When a prominent politician’s wife ends up dead at the base of the George Washington Bridge, NYPD’s Lt. Stroud knows she needs the best to find the people responsible quietly. Watson and Holmes follow the trail of clues but when the case goes quickly down the rabbit hole will our heroes keep their heads? Don’t miss ‘The Case of Mr. and Mrs Gemini’ in this month’s installment of Watson And Holmes.

A completely new creative team steps in for this issue, from New Paradigm Studios: writer Brandon Easton, and artist N. Steven Harris. While I have read and enjoyed Brandon Easton’s writing before (see reviews HERE, HERE, and HERE), I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit concerned about this issue. This is still a new series, and it was been primarily guided by the pen of Karl Bollers, who has done such a remarkable job in reinterpreting Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary creations, uniquely updating them for a modern audience, that putting a new writer on the title so soon could disrupt the flow of the title. Could even a wrier as talented as Easton capture the “voice” of this urban Watson and Holmes, having such a small amount of material to pull from?

Oh, silly me for even harboring such thoughts…

This is another single issue story, that looks like it could be taking from an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The opening page sets the scene, with no words, we witnesses the shadowing images of two people on the George Washington bridge, late at night. Then one goes tumbling off. Pushed? Fell? That’s not clear yet. The next morning, Lt. Stroud has called our dynamic duo to the scene, due to the sensitive nature of the case. The victim is the wife of a high-profile Harlem councilman who is in the middle of a tough campaign for Attorney General. Holmes immediately suspects the councilman’s involvement in this crime, although Watson remains skeptical, due to all of the good things he says this councilman has done for Harlem while in office. At first I was worried that this was going to be a clichéd case of the two partners being at odds throughout the investigation, but Easton avoids falling into that trap, as the disagreements never stop Watson and Holmes from working as a team. When it is revealed that the councilman’s campaign is practically broke and that he is now due a large settlement from is wife’s life insurance police, the case looks like it’s becoming even clearing. But just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, there’s a twist! And a pretty darn good one. It’s not all just mystery and detective work, there’s also some action-packed gunplay involving the Russian mafia and a worldwide sex trafficking ring. No spoilers, but I found the ending to be surprising and satisfying. A complete single-issue story that brand new fans who pick this up as their first issue could enjoy just as much as those of us who’ve been reading it since the beginning. I think the biggest credit I could give Easton here would be that if I didn’t look at the credits I never would have guessed that there was different writer. The characters speak “on model”, and the interplay between Watson and Holmes fits seamlessly with the preceding issues, which is a high accomplishment for a series that has been as good as this one has been.

And while I’ve praised Easton’s writing, let me give an equal shout-out to Mr. Harris who does just as good a job on the artwork. As much as I’ve enjoyed the regular creative team of Bollers and Rick Leonardi I would also be very happy to see some future Watson and Holmes stories from the duo of Easton and Harris. Chacebook rating: FIVE STARS

For some unexplained reason, as of this writing, Watson And Holmes #6 is not available on Comixology like the first 5 issues are, but it is available for your kindle, iPad, or other tablet via Amazon. Otherwise you’ll have to join the other luddites and go to an actual comic-book store to pick up a print copy.

UPDATE: Now also on Comixology