Victorian Undead - 5 + 6 - the Conclusion
Mar. 8th, 2014 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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scans_dailyPrevious part here,
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4651299.html
As the undead hoarde continues to grow within the area of London north of the Thames, Moriarty takes up residence in Buckingham Palace just as the Queen and the surviving members of the British government gather up river at Windsor Castle.
Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister, asks Holmes for his assessment of Moriarty.
Back in London, things aren't going so well. Yes, despite the advanced weaponry and tactics designed solely with how to deal with a zombie uprising in Central London... they find their tactics were based on the idea that they'd be mindless drones, not zombies controlled by a mad genius with, as we'll soon see, previous knowledge of the British government's zombie plans. Leading to them doing things like, for example, walking along the bottom of the Thames and attacking the flanks of the soldier's trying to defend the bridges.
Later, Holmes has managed to get a rough idea where Moriarty's base was from some mud scraped from Moran's boot, and a flustered Mycroft comes in to say that, yes, they'll use Sherlock's idea of burning London to the ground to contain the zombies... but they won't be sending anyone in to make sure Moriarty's dead first.
This naturally annoys Sherlock, as Mycroft knew that it would, so he has an alternative plan. He'll be with the soldier's who'll incinerate the city, BUT they'll try to wait until Holmes signals where Moriarty is hiding first. If they don't get a signal in a certain amount of time, they'll just have to burn the place and hope for the best.
Holmes and a justly terrified Watson head into London via boat, to Moriarty's lair, which has an astronomical name. Heh.
Next issue, and Holmes quickly works out that the oddly non-mouldy Moriarty is in fact a robot, a more advanced model than the one he'd earlier used to steal the government plans from the Minister and attempted to strangle Holmes for good measure. Yes, it seems that the Minister had a taste for the ladies, but since Moriarty couldn't risk the "civil unrest" plans he'd been in charge of being changed if he obtained them by outright theft or blackmail, he lured him in with women and a charming robotic pimp persona so he could hypnotise him into handing the plans over without knowing that he'd done so...
...Yes, even taking into account that Moriarty wanted to limit the amount of people who'd know about, and thus warn, people about his zombie apocalyse scheme, that seems a touch... circuitous. Particularly since the Minister, being very methodical in his nature, almost immediately discovered the plans weren't in his safe anymore, and hired Holmes to see where they'd disappeared to.
Moriarty admits that although he's impressed that Holmes managed to work out that part of the scheme, it doesn't really make any difference. As since he's, well, a genius, he's not going to be so stupid as to face Holmes in person and risk his plans going wrong, hence the remote controlled robot persona of himself. He then effectively says that he's king of the universe and God, and that he's going to remake the world in his image, before setting some zombies on them.
Despite this Holmes and Watson manage to escape, and work out from the part of his Villain Speech about being Eternal Monarch of the Dead that Moriarty must be in hidden in Buckingham Palace. The heroes head there via a secret underground platform beneath the palace, and the endgame begins as warships begin shelling the buildings along the Thames...
"It's your epitaph he's composing!" And while Moriarty has been distracted by Holmes, Watson signals the army where they are with a flare, so they can focus the damage.
Watson shows up, but before Holmes could find where Moriarty's head rolled off to, they have to flee as the palace is falling down around their ears. They manage to get to Mycroft's airship (yes, the anti-zombie arms race inspired the British government to make airships a good decade or so earlier than our world) and away to safety.
And thus the day is saved, kind of. Thousands of people are still dead, and London is in ruins. Despite this though, barely three months after the last of the zombies are destroyed, rebuilding commences, and a new metropolis arises from the ashes of the old one.
And, yes, this is a second Victorian Undead series, which involves Holmes being hired by an insurance firm to investigate a ship, the Demeter, washing up in Whitby harbour with none of the crew present...
I have to say I'm actually presently surprised by the reception these scans have gotten, considering when I posted the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes trailer several years ago, people were all in a huff about it being "incorrect".
The writer, Ian Edginton, also did the Scarlet Traces series' for Dark Horse, which despite also dealing with themes of "what if a disaster happened in England that somehow created the opportunity for science to advance faster" is a hell of a lot more bleak than Victorian Undead.
http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/4651299.html
As the undead hoarde continues to grow within the area of London north of the Thames, Moriarty takes up residence in Buckingham Palace just as the Queen and the surviving members of the British government gather up river at Windsor Castle.
