The Game Is Afoot!

Robert Downey, Jr., in the role of super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes

Nope, today's post isn't about feet, fellow babies... nor is it quite as scatter-shot as my last post!

Let me start off by saying that I was interested in seeing the latest filmed version of Sherlock Holmes, as portrayed by Robert Downey, Jr. in the 2009 movie directed by Guy Ritchie. Downey is one of my favorite modern actors. Hell, if he'd done nothing but Chaplin I'd probably still say that! Unfortunately, as most of you are aware, by the time of the flick's Christmas release I was concerned with much more important things than a trip to the cinema.

In fact, the last time I even went to a movie theater was in 2008, when Downey starred in the first Iron Man film. (Can it really be two years since that came out?!?)

It's no secret that I'm a long-time comic book fan, but that doesn't necessarily carry over into the film world. There are a lot of comic book concepts adapted for the "big screen" that I've never bothered to see. A list of what I've neglected to watch from just the last fifteen years or so would probably amaze you.

Besides, this was "my" Iron Man, from when I was a kid. The "golden era" of the "Golden Avenger," in my mind. That ignores most of the last forty years, with a few multi-issue exceptions here and there.

So I didn't have much interest in seeing the Iron Man movie, either, until I heard that Robert Downey, Jr. had been cast as Tony Stark, a/k/a Iron Man. That made me decide to see it. And I certainly wasn't disappointed, although I must admit that I didn't go as "ga-ga" over it as did many others who saw it.

But enough about Iron Man! I've digressed, obviously, but not completely, because predictably (for me), a lot of my early exposures to the character of Sherlock Holmes came via comic books, too! I won't bore you with the details (for a change), so I'm going to throw a few visual examples at you. That way, if you're one of the many comic book fans who read this site, you should get a kick out of them, but if you're not a comic book fan, you can look at some purty pictures and not get bogged down slogging through a lot of my usual text. On the other hand, if you care to read two of them -- the MAD parody and the DC Comics version from 1975, I've provided links in the appropriate photo captions. (Both stories are under copyright protection, so I have not reprinted them here!)

My earliest exposure to Mr. Holmes may have

been "Shermlock Shomes," one of several features

in a MAD paperback which reprinted classic stories

from that magazine's early comic book incarnation.

This edition of Classics Illustrated was published

several years before it found its way into my

eleven-year-old hands!

I never got hold of this one, but I thought

that the cover was too cool not to include!

This was a 1975 one-shot from DC Comics.

Read it here, if you like!

Twelve years later, in 1987, DC Comics celebrated

the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics with a multi-parter

that included a Holmes story presumably intended for the

never-published second issue of their ill-fated Sherlock Holmes title.

The historic meeting of Batman and Mr. Holmes!

So, now that the comic book cover gallery is done, what's my freakin' point (assuming I have one)?

Well, I do, and it's this:

I own most of the original Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan O'Brien -- Oops! Sorry, that's Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, silly me! -- but typically, I haven't gotten around to reading a whole heckuva lot of them. And admittedly, even my tally as far as having seen any or all of the previous movie and TV versions of the character is relatively limited.

Therefore, my pre-conceived notions of the way Holmes "should" be portrayed are rather nebulous, so I don't have any of the objections some raised when news of the 2009 Sherlock Holmes movie hit the press. (You know, those people who hate something before they've even seen it?)

So, fellow babies, since the only "review" I got of Sherlock Holmes was from a friend who didn't even like it enough to watch it until the end... Did you see it? And should I bother?

Yup, believe it or not... I'm asking for advice!

Thanks for your time... and your hoped-for input.