About
Welcome
Welcome! This comic is a direct adapatation based on the Raffles stories originally published from 1898 to 1909. My main goal is to rewrite specifically the novel, but I feel like it's stronger with context so we're starting at the start with The Ides of March!
The Comic
“His own eyes were radiant with light and life, though he could not have closed them since his arrival at Charing Cross the night before. But midnight was his hour. Raffles was at his best when the stars of the firmament are at theirs; not at Lord’s in the light of day, but at dead of night in the historic chambers to which we now repaired.” —Mr. Justice Raffles, 1909
Bunny Manders has nothing left to lose, a revolver in his pocket, and a gambling debt to settle. If paying with his life is not an option, what will A.J. Raffles ask of him? The fact is that it does not matter what Raffles will ask; Bunny will reluctantly be the man for the job. In a previous life, the two boys were schoolmates — but as gentlemen about town, they must join felonious forces in order to maintain their Mayfair lifestyles and Raffles’ public image. There’s nothing very terrible in it, you see.
The Originals
If you've somehow found this without already being familiar with Raffles, you're in luck! My intention is for this comic to be completely accessible to new readers, but Hornung's original stories are absolutely worth the read, and they're all public domain so there's plenty of great resources to read them for free online. I can particularly reccomend Raffles Redux as an excellent annotated collection.
It's worth noting that, because of the genre and era of these stories, there are some content warnings that will often apply to the comic as well. A more detailed list of story specific warnings has been compiled by the Letters from Bunny substack community and is available here but may contain some spoilers.
The most prevalent warnings to look out for in this comic will be:
alcohol / tobacco / genre-typical violence and crime / suicide themes
The Artist
Website / Art Tumblr / Main Tumblr / Art Instagram
Halloa! I'm Arthur, I started reading Raffles last year after finding them through Sherlock Holmes and at the same time I was reading a lot about queer history in Victorian and Edwardian London. I kept thinking about what a modern tv adaptation might look like that had the opportunity to really embrace the subtext (and often outright text- if you recognise the signifiers) and eventually realised... hey I could do that.
If you like this comic, have any questions or comments, or just wanna chat, come say hi on my tumblr where I am often posting non-comic fanart and yelling about Raffles, Holmes, or Doctor Who.