CSI: Serial

 

By Max Allan Collins, Gabriel Rodriguez & Ashley Wood (Titan Books)
ISBN: 1-84023-771-6

Comics based on “Hit TV Shows” have long been a staple of the industry, but the quality, let alone resemblance to their live action progenitors, has always been a variable factor.

Assuring the former with this initial miniseries is crime-writer extraordinaire Max Allan Collins, probably best known to us for Road to Perdition, Batman or even the Dick Tracy newspaper strip – although his credits as a novelist are even more impressive to the outside world. The artists for Serial are Gabriel Rodriguez, whose subdued, matter-of-fact illustration exemplifies the down-beat, procedural nature of the work undertaken, and he can capture the likenesses of the very large ensemble cast (of itself a rare ability in this genre of comics), and Ashley Wood, whose painterly exuberance handles the flashbacks, special effects and theoretical reconstructions which are such a large part of the TV show.

The plot itself deals with a copycat killer using a Jack the Ripper convention to restage the Whitechapel murders of 1888 in Las Vegas, but since nothing is ever as it seems there are still surprises and thrills for the fans as this tight, complex tale unfolds.

This is a great read that the TV producers would be proud to screen. If you love that you’ll love this.

© 2004 CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Alliance Atlantis Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.