Going into this, I had no idea what the story would be.
It's dark. It's a twist on the Moriarty legends like you've never seen. It's Black Butler meets Sherlock.

Moriarty, or I should say William, checks all the classic Moriarty boxes. He's clever beyond normalcy. He's highly intelligent for a young child and man. He's got a cruel streak a mile wide. His idea of justice is insanely skewed. He's one of those people that thinks liberation comes in death, blackmail, and poison. He's perfect.

The story in this beautifully builds up William's character, showing you EXACTLY what type of person he is. I wish we got to see more of his brothers, but I guess that'll happen in the later volumes (I hope). I also can't wait to see how Sherlock gets introduced, if he does at all.

Right now, Moriarty's character isn't super complex or nuanced, but he's dark and will justify anything if it means it fits his world view, and that makes him interesting.

Moriarty the Patriot is the story of Sherlock's biggest nemesis, how he became the villain most people have seen from adaptations. Personally, I'm a huge Sherlock story fan. From Benedict Cumberbatch's portrayal even down to Basil the Great Mouse Detective. So when I saw this was going to be released I couldn't help but be excited for it.

The first volume is *just* three chapters but these are very long. The first chapter shows an extremely young Moriarty, living with a noble family although he himself is an orphan. It's set around a time of nobles being treated as having more worth than anyone else and that unkindness is seen multiple times, including in one situation when Moriarty is whipped for no reason. Naturally, he wants to change the world and as it happens he's already a genius with many things.

The heir to the noble house, Albert, is likewise disgusted at the way that the world is and wants to change it; so him, Moriarty and the other boy the family took in decide to start making the world a better place... starting with killing Albert's parents and younger brother. With Moriarty's advice, they make it look like the house just burned down due to an accident and chapter one ends with them all claiming to be the last of the Moriarty noble family.

After the first chapter, we get a time skip ahead to when Moriarty is 21, and he's already a professor in England's third established university by then (Durham). The family's intentions are still to make the world a "good" place, but their actions are just as twisted as before.

Moriarty is basically an anti-hero throughout the story. He helps the common people by giving as much advice as he can but helps them even more by attacking the rich and noble. I found it to be a great take on him as he's still very much doing villainous things but... it's for the greater good.

I'm really excited to see where the story takes us, and I think that this is one of those manga that you're best jumping into now when it's fresh because, even though there's only the three chapters, there's so much happening in them. He shows how cunning he is and it's easy to see how he could become a formidable opponent to Sherlock on the other side.

So, yep, check this out if you're into Sherlock especially. You'll probably love it as much as I did.

Will be updating this with a link in a couple of days :)