Leviathan

Three years ago, I picked up a copy of Judge Dredd Megazine on a whim to read on a train journey. I hadn’t really read 2000AD since I was a kid. One of the things that utterly captivated me was Scarlet Traces, a story about what happened after the martian invasion in War of the Worlds. It was well scripted, and beautifully drawn, with large, clean lines and lovely colour. I couldn’t wait for the next installment in the story, and I’ve not missed a megazine since. Plus I’ve accrued quite a few graphic novels.

Anyway, in the last megazine, I noticed an ad for a book, Leviathan, with the magic names attached again, Ian Edgington and D’Israeli.

Naturally, when I saw a copy in Borders, I picked it up without hesitation. From the back cover:

In 1928, the Leviathan, the largest cruise liner the world had ever seen, was launched, bound for New York, with a crew and passenger complement totalling nearly 30,000 people. It was never seen again.

Twenty years later, one of the remaining passengers, Detective Sergeant Lament, begins to investigate the mystery at the liner’s heart. What he discovers will change his world forever—but it might just bring the Leviathan home…

From the very first pictures, they’ve really managed to show quite how large the ship actually is. Sometimes, it’s really hard to get perspective across that well, but they’ve done it well. When you get into the ship itself, it’s all done in impeccable taste, but everything is drawn white-on-black to give a very noir feel to it. The main character, Aurelius Lament, is a detective called in to investigate the murder of a 1st class passenger, one Jerry Leadbeater (har har). Things start to get really mysterious when the captain reveals that the ship should have run out of fuel decades ago…

Oh hell, it’s a cracking good yarn, drawn beautifully. I love it. And what can I say? I love the whole steampunk idea. More, please!