The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

The short stories in this volume are all over the place.  Some happen while Holmes and Watson are living at Baker Street, some happen while Watson has left to live with his wide, some even happen before Watson ever met Sherlock Holmes.  I think that Conan Doyle is trying to build a narrative, a description of Holmes that Watson has conceived, but I'm not sure. 

The final story is supposed to be the final story.  I get the feeling that Conan Doyle was just tired of writing about this one detective.  I've seen the climatic battle between Holmes and Moriarty portrayed before but the reading was anticlimactic.  The end begins with Watson receiving a completely bogus medical emergency.  I can see it's bogus, Holmes can see it's bogus but apparently Watson didn't get the message.  When he returns he cannot find his friend.  So he pulls a Prince Humperdink and is able to reenact the entire battle between the two foes.  All that's left is for him to read the three page letter that Holmes left him.  It seems that Moriarty is a gentleman and lent Holmes pen and paper to let him friend know what befell him.

I've read that (since there are more volumes after this one) that Conan Doyle had to (eventually) write how Holmes faked his death.  If it involves the whole thing being a scam by Holmes I would not be surprise.  No one but him sees Moriarty the whole story so his greatest villain may be a figment of his imagination.  The whole flight across the continent a ruse for Watson.  Maybe Sherlock Holmes really is a giant dick.

Naruto Volume 39: On the Move

Both Naruto and Sasuke have stalkers, but Sasuke's is much creepier.  In fact, Sasuke's whole team is much creepier than Naruto's.

I like the thinking in this one.  Looking for Itachi to find Sasuke is a good idea.  I don't know what they'll do once they find Sasuke.

Naruto Volume 38: Practice Makes Perfect

Naruto's really shaping up into a ninja.  He doesn't let failure grind him down (which he's never had a problem with) but now he's also able to learn from his mistakes.  Something he wasn't really doing before.

Sasuke, on the other hand, is heading down the dark path.  I don't know how much of it is him and how much of it is the curse mark.  I know these two will come head-on against each other eventually and it's not going to be pretty.

Black Butler Volume VI

Ciel seems to be losing control of Sebastian.  The butler will still do as he orders but the demon is also making it more uncomfortable to give those orders.  I wonder if there's some morality play at work here as well.  One where Sebastian is trying to teach Ciel to become more independent.  Or, more likely, he's just a demon taking advantage of any loopholes he can find.

Justice League of America: Dark Things

I'm not as up on my Justice Society of America things as I should be to really follow this volume.  In fact, I didn't realise it was a cross over until about halfway through when I was wondering why everything started repeating itself.  Dick continues to build his Justice League to include a speedster (Jesse Quick) and a Green Lantern (Jade) and I like the way he views things but I was a little lost on the history here.