Talking The New Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders Story

Empire Building

Tripwire’s consulting editor Scott Braden delves deeper into the world of Sherlock Holmes and The Empire Builders, with its second appearance taking place in the brand new Tripwire print magazine currently funding on indiegogo now…

“[Joel Meadows and Andy Bennett’s Sherlock Holmes: The Empire Builders] looks at how history could have taken a different turn for the real world using an iconic fictional figure,” explained writer Joel Meadows from his London home. In the feature below, we examine the clues he left us readers to discover this brave new world of alternate realities and deadly games. And, of course, the game is afoot!

With that, what is the secret origin of your Sherlock Holmes story? How does it liken to Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories of the past? How is it a postmodern epic all its own? 

The genesis of this story goes back to the late ‘90s. I have always been a fan of Doyle and Holmes but I also enjoy alternate world stories. The film Young Sherlock Holmes by Barry Levinson and produced by Steven Spielberg always stayed with me. So, I started thinking about a story that could tell the tale of an older Holmes, in a world he doesn’t understand, stripped of many of his skills. Also, he has to do without the companionship of his right hand man Watson, a situation that leaves him rudderless. It does tie in a little with Doyle’s stories but I admit my knowledge of his stories does have a few gaps. It is an ambitious sci-fi epic because it brings real historical figures like the tale’s main antagonist Oswald Mosley, a real-life British fascist, and Francis Crick, the scientist who unravelled the DNA helix with his partner James Watson in our actual history into the tale. So, by weaving real history with fictional figures like Holmes and Watson hopefully that makes for a compelling setting. 

Like in last year’s print mag, this is another preview – but the stakes have risen. What made you decide to offer readers and your growing fan base the excellent action and suspense found in “Prey.” 

I really enjoyed writing “The House That Crime Built” in the last print magazine, but I wanted to tell a totally different kind of story here. “Prey” is a far more action-motivated story which gives artist Andy Bennett the opportunity to really show off his artistic chops here. It is a chase story but includes enough that it teases the reader and makes them want to read more adventures set in this world. 

There is talk that a number of companies have shown interest in your work. What can you tell us on the aspect of the upcoming series? 

The upcoming series tells the story of how Oswald Mosley comes to power, how Holmes tries to find his position in this new world and how the pair are brought into conflict through a series of dramatic events. We are introduced to Gurkha Agent Six in “Prey” and he shall be playing a major role in the full series to come. 

When the book makes its debut next year, is it an ongoing or limited series? 

It will be a limited series of around six issues and hopefully it will also be reprinted as a hardcover after it appears as a series of monthly comics. 

We have seen two amazing moments into your series. Where are you going to take us next? 

People will just have to wait and see where we take Holmes and co. I have built in a few shocks into the main story which I don’t want to spoil for the reader. I really wanted to try and subvert what is such a well-established and familiar fictional character. 

Have you plotted out the first arc yet, or are you just as surprised what we’ve seen as we are? 

I have plotted the first six issue series yet as I thought it was important to know where we are heading with this. 

What’s the endgame? 

If the first series does well, then I have already considered future stories featuring some of Doyle’s other Holmes characters, including adversary sniper Sebastian Moran who I think would be perfect for a second story arc. But let’s just get the first story under our belt first and see where we go from there.

The second Sherlock Holmes And The Empire Builders story, Prey, written by Joel Meadows and drawn by Andy Bennett, is appearing in the new Tripwire winter special 2021, currently funding on indiegogo now

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tripwire-winter-2021-print-special/x/252284#/