Moriarty has quickly gone in a bad direction. The art, while definitely standing out on the shelf, does so mostly in a bad way and not in the innovative way the first and even second issue managed to create. The story is also slightly confusing and strays from the noir feel to a more scientific approach that feels misplaced in this tale. Moriarty's development has nearly come to a stand-still, but his character and interactions with Jade make up for it.Still being chased by the police and Watson, Moriarty continues to seek out Tartarus and finds Richard Thomason near death from madness. He finds the ship Pontus and, with Jade's help, gets inside only to begin a fight for his life.Daniel Corey manages to accomplish a lot in the plot development for this issue, making it seem less like the dragging novel the first issue was – not a bad novel, but one that took dedication to finish. Instead Corey crafts the story in this issue with okay pacing, including some interesting plot points that feel a little too quick. The actual story doesn't read as well as it is crafted. The series has too many genres going on with it. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will be slightly disappointed as this series is turning more in the science fiction direction while the detectiving is taking more of a backseat to the action.Moriarty still manages to fascinate readers with his dark wit and almost supernatural combat skills. Every issue has a moment where Moriarty shows off his skills in a way that reminds you how cool his character is physically, as well as his constant narration reminding you of his amazing intellect. Moriarty's relationship with Holmes is also explored at the beginning of the issue while Moriarty is asleep and thinking about him. His fixation of Holmes almost verges on creepy fan fiction, making it a slightly off-putting opening. Moriarty also has much less development, which the reader was bombarded with in the first issue. His development was explored too quickly and thoroughly in the first issue and should have been better paced. With Moriarty's personality shining in this issue, however, and his amusing interactions with Jade, his loss of good character development can easily be overlooked – for now.Despite his flaws and the bad mix of genres, Moriarty is only a minor problem in this issue. Anthony Diecidue's art is the major flaw. Diecidue's art in the first issue of Moriarty and even in the second one (which had plenty of help from Perry Freeze's colors) stood out on the shelves in an abstract and interesting new way with plenty of nice things to say about the characters artistically. In the third issue, Diecidue has not only continued to neglect almost all of the backgrounds in the panels, but he neglects the characters as well. There are not many interesting color choices from Perry Freeze to help Diecidue this time around either.The characters' proportions are off, especially in the beginning. In one panel Jade has such oddly drawn cheekbones it takes the reader right out of the story (and makes it look like Jade had a bad dose of Botox). The clothes are also given little consideration, with weird dots covering them and sometimes the backgrounds. These dots are inconsistent and appear at random throughout the comic as if Diecidue was unsure whether to include them or not. He should not have. Rupert Thomason is drawn fairly well and the entire scene between him and Moriarty is interesting and a little creepy, both in the dialogue and in the art. When the art is not being neglected it is pretty good, but the mixture of a few styles makes it look inconsistent and a bit rushed.Moriarty is not and has never been bad. This is an okay installment to the series, accomplishing some plot points in a somewhat entertaining way. But the comic is riddled with flaws. The story is a very intellectual one that expects a lot from the reader, but this issue gives the series little as a reward other than watching the awesome feats of one Moriarty. The story, while trying to be interesting and fascinating, takes a backseat to Moriarty's character whose development happened too fast in the first issue leaving us with just some cool action moments here and there. The detective feel is almost gone completely, leaving behind the lesser science-fiction. The series is better suited for a noir feel and needs a return to the art style in the first issue. Still, the series remains fresh, intellectual and has a great character, which is enough to give it a small recommendation. Just don't expect as much from it as it expects from you.
An all-around nerdette, I’m a comic book connoisseur, horror aficionado, video game addict, anime enthusiast and an aspiring novelist/comic book writer. I am the head of the comic book department and the editor-in-chief of Entertainment Fuse. I also write and edit articles for Comic Frontline. I am also an intern at Action Lab Entertainment, a comic book publisher at which I edit comic book scripts, help work on images in solicitations and help with other comic book related project. My own personal website is comicmaven.com.
Daniel Corey manages to accomplish a lot in the plot development for this issue, making it seem less like the dragging novel the first issue was – not a bad novel, but one that took dedication to finish. Instead Corey crafts the story in this issue with okay pacing, including some interesting plot points that feel a little too quick. The actual story doesn't read as well as it is crafted. The series has too many genres going on with it. Fans of Sherlock Holmes will be slightly disappointed as this series is turning more in the science fiction direction while the detectiving is taking more of a backseat to the action.
Moriarty still manages to fascinate readers with his dark wit and almost supernatural combat skills. Every issue has a moment where Moriarty shows off his skills in a way that reminds you how cool his character is physically, as well as his constant narration reminding you of his amazing intellect. Moriarty's relationship with Holmes is also explored at the beginning of the issue while Moriarty is asleep and thinking about him. His fixation of Holmes almost verges on creepy fan fiction, making it a slightly off-putting opening. Moriarty also has much less development, which the reader was bombarded with in the first issue. His development was explored too quickly and thoroughly in the first issue and should have been better paced. With Moriarty's personality shining in this issue, however, and his amusing interactions with Jade, his loss of good character development can easily be overlooked – for now.
Despite his flaws and the bad mix of genres, Moriarty is only a minor problem in this issue. Anthony Diecidue's art is the major flaw. Diecidue's art in the first issue of Moriarty and even in the second one (which had plenty of help from Perry Freeze's colors) stood out on the shelves in an abstract and interesting new way with plenty of nice things to say about the characters artistically. In the third issue, Diecidue has not only continued to neglect almost all of the backgrounds in the panels, but he neglects the characters as well. There are not many interesting color choices from Perry Freeze to help Diecidue this time around either.
The characters' proportions are off, especially in the beginning. In one panel Jade has such oddly drawn cheekbones it takes the reader right out of the story (and makes it look like Jade had a bad dose of Botox). The clothes are also given little consideration, with weird dots covering them and sometimes the backgrounds. These dots are inconsistent and appear at random throughout the comic as if Diecidue was unsure whether to include them or not. He should not have. Rupert Thomason is drawn fairly well and the entire scene between him and Moriarty is interesting and a little creepy, both in the dialogue and in the art. When the art is not being neglected it is pretty good, but the mixture of a few styles makes it look inconsistent and a bit rushed.
Moriarty is not and has never been bad. This is an okay installment to the series, accomplishing some plot points in a somewhat entertaining way. But the comic is riddled with flaws. The story is a very intellectual one that expects a lot from the reader, but this issue gives the series little as a reward other than watching the awesome feats of one Moriarty. The story, while trying to be interesting and fascinating, takes a backseat to Moriarty's character whose development happened too fast in the first issue leaving us with just some cool action moments here and there. The detective feel is almost gone completely, leaving behind the lesser science-fiction. The series is better suited for a noir feel and needs a return to the art style in the first issue. Still, the series remains fresh, intellectual and has a great character, which is enough to give it a small recommendation. Just don't expect as much from it as it expects from you. 