Lord Bellinger, the Prime Minister, asks Holmes for his assessment of Moriarty.
Back in London, things aren't going so well. Yes, despite the advanced weaponry and tactics designed solely with how to deal with a zombie uprising in Central London... they find their tactics were based on the idea that they'd be mindless drones, not zombies controlled by a mad genius with, as we'll soon see, previous knowledge of the British government's zombie plans. Leading to them doing things like, for example, walking along the bottom of the Thames and attacking the flanks of the soldier's trying to defend the bridges.
Later, Holmes has managed to get a rough idea where Moriarty's base was from some mud scraped from Moran's boot, and a flustered Mycroft comes in to say that, yes, they'll use Sherlock's idea of burning London to the ground to contain the zombies... but they won't be sending anyone in to make sure Moriarty's dead first.
This naturally annoys Sherlock, as Mycroft knew that it would, so he has an alternative plan. He'll be with the soldier's who'll incinerate the city, BUT they'll try to wait until Holmes signals where Moriarty is hiding first. If they don't get a signal in a certain amount of time, they'll just have to burn the place and hope for the best.
Holmes and a justly terrified Watson head into London via boat, to Moriarty's lair, which has an astronomical name. Heh.
Next issue, and Holmes quickly works out that the oddly non-mouldy Moriarty is in fact a robot, a more advanced model than the one he'd earlier used to steal the government plans from the Minister and attempted to strangle Holmes for good measure. Yes, it seems that the Minister had a taste for the ladies, but since Moriarty couldn't risk the "civil unrest" plans he'd been in charge of being changed if he obtained them by outright theft or blackmail, he lured him in with women and a charming robotic pimp persona so he could hypnotise him into handing the plans over without knowing that he'd done so...
...Yes, even taking into account that Moriarty wanted to limit the amount of people who'd know about, and thus warn, people about his zombie apocalyse scheme, that seems a touch... circuitous. Particularly since the Minister, being very methodical in his nature, almost immediately discovered the plans weren't in his safe anymore, and hired Holmes to see where they'd disappeared to.
Moriarty admits that although he's impressed that Holmes managed to work out that part of the scheme, it doesn't really make any difference. As since he's, well, a genius, he's not going to be so stupid as to face Holmes in person and risk his plans going wrong, hence the remote controlled robot persona of himself. He then effectively says that he's king of the universe and God, and that he's going to remake the world in his image, before setting some zombies on them.
Despite this Holmes and Watson manage to escape, and work out from the part of his Villain Speech about being Eternal Monarch of the Dead that Moriarty must be in hidden in Buckingham Palace. The heroes head there via a secret underground platform beneath the palace, and the endgame begins as warships begin shelling the buildings along the Thames...
"It's your epitaph he's composing!" And while Moriarty has been distracted by Holmes, Watson signals the army where they are with a flare, so they can focus the damage.
Watson shows up, but before Holmes could find where Moriarty's head rolled off to, they have to flee as the palace is falling down around their ears. They manage to get to Mycroft's airship (yes, the anti-zombie arms race inspired the British government to make airships a good decade or so earlier than our world) and away to safety.
And thus the day is saved, kind of. Thousands of people are still dead, and London is in ruins. Despite this though, barely three months after the last of the zombies are destroyed, rebuilding commences, and a new metropolis arises from the ashes of the old one.
And, yes, this is a second Victorian Undead series, which involves Holmes being hired by an insurance firm to investigate a ship, the Demeter, washing up in Whitby harbour with none of the crew present...
I have to say I'm actually presently surprised by the reception these scans have gotten, considering when I posted the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes trailer several years ago, people were all in a huff about it being "incorrect".
The writer, Ian Edginton, also did the Scarlet Traces series' for Dark Horse, which despite also dealing with themes of "what if a disaster happened in England that somehow created the opportunity for science to advance faster" is a hell of a lot more bleak than Victorian Undead.
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Date: 2014-03-09 11:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2014-03-10 11:09 am (UTC)I sort of like the RDJ Sherlock, but only if I pretend that he's MCU Tony Stark who has somehow been transported back in time and has taken on the identity of Holmes...
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