MINKY WOODCOCK: THE GIRL CALLED CTHULHU#1/ Script and Art by CYNTHIA VON BUHLER/ Letters by JIM CAMPBELL/ Published by TITAN COMICS

Minky Woodcock is no stranger to the strange. As a former assistant to Harry Houdini and private investigator, she’s encountered more than her share of kooks and creeps. Yet the previous week has brought her into contact with two equally and notably infamous figures.

The first, author H.P. Lovecraft, seeks her help in trying to persuade Houdini’s widow to allow the publication of a story Lovecraft wrote for the famed escapologist. The second is Aleister Crowley, the famed occultist and a former colleague of her detective father, who wants help investigating the woman ruining his reputation with wild claims about his magic rituals. Minky is more willing to help with the latter case than the former, but soon seems to find a link between Lovecraft’s weird tales and Mister Crowley.

If nothing else, the Minky Woodcock novels are educational. Most historical fiction writers would not dare draw a connection between Houdini, Lovecraft, and Crowley. One or two, perhaps, but not all three! And yet Lovecraft did write a story with Harry Houdini’s input. And Aleister Crowley did take a stab at writing detective fiction before he became “the wickedest man in the world.”

The inclusion of such strange but true facts speaks to the level of craft that Cynthia von Buhler puts into her prose and her world-building. The same eye for detail can be found in her artwork. Pure pulp magic just about describes it, putting me in mind of the finest art deco aesthetic this side of a Tony Harris print.

The only flaw with The Girl Called Cthulhu is that it doesn’t quite stand on its own. Familiarity with the earlier books in the series so far is preferable to coming into this one blind. That being said, this is another fine entry from the Hard Case Crime imprint sure to please fans of horror, historical fiction, and Noir in equal measure.

Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu #1 arrives in comics shops on October 16, 2024.