"Now that we are relieved of that consequence of the rise of feminism, we can gather some information about that dear Professor Richardson ..."
In the story "Le démon de Whitechapel", the first issue of the Harry Dickson series, two scientists accidentally liberate a centuries-old demon. If this demon sows death and destruction in London's Whitechapel, it is up to private detective Harry Dickson to capture him. A difficult female journalist appears to be more useful than Dickson had initially thought. I forgive him for the remark quoted above, because most men in the early 1930s, in which this story is set, still had to get used to the idea that women could also do something different than the household and have children.
I am not very impressed with the story. It is entertaining, but that’s all that can be said about it. Although I think a good story is one of the most important elements in a comic, there are other reasons why I collect certain comics.
The era in which the story takes place, for example. I have always been fascinated by everything that has to do with the first 35 years of the last century. There is a good chance that I will buy a comic that is unknown to me if I see an old automobile, a double-decker plane, a lady with a Louise Brooks bob or a man with a Fedora when browsing through the comic. And since Olivier Roman's drawing is fine, I have nothing to complain about in that regard.
But there are other things that make this comic fun for me. The position of the woman was changing drastically during that time. During the First World War, women had proven that they were perfectly able to take over the work of men and many of them didn’t want to go back to the kitchen anymore. The first, and certainly not the least important, success of these feminists was the acquisition of voting rights for women. But although I take human rights and the democratic process very seriously, I did have to chuckle at Dickson's remark about those troublesome feminists. What would he have said if he knew that Britain would someday be ruled by a woman?
I also like the many references to both historical events and other detective fiction.
For example, reference is made to Jack the Ripper who murdered and maimed a number of prostitutes in London in 1888. One of those victims was Annie Chapman who was murdered in Whitechapel. The first victim of the demon from "The Demon of Whitechapel" is called Anna Chapman.
Reference is made to explorer Robert Falcon Scott who embarked on an expedition to the South Pole in 1910 and died there in 1912. He was very popular with people and after his death he became a hero. In 1948 the film "Scott of the Antarctic", with John Mills in the title role, was made about this expedition.
The title page says "Harry Dickson The American Sherlock Holmes" and this famous detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is also referred to several times. For example, Dickson lives on 221B Baker Street. The address where Sherlock Holmes also lived. Remarkably, Mrs. Hudson has never died or moved since the time of Sherlock Holmes because she is still the landlady of 221B Baker Street. Well it’s possible I suppose. If in 1887, when she first appeared in a Sherlock Holmes story, she was 30 years old and this Harry Dickson story is set in 1932, she would be 75 in this story. But it looks like she must have used a whole load of botox though.
There are more fun references in this album.
Although it is stated on the cover of this album that this is the first Harry Dickson story, it actually turns out to be story number 4. It is the first Harry Dickson comic that was published by the Talent publishing company. And to be more precise, this is the 180th Harry Dickson story. In 1907 the German publishing company Verlagshaus für Volksliteratur und Kunst started with the dime-novel series "Detektiv Sherlock Holmes und seine weltberühmten Abenteuer". Because the publishing company expected problems with copyrights, the series was later renamed "Harry Dickson of the American Sherlock Holmes". The name Harry Dickson comes from Harry Taxon, who replaced Watson in the German Sherlock Holmes, and the Australian detective Allan Dickson, a creation by Arnould Galopin.
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes' equivalent would appear in nearly 200 pulp magazines in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. In France, the series even became so popular that it could compete with that of Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupine.
In 1986, Dargaud started publishing adaptations of this pulp detective stories. And in 1992 publisher Soleil started a new Harry Dickson series with brand new stories. This is the reason why two different Harry Dickson comic series are released. Also, not all comics are translated into Dutch and therefore the numbering of the Dutch-language albums differs from that of the French ones. Yes it does not make the collecting of this series any easier. For those who still dare, a new Harry Dickson comic was published last year; "The gold of Malacca". Story 13 according to the catalog, but I dare not say this for sure anymore.
