Dynamite‘s Sherlock Holmes Vs. Harry Houdini features two enduring characters that are famous representatives of the late Victorian era.  What is equally interesting about the series is that the characters share something in common only in reverse.  Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character that many think to be real, as evident by the fact that many people send questions to his mostly fictitious address of 221B Baker Street in London.  Equally Sherlock Holmes has faced off against a number of real life people in fiction, among them Jack the Ripper.  While it is the case that likely fewer people think of Houdini as a fictional character, despite having been a real-life historical character, he factors often into fictional works.  Without even getting to the first page of the issue, the savvy reader therefore would recognize this as an interesting mix of two characters with a similar though opposite affliction in common.

There are many different representations of Sherlock Holmes, and to this day new stories focused on the character continue to be written, long after Arthur Conan Doyle wrote his last story about the iconic detective.  One of the more dreary representations of Sherlock was the period in which he was under the influence of opium.  That was based in a time when opium was not as heavily regulated as it is now.  By itself this creates a strange setting for the series as for instance there are very few series with a modern setting that would set up one of the main characters as a heroin addict.  So too is the interplay between these characters a little strange, and almost forced.  The basic concept behind this series as far is based on two different ideas, that occultists are trying to force Houdini out of the business and that Sherlock Holmes is focusing on exposing Houdini’s escape as logical tricks.  The first of these will evidently form the main plot of the series, with the presumed eventual pairing together of Houdini and Sherlock, but it is the other aspect which is a bit hollow.  Instead of the escapes being well researched, Sherlock Holmes guessed at their resolution through a number of assumptions which may or may not be the case.  This aspect of the story thus ends up a bit dry and feeling a little forced.

While there are a couple of drawbacks to this story though, the magnetism of the two characters together is there, and while the story has maybe not been set up enough to truly do both of the titular characters justice, it still is not constrained enough to not let them be themselves.  The end result is engaging enough, especially as the two start to interact in a more realistic and organic way.  In the end the writers manage to get enough interest in the story to make me want to read more, even if the start was kind of rocky.

Story: Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery Art: Carlos Furuzono
Story: 7.2 Art: 6.5 Overall: 7.5 Recommendation: Read

Dynamite Entertainment provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review