Steampunk Terrorism Clear and Present Danger in Latest Newbury and Hobbes Adventure from Titan

Sir Maurice Newbury and Veronica Hobbes are special agents to the Queen who specialize in the outre. Their world may seem to be another steampunk genre adventure, but it is much, much more than that. It's as though the best Victorian-era Doctor Who episodes were used as the backdrop for the forerunners of Jonathan Steed and Emma Peel.

Our saga opens with Sir Maurice and Miss Hobbes in a street brawl, battling masked cultists. But these are no mere anarchists, for behind their masks lies a gruesome discover -- they are a mesh of man and machine, operated on by some mad genius who has advanced science and stunted ethics.

Before our heroes can report on their status, however, they are called to the home of an old friend of Maurice's, where a cadaver has been found in a submerged hansom. The body is human, but in name only as it is monstrous in size and deformity, its skeleton replaced with brass and its body enhanced in other fashions. They've seen this before--the work of Dr. Aubrey Knox, who nearly killed them in the past, and who tortured Veronica when he held her captive.

This collected volume continues at a breakneck pace, revealing to the readers all the questionable political intrigue of a (pneumatic) Queen Victoria, as well as Knox's ultimate goal and how it relates to the skull-faced cultists plaguing England. Knox's grotesque and inhuman efforts terrorize the public, as he turns people into weapons of mass destruction. And if Newbury and Hobbes don't stop him in time, it could also cost them the life of someone close to them.

George Mann and Dan Boultwood serve up a very welcome tale of bizarre science and ever-so-proper heroism that is a delightful diversion from the standard graphic novel fare.