Sherlock Holmes Behind the Scenes, pt.1

For the next few weeks, I'll be posting the storyboards and dialogue that Kathy (from Carry On) set me up with, along with a little 'behind the scenes' commentary. 

The origin of this whole thing is that I've wanted to do a Sherlock Holmes storyline for years. I'm a big fan of the original tales, and also of whodunit spoofs, like the old Murder by Death, or Clue.

I've been collecting gags for such a thing for years, but never really had the time to sit down and actually write out a script- something I'm not generally very good at, anyway. 

I asked around, and Kathy jumped at the idea, being a fan herself- and a better long-form writer. :)

She proceeded to set me up with the following storyboards and dialogue- a good tale, but had a few elements I didn't think fit in well with the storyline, so I took it in a slightly different direction.

In many cases I used the storyboards directly, "inking" my characters over her pencils- which I thought came out well, but some of those strips took a LOT of extra work.

One tidbit from this first page: Kathy had originally called it "the Come-Apartington Plans"- which is, for those that might not be familiar, a parody of the original Doyle story "The Bruce-Partington Plans." :)

I changed it to "Blone-Apartington", to give it a bit more of a TWB feel, and the simple fact I didn't want the characters constantly referring to a "Professor Come"- which sounds too much like a porn-star nickname. :)

The town in the initial strip is, as I recall, Sitka, Alaska, a photo taken from one of the touristy sites, and modified quite a bit.

Doc.

Edit: Here's Kathy's original dialogue for this page:

Page 1: It was a dark and stormy night. (Book cover: The Other Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)

The time: 1889. The place: Baker Street, London, which for the purposes of this narrative looks remarkably like a small town in Alaska.

Holmes: Ah, Watson! You're back! Splendid! I would like you to accompany me on a little adventure!

Watson, entering with parcels: What is it today, Holmes? Murder? Robbery? Someone lose a racehorse?

Holmes: Nothing so prosaic, dear chap! A friend of mine, Professor < >, wants me to look at his latest invention. I could use the company.

(The books behind him have titles like "The Second Stain" and "The Spattered Band."