Houdini and Lovecraft... What could be more fun than a book with both of them? (Necronauts - Gordon Rennie)

Member Name: daemonicragnorak

Product:	Necronauts - Gordon Rennie
Date:	21/04/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Artwork is outstanding

Disadvantages: Over too quick

There aren't many graphic novels that I would be happy to buy off amazon for £6 for just 64 pages of material, yet I happily paid more for this one.

A couple of years back, while in a less than local Waterstones, I was searching through the graphic novel section to read for an hour or so while I waited for my train. During the search I kept coming across the mainstream Marvel books (I do wonder how they can still spin out wafer thin plot-lines for their golden heroes) and all the DC books I've read a thousand times already.

I was about to give up and go find a newspaper to read instead when I stumbled across a little black book that for some particular reason caught my eye. There was no reason for it to as the cover is less 'epic' than the marvel ones, indeed there was nothing special about it, yet I picked it up and read through it on the Waterstone's sofas.

Inside I found a twisted world that had been captured perfectly by Frazer Irvine, along with a storyline that is unlike ones you'll find in your run-of-the-mill graphic novels.

It starts of with Houdini going through a near-death experience while practicing for a new trick; while having this experience he awakens the Sleepers (mysterious followers of the dark forces) and they begin to hunt Houdini.

Alongside Houdini, star H. P. Lovecraft, Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Fort, but do these four historical celebrities have what it takes to avert the impending disaster? Is there a traitor in their midst and is one of them fated to die? The answers lie inside this book along with a very brief cameo from Edgar Allan Poe.

The artwork is probably the best black and white comic artwork I have ever come across, which helps add depth the the darkness and mayhem of this book.

Not having enough money I didn't buy this book when I read it; which turned out to be a mistake as until recently it had become almost impossible to find, so when I found it selling for over £10 I brought it anyway.

It is really that good worth over £10 despite being 64 pages in length.

Summary: Brilliantly written book, well worth a read, even if you're just a fan of Lovecraft