DCI Harker and DS Critchley are the proverbial chalk and cheese of police.
    Harker is a gruff and shop-soiled individual with a keen eye for detail and a
    most cynical tongue. His bald bold aide, meanwhile, is something of
    a ladies man who sports a natty line in slick black suits and a quip for
    every occasion.

    In their first full-length assignment - "The Key of Solomon", published
    by Ariel Press - Harker and Critchley investigate an horrific ritual killing
    close to the British Museum, in London. The six-issue path of deduction
    leads them to an Occult group with sex and death on their minds...

    It would spoil things to go into any more detail, but suffice it to say, this first
    story arc is a rollicking, riveting read. Danks' architectural panels are almost 
    photographic in detail, and it's married beautifully to Gibson's dialogue, which
    is pinprick sharp. Harker and Critchley seem to have sprung into action
    fully-formed. They're not comic cyphers. They're a living, breathing detective 
    duo who might well have stepped straight out of an ITV drama. DCI Harker takes
    his cue from Jack Frost, or Lieutenant Columbo, though he's still very much
    his own man, with his own particular "look" - a creased grey linen jacket,
    and converse-style trainers. He's forty-plus, he's been around the block
    enough to have had his enthusiasm for life eroded to cynicism, but his
    attire suggests he's still clutching at his youth. He hasn't lost his zest for
    life quite yet, despite his greying temples... Oh, can you see?... You can
    get all that detail about the character, just from his appearance. That's why
    this comic is a winner. It takes itself seriously. And it's clear that the environs
    of each scene have been researched and documented just as meticulously
    by the strip's creators. It feels like you're there, on the case, with our heroes,
    which certainly helps to ratchets up the tension in the subterranean denouement
    of this first case. Harker and Critchley are off to Whitby next, and Roger and
    Vince have already visited the place to take copious notes and photographs.

    Gibson and Danks are actually old pros on the comics and small press scene
    (see their bios here and here). In 1997, Vince Danks set up his self-publishing
    venture, Ariel Press in order to bring us "Sapphire", and latterly, an anthology
    called "Raven". Both of these projects explored the notion of creating a cracking
    Saturday night tv show in comic form, but Danks himself says that for a
    variety of reasons, the finished articles never quite gelled.

    But Harker works brilliantly.

    The comic was born out of a discussion at the Birmingham Comic Expo, in 2008.
    Vince had shown particular interest in a quirky detective character called Griffin
    that Roger had created for the "Raven" anthology, a decade earlier. Griffin swiftly
    became Harker and he and DS Critchley were presented to the market via a
    special preview - Issue Zero - before the comic launched officially as an
    ongoing monthly, in April 2009.

    Gibson and Danks certainly aren't letting the grass grow beneath them.
    "The Key of Solomon" is about to be compiled into a standalone graphic
    novel. There's also the first in a proposed series of self-published Harker
    novels, written by Roger. "The Murder Club" takes place in Mayfair, in
    between the duo's first two comic book cases. And, of course, these
    publications sit alongside those exciting monthly issues.

    The quality of "Harker" completely defies its Small Press label. This is a most
    sophisticated and professional endeavour, and one that well deserves to break
    out into mainstream success... and a Harker TV series would go down a
    treat, too!

 

    Harker for sale!
    
    

    » Purchase your copy(s) of Harker direct from Ariel Press! 

 

    Harker's growing casebook

   Book One: The Key of Solomon
   Six monthly issues -April-September 2009

   Book Two: Murder By the Book
   Six monthly issues - from September 2009

    +

   The Murder Club
   a Harker novel by Roger Gibson - September 2009

 

     On the web
       

     Ariel Press
     The official site for all things Harker, with extra info, a regular
     blog and - most importantly - comics and books to purchase
     or download...

 
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