4 out of 5

Ideally with crossover media – Rivers of London being a series of books by Aaronovitch – sampling one makes you interested in the other.  The first comic book version of this world has absolutely matched that ideal for me.

I suppose RoL can be best genre-ized as a supernatural cop series; the UK take on this, though, is to make it all rather plain jane, with our featured “wizards” – Peter Grant and Nightingale – incorporated into the regular Filth, and seen as something to roll one’s eyes at when they’re on scene.  It’s undeniably appealing, to strip away the more common super-secret Men in Black stance similar tales take, and works perfectly with Aaronovitch’s delivery, since it gets to mix proper policing and historical references with some good ol’ spooks.  In “Body Work,” the spook is a haunted car, and we spend our five issues moreso investigating the how and why of the haunt versus Ben and Aaron trying too hard to scare us.

If there’s an element here that I can’t hype enough, it’s how easily we slink into the world of RoL.  Assumedly these characters have all been introduced in the books, and we certainly get light introductions here, but not in a way that feels too caught up in trying to learn us on back-historied minutiae, nor in a way that I think would be frustrating or repellent to those already in the know.  At the same time, there are definitely little nods to what must be established jokes, but all they do is get you riled up to read more, in the same way the back matter on magic or London, as told to us in text form by the story’s characters, is written in a familiar and friendly voice, fully accepting you, encouraging your partnership as a reader.  There’s no barrier to entry here.  It’s an incredible accomplishment, and pulled off with seeming ease by our writers.

The downside of this is that the familiarity breeds comfort: there are no stakes to the story.  Aaronovitch and Cartmel play it honestly, not ending things on fake-out cliffhangers, and things are paced well, but it’s clear we’re just reading a narrative that’s been divided up into issues.  It’s definitely entertaining through and through, but I did wait to read them all at once.  Had I waited month to month, I’m not sure it would have read as strongly.

Our art team holds this together well.  Luis Guerrero’s colors get a tad too digital in some spots, but on the whole it’s just the right touch to give Lee Sullivan’s sturdy pencils and perfectly balanced layouts the realism needed to ground this.  And thankfully we’re not dealing with the Who Universe or something similar where we have actual likenesses, so we don’t have to struggle with any uncanny valley stuff; the characters here absolutely have a life of their own, thanks to the writing’s personalities and Sullivan’s interpretation of that.  The dialogue also works very well, which requires credit to Janice Chiang’s lettering for smart pacing and placement to keep that tone intact.

So whatever the genesis was of this book-to-comic jam, I’m so glad it happened, as it’s given me a new world to explore.  Not only am I looking forward to the next comic series, but I’ve already got an order of a book on the way that I know will make me equally happy.