Ruse is the second title to be released by Marvel’s recently resurrected CrossGen publishing. It is a miniseries about the world’s greatest detective, and his partner/assistant and how they solve the crimes that plague the streets of England.
The first thing that is noticeable about this series is that it is strangely familiar, as if a series that chronicles the events of a great detective and his partner already existed. Does Sherlock Holmes ring a bell? Ruse is highly unoriginal, and it is as if the creator of the series took almost every aspect of Holmes and created the character Simon Archard.
Mark Waid, whom is known for his work on The Flash and Irredeemable, writes the story. The story is by no means badly written, it has great dialogue and the mysteries are interesting, but they are all aspects that you would expect to see in an interesting story of a detective, and Archard’s spot on detective work noticing the unnoticeable is a distinct trait of Sherlock Holmes, which is a fan favorite. So it is not surprising that the story is good.
The art is done by Mirco Pierfederici, who has done a number of projects for Marvel here in there, mostly covers, on titles such as Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants, and Spider-Man. The art is very smooth, not very many lines, and is not very impressive. It is very character centralized, and there is never much background in the frames, but when there is background, it is very detailed and much better than his portrayal of the characters in the book.
Ruse is a highly unoriginal. It has an unoriginal story, and unimpressive art. After reading CrossGen’s Sigil, there were hopes that this series would be fun as well, and to learn that it is just a sad copy of something that has already been done almost identically is depressing in itself. If you are a fan of Sherlock Holmes and want to read a Holmes story with a different character, then by all means this book is for you. But if I could give a suggestion, just stick with Holmes.
2 out of 10
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