Rivers of London
Books: Graphic Novel | Fantasy | Tie-In
Body Work (2015), Night Witch (2016), Black Mould (2017), Detective Stories (2017), Cry Fox (2017-2018), Water Weed (2018), Action at a Distance (2018), The Fey and the Furious (2020), Monday, Monday (2022), Deadly Ever After (2022)
Body Work (2015) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, and Luis Gurrero
If you've been paying any attention, you know that I have a deep and (probably) unhealthy love of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. So when I saw there was going to be a comic, I searched because BY GOD I wanted that comic.
Luckily, Gary's Comics came through for me, and I was able to order the series. Of course, since I hate cliffhangers, I had to collect them all (there are five books in this collection) before starting to read. (Also, I got the eBook versions, because… I have no good reason, really.) So I've been waiting patiently for these, and finally read them. (I still haven't been down to Gary's to pick up the 5th volume, so that was read as an ebook, which I don't enjoy for comics.)
This story is set between Broken Homes and Foxglove Summer, and finds Peter working with DC Sahra Guleed to investigate killer cars.
I've always liked DC Guleed, and I'm delighted we get to spend more time with her.
"Nightingale wants me to be more discreet."
"Discreet? You blew up a tower block!"
"That wasn't my fault."
"Covent Garden burns down?"
"Sshhh."
As you can tell, the dialogue is typical Peter, which I adore.
Of course we also get Beverly Brook, but even better, we get to see Molly outside of Peter's view of her.
Plus: Toby.
Will you enjoy this if you haven't read the Rivers of London series? I honestly can't tell you. I love this series so much, I can't look at it separate from my adoration. But if you've read the series, you'll want to check out the comic–especially the little one page comics in the end (often starring Toby) and Peter's descriptions of areas of London and magic.
Published by Titan Comics
December 2015 | Rating: 9/10
Night Witch (2016) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero
You get an alternative cover, because this is WAY more awesome than any of the actual covers.
If it isn't obvious, this story focuses a good deal upon Varvara Sidorovna Tamonina, the Russian Night Witch captured by Peter and Thomas in an earlier book. We get to see what she has been doing with herself AND we also get glimpses into her past, which I particularly enjoyed.
We also get a glimpse into what Leslie has been up to. Not enough to learn, but glimpses.
I enjoyed this comic better than Body Work, mostly because there were some very clever and amusing things done.
We also get many of the regulars including Toby and Molly.
I particularly like the glimpses of Toby's life.
Published by Titan
September 2016 | Rating: 9/10
Black Mould (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan
This comic occurs between Foxglove Summer and The Hanging Tree.
It's also how Peter ends up working more with Sahra Guleed, who I also adore.
And I love how snarky both of them are about the racism they deal with on the job.
But she is pretty snarky in general, which I love.
I also love her complete and total competence.
As for the story, there is a form of black mould taking on a life of its own, in an uppity housing development, but it also goes back to a discussion Peter had with Dr Walid in book two.
"You can't die of jazz," said Dr. Walid. "Can you?"
I thought of Fats Navarro, Billie Holiday, and Charlie Parker who, when he died, was mistaken by a coroner for a man twice his real age.
"You know," I said, "I think you'll find you can."
I do love this series.
Published by Titan Comics
- March 2017 | Not Rated
- July 2017 | Rating: 8/10
Rivers of London: Vol. 4 Detective Stories (2017) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Luis Guerrero, Lee Sullivan
The fourth Rivers of London comic finds Peter being interviewed to become a detective.
The gentleman interviewing him is a bit unprepared for what he's about to get.
There is a lot to love about this comic.
First off, we get to see Lesley–both before and after the accident.
We're reminded what a good cop Lesley was going to be, before the accident, which makes her betrayal even harder to understand.
We do get to see Lesley apart from Peter's impressions of her, which is nice, and also her doing things on her own–including talking with Oberon.
Speaking of which, we don't get a lot of Oberon, but we get more than we've seen in the past, which is nice. (We don't get much Beverly Brook, or DC Guleed, but if this was all secondary characters, we wouldn't get much Peter.)
It's interesting to see Oberon's history, as well as his comfort with himself, in some very interesting panels when he is acting as a model for live drawing class.
The other thing that made an impression on me was the ghost story Peter solves. I loved the way the people from the past were portrayed–most of the scene is in grayscale with a single element of color standing out.
I very much liked those panels.
As far as Peter's development, there wasn't a whole lot, but we got to see him passing his tests, and we got to see more of Lesley (I have my own thoughts about Lesley, but that could just be I don't want to admit that she turned to the dark side of the force just to get her face fixed.
It's another good entry into the series, and I do recommend it.
Publisher: Titan
June 2017 | Rating: 8/10
Cry Fox (2017-2018) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, Luis Guerrero, Steve White
I'll be honest, I found this story disappointing.
