Sherlock Holmes has had many incarnations since he was first brought to life by the pen of Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887. This summer, that most British of detectives, who has appeared as everything from a vampire hunter to a crime-fighting teenager, is being immortalised in Japanese manga.
Out in June, Sherlock: A Study in Pink adapts the BBC series, which started in 2010, transforming Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes and Martin Freeman's Dr John Watson into classic manga images. Publisher Titan Comics said the release would be the first time the manga series, illustrated by manga illustrator Jay, would be printed in English. It launched in Japan four years ago, and according to io9 its popularity has meant there have been a plethora of fan translations since.
"It's really interesting seeing such a British thing being reinterpreted in Japanese manga," said Titan Comics editor Andrew James, who acquired the manga series for the publisher. "It's still dynamic and full of action, but compared to American comics, there's often a quietness and reflectiveness about manga."
Titan is offering extended page counts, as well as new art and covers by artists including Alice X Zhang, in its manga series, the first issue of which opens with Holmes and Watson's first meeting and ends with the pair moving in together.
The pair's relationship, James said, is "not made any more explicit than it is on the television, but it's certainly something the television has hinted at ... so [the manga] is not a thing with love hearts appearing, but it's definitely something in which the subtext is just as strong". 英语新闻
