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No. 913: The Usual Adversary

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The Usual Adversary

First | Previous | 2024-01-01 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=913

Strip by: Buster Maruca

Oliver {as Dr. John H. Watson}: But Holmes, who could have burgled every bank in London all in one night?!
Ambrose {as Sherlock Holmes}: Well, my good Watson, since this is an adaptation, it must be that infamous ex-professor of mathematics, Moriarty!

The author writes:

This strip is, of course, based on the fact that it seems that Professor Moriarty is the villain of most adaptations of Sherlock Holmes. Just off the top of my head, the Great Detective has faced off against the Napoleon of Crime in Sherlock, Elementary, A Game of Shadows, and "A Study in Emerald", and I'm sure the two have matched wits in countless other incarnations as well. This is all despite the fact that Prof. Moriarty appeared in only a single story written by Doyle, "The Final Problem", although he was also mentioned in several other stories.

Moriarty's popularity is doubtlessly due to both how much he was talked up in "The Final Problem" as being simply the cleverest criminal mastermind ever, and (spoilers) how he was responsible for Holmes' death in that story.

As any longtime readers of Lightning Made of Owls know, this isn't the first time that the LMoO cast has adopted the roles of Holmes and Watson. Curious, I went to the comic's archive to see which characters were chosen previously to portray the two literary figures. The results:

Holmes: Oliver, Delkin, Ambrose, Meridien
Watson: Delkin, Ambrose, Holly, Samantha

Thus, this strip is the first time that Oliver has portrayed Watson, but it's not the first time that Ambrose has portrayed Holmes. Further, it seems that the only character-role combinations that we've not yet had are Holmes portrayed by Holly or Samantha, and Watson portrayed by Meridien.

The background image is a drawing of the London Stock Exchange (a fitting locale for the crime that the duo is investigating) by one Joseph Pennell. I got it from Smithsonian Open Access, who say that it is licensed under CC0.