A review by colinlusk
The Adventures of Luther Arkwright by Bryan Talbot

5.0

Nostalgia read. I came across this in the late eighties but my copies of the individual books - one of them signed - got left behind about 10 house-moves ago. Reading it again, I think I appreciated it more, because of the craftsmanship of it. It's dense in words and ideas. It's ambitious as fuck, spanning multiple realities. There are many characters who you feel could have their own comic. There's an epic battle in which 5 armies fight for London, and there are a few nice little jokey asides. I may not even have understood them all. I recognised one panel in which a meeting takes place at a pub in Preston and it doesn't seem to have much to do with anything but the plotters até all real people the artist knows. I even recognise one of them. Then there's a random mention of a servant girl called Diana who fancies King Charles the Third and has "ideas above her station". For some reason I missed that at the time but it's obviously supposed to be princess Diana in another reality. She was alive when if first came out of course. And look, now King Charles the Third is a real person. He's not quite the swashbuckling character as the book version though.
It has its weakness. All the mystical hippy bollocks is a bit overdone, and the ending is a bit abrupt, and in a fair world I'd probably make this a four star review but I don't care, I'm fiving it anyway.