Scarlet Traces: The Great Game

(Dark Horse, 2006)
™ and ©2006 Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

It’s 1938, and Great Britain has done well following an invasion by HG Wells’ Martians. Reverse-engineering their technology and pushing the front lines back to Mars, the British war machine is still embroiled in a four decades-long, conflict with nothing less than genocide of one species or another at stake. The problem is, to keep things secure at home, the government has muzzled any possible source of dissent, and things are only drawing tighter on an increasingly war-weary, discontented public. And it seems that the situation on Mars might not be what’s reported on the news…

A tight story with perfect dialogue by Ian Edgington, cast in wonderful D’Israeli art. The lone fault to this story is it asks you to accept that a failed diplomatic conference leads the news over Canada, Australia and New Zealand withdrawing from the commonwealth in unison. If you can live with that minor problem, you have a book you should be reading.

— Brendan McGinley

From the Comics Buyer’s Guide:

Readers of Kingdom of the Wicked, also created by frequent collaborators writer Ian Edginton and artist D’Israeli, will savor this sequel to 2003’s Scarlet Traces. Those who haven’t read work by this pair before should start, and this latest series is as good a place as any.

The “historical” science-fiction story takes place in Great Britain, though in a timeline more like that which might stem from H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, with technology from the early 20th century that’s far more advanced than anything we have now. There’s a bloody mystery afoot, and it’s up to a peppy, smart reporter to figure it out. Of course, she finds no easy way to do this.

The inspiration for the simple, yet superb, title becomes quickly apparent (especially to people fond of Brit colloquialisms). Equally superb is the art. D’Israeli’s wonderful gift for detail makes the story look just as beautiful and carefully planned as Edginton’s writing does.

In tune with its subtitle, Scarlet Traces is great, and readers would do well to pick up this series.

— Ray Sidman

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