Popbot, does an amazing job of bringing vivid detail to the painted scenes of gory death and guesswork by the investigators. Mutually, they bring all the important aspects of the crime and the characters to the printed page, but one man brings it all together with a great story and excellent dialogue.
Max Collins has written books based on CSI and his experience really has paid off; he knows how these characters act and his translation in this series is so dead-on as the characters interact so believably, you would think you were watching the show or at least reading a comic book based on one of the episodes. However, every story in this series is an original. This beginning series features two investigations as our main star Gil Grisson along with Katherine and Warren tackle a copycat Jack the Ripper crime spree while the rest of the team look into a dumpster murder. The beginning of chapter five wraps up the Dumpster Murder with a great interrogation scene as the rest of the pages aim at ending the Jack the Ripper murder case.
Just like the series, this comic book does an outstanding job of depicting the characters as they put the pieces together of the crime in an attempt to discover the possible killer out of a list of so many potential suspects. Coincidentally, a Jack the Ripper convention is in town and everyone for the guests to the direct descendant of the suspected murderer (they never did discover just who Jack the Ripper was). Through the evidence and Gil’s keen sense of the historical details of the crime, the team is able to pinpoint exactly when the murderer will strike next and just what will happen to each victim. It is this knowledge that eventually leads them to the killer, which is where the story takes a surprising twist, leaving me, shocked and fascinated by the storyteller’s ability to stray away and keep the obvious from being obvious.
In the end, I was excited by the possibilities this series could present. This series could become, much like what the Star Wars novels have become for that franchise. There is so much that could be done in the comic book format; stories that can be told, that may not lend itself to the small screen. I applaud IDW Publishing for taking the step and looking for properties that no one else would think of. CSI as a comic book works and its success has changed the way people will look at comic books in the future. Investigate for yourself and see what the entire buzz is about.
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