Book Review: Sherlock Holmes vs. Harry Houdini

Book: Sherlock Holmes vs. Harry Houdini (issues #1-5) by Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, with illustrations by Carlos Furuzono, color by Aikau Oliva and letters by Rob Steen

Cover Art by John Cassady

Edition: Single Print Issues


Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Despite the feeling that more attention was focused on Harry Houdini that doesn't take away from this being a good read. The mystery in this story surrounds Harry Houdini who seemed to have angered the mystics and one in particular is threating to destroy him.

When the story opens the legendary magician Harry Houdini was putting on a small show at Scotland Yard to demonstrate his inability to be imprisoned. It's also where he had the misfortune of meeting Sherlock Holmes who at the time was imprisoned himself. However, that didn't stop him from deducing or telling the secrets of one of Houdini's acts.

At that moment is when the mystic decided to denounce Houdini's skepticism towards the unknown and issued a threat that someone will die on stage at the magician's show that night. Not one to be dissuaded, Houdini would not cancel his show, he even invited Holmes to attend to see if he could figure out any more of his acts.

The mystic didn't disappoint because there was indeed a most tragic death on stage causing a panic from the audience. With more tragedies in store for the magician, can Holmes and Houdini figure out who is behind everything before it's too late?

I love the concept of these two figures meeting then subsequently trying to solve a deadly mystery. I thought the writing was good but as I stated above, Houdini got center stage in this miniseries. Perhaps the title for this should have been Harry Houdini featuring Sherlock Holmes due to the uneven treatment. Even Dr. John Watson was treated as a supporting character with limited scenes.

And with Sherlock not at his best, he was suffering from being under the influence of a new drug he found, it caused him to be off his intellectual game. The drug was a tea like brew that gives the drinker hallucinations and he seems to have become dependent on it. It was shown off and on throughout with him wrestling his demons to get his extraordinary sharp mind back to where it should be.

Harry Houdini wasn't shown without his many faults including his ego and arrogance making it possible for the mystic to continue to strike and put others in danger.

This miniseries is an interesting mix of mystery and "magic" as Holmes and Houdini try to match skill and intellect to solve the crime. Of course the clashing of their personalities doesn't necessarily make it easy to develop a sense of camaraderie. But one doesn't have to like someone to learn to work with them.

Before this review becomes any longer than it should be, I will close by saying I loved reading this. There is a lot of action and adventure and drama and suspense with an interesting mystery. Oh and love the artwork, great use of color and shading.

Okay, it's official, I've had it with finding all these good books. Can someone please pinpoint me to a few books that absolutely no one seemed to like? I just need to find a truly terrible book, something so bad that it made you never want to read it again. So please, feel free tell me all about them. I will be most appreciative.