The Witches of World War II
It’s been a while since I’ve read anything from Paul Cornell, a writer whose work I’ve enjoyed after successful runs on “Captain Britain and MI-13,” “Wolverine,” and “Action Comics.” His latest project has nothing to do with superheroes and everything to do with witches, warlocks, and other con artists in WWII. “The Witches of World War II” takes a number of real-life characters and fictionalizes certain aspects of their characters to create an entertaining bit of historical fiction involving one Doreen Dominy, a researcher of folk tales working out of Bletchly Park during the war, who is recruited to form a team of like-minded spiritualists to take advantage of the Nazis’ interest in the supernatural. Her first recruit: None other than Aleister Crowley himself.
While Doreen is a capable enough protagonist and her subsequent recruits are all interesting windows into their own brands of spirituality, Crowley steals the show from them here. The self-described most wicked man alive is a genuine troll and patron of chaos who delights at exposing hypocrisy and playing others to his advantage. His loyalty is always in question to others, even if it comes off to the reader that he’s being a good guy in the most dickish way possible. He’s not the main focus of the story, but as Crowley is in such a large part of it your enjoyment of it may hinge on whether or not you’re able to enjoy his presence.
The rest of the story is a solid bit of craft as the main cast try to work their way into the Nazis’ good graces while giving them as little as possible. This results in a fun battle of wits that takes some interesting turns over the course of the story. Which is illustrated by one Valeria Burzo in capable fashion. Her storytelling is clear and easy to follow, with plenty of expressive characters, yet also lacking in the kind of style that would really elevate things. So while it’s good to read a new comic written by Cornell, I’m still left remembering how much more I enjoyed his superhero work.