Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla: History in the Making

By John Reilly, Tom Rogers, and Dexter Weeks (cover by Jack Cioli)

Action Lab

96 pages

Solicitation: “While searching for Amelia Earhart, famed inventor Nikola Tesla is forced to work with reclusive horror writer HP Lovecraft as they race against a conspiracy of Cthulhu cultists for an extant copy of the original Necronomicon!”

The roaring 20’s. An eccentric