I like Abigail, and was glad that she was getting at least part of her own story, but mostly this just felt weak.
We had Abigail, and we had Peter, and we had Guleed, and we had Molly, but it was mostly just teeny bits of each. And there were bad guys, but the mother-son combo were ridiculous, and it was never quite clear why Reynard had a bone to pick with the Folly.
I mean, foxes are generally sly and tricky, but Reynard was just nasty. So none of the bad guys were particularly interesting.
And the second blonde girl that appeared was very confusing, since she seemed to appear out of nowhere, and looked too much like the other young girl that Abigail got involved with. I couldn't figure out initially why the first girl was with Reynard and smoking a joint.
It felt initially like the story was supposed to forward Abigail's story a bit, but mostly she came off as plucky and self-rescuing without actually developing anything. I suppose it's possible that he just can't write teen girls, and that's fine, because they're difficult. But on a joint project you'd think someone could have manged to make her interesting.
So, a disappointment.
Publisher: Titan
April 2018 | Rating: 5/10
Vol. 6: Water Weed (2018) Ben Aaranovitch Andrew Cartmel
These are getting more and more frustrating, because they're become less good with each comic story-line.
The problem is that the stories aren't forwarding the story or the characters at all–they're just what the characters happen to be working on while he's writing the next book.
The first couple were fun, because we were getting glimpses of what Nightingale and Molly and even Toby were doing when Peter wasn't around (I particularly liked the bits about Molly). But now, the past couple stories–including this one–don't seem to be taking the story anywhere, and they just aren't very interesting.
I don't care what Bev's little sisters are doing. I don't care about this specific case, since we're not really learning anything about Peter in it.
If he just wants to fill space, I'd rather be leaning more about Father Thames sons. Or about Mother Thames. Or the rivers near the Welsh border. Or the Quiet People. Or the gentleman who works for the underground. Any of those would have fascinating back stories, but instead we get a boring case Peter is working on.
BLEH.
Published by Titan Comics
December 2018 | Rating: 5/10
Vol. 7: Action at a Distance (2018) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Brian Williamson
Set in 2016.
When these comics first started, I think that Ben Aaronovitch had a lot of extra material he couldn't fit in the books.
I think that he's probably used up that material, because these last several comics have been–at best–lackluster.
Here I thought we'd been getting some of Nightingale's backstory, but it's just a single story that doesn't really tell us much of anything about Nightingale.
Frustrating.
Publisher: Titan Comics
March 2019 | NR
Vol 8: The Fey and the Furious (2020) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan
I find the comics for this series frustrating.
I found the story interesting, but the execution wasn't all I wanted it to be, I mean, why precisely, were the fey doing all this? It didn't make a lot of sense to me, unless the answer was they were bored and fucking around.
Which I suppose is possible.
And I don't love the art as much as I did on earlier volumes.
I mean, I believe that Peter is fit.
I do not believe that Peter has six-pack abs.
He's just too much of a geek who spends too much time going down research rabbit holes to work that hard.
Also, I can't remember whether Peter took the driving course that Nightingale had ordered him to.
He was supposed to, but I don't know if it happened, and I don't know how that would have affected all the bits with the cars.
So: disappointing.
Publisher: Titan
- April 2020 | Not Rated
- September 2022 | Rating: 6/10
Rivers Of London Vol. 9: Monday, Monday (2022) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, José María Beroy
The ninth comic jumps back and forth in time, both in the present day, as well as into Nightingale's past.
First
thing, I really liked about this story: Stephanopoulus. We get a lot of
her POV. Also, she is described pretty much exactly as she is in the
books.
She is good at her job, and we get to see that.
(Also, we get to see the chickens.)
Secondly, we get to see pieces of Nightingale's past: his time and school and brief glimpses of the war.
The bad thing here, is that I initially couldn't figure out who the hell the character was supposed to be. Nightingale looks plastic, like he's had too much plastic surgery.
That is just squicky.
The third thing we see Abigail getting into trouble. Which is to be expected. Though her companion in trouble wasn't expected.
And finally, we get some important glimpses into Peter's family life, including his twin daughters.
I found myself enjoying those bits, especially once I realized why they were important.
So there is stuff that is definintely going to be referenced in the books, although I don't think it was in the last novel (I've listened to so many books since I read that, I don't clearly remember all the details).
Publisher: Titan Comics
September 2022 | Rating: 7/10
Rivers of London Vol. 10: Deadly Ever After (2022) Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Celeste Bronfman, Joseph Maria Beroy
Honestly, I dislike almost everything about this.
I don't like Chelsea and Olympia.
I really REALLY don't like the art. I mean, what the hell kind of wetsuit would do THAT?
The thrown in bits with the characters I like: Peter, Nightingale, Bev, even Abigail, are all awful. Yeah, we're supposed to be seeing this through the twins POV, but… UGH.
Publisher: Titan
January 2024 | Rating: 3/10