NCD #110

A Word From One of the Creators

From the desk of Eric Ratcliffe

Hey there, NCD readers, I know none of you can see what I just did in the email this is being sent to Brant in so I’ll just tell you. I totally put 5 exclamation marks in the header. Not because I’m hyper, mind you, but because it’s 3:35 AM and I just realized the strip goes live at 9 and I didn’t write anything yet. Fail goes to me, folks!

First things first, check out this interview as mentioned last week with good friend Adrian at the outhousers.com! Adrian revealed to me after that this was his first interview, and being a guy who’s been doing interviews for a while now…I really think he’s doing one heck of a great job right off the bat.

Speaking of interviews, though, later this afternoon I’m talking to good friends The Kirby Krackle on the Why I Love Comics podcast, which people will hear on Sunday. And Friday you can hear my voice guest hosting Zone 4 with Ron, Gordon and Frank, which was a lot of fun. I know Brant appreciates the hand.

Anyways, topic at hand…where did I put my magnifying glass? That wasn’t the topic? No? Sherlock Holmes you say? Oh yes, the great detective! In all seriousness, Holmes and the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has had such a profound effect on me as a young kid growing up it’s not even funny. When we would read plays in middle school/high school during class, I would insist on reading as Sherlock. (Mind you, about 70 percent of the other kids could barely pronounce most of the words, which is scary in itself)

I love the character and his universe. I love the Robert Downey Jr/Jude Law/Guy Ritchie current incarnation, I definitely love the Steven Moffat version with Cumberpatch/Freeman. Both are very different and yet incredibly faithful adaptations in my humble opinion. Heck, you could even ask my mom, I believe I once dressed as the detective for Halloween.

I’m not sure what it is about the character, but he just manages to encapsulate something very special for me and always will. And for the record, I really hope that last panel is reminiscent of the Cumberpatch version of the character because that’s exactly who NCD me is mimicking. Also I really think this may be the arc where people will get a sense of the kind of stuff you’ll be seeing for the rest of the year as I think a lot of the writing is similar to it.

Next week…the game continues: will Eric Holmes be able to put the pieces together before everything is lost? Tune in in just 7 day,s folks, for part 2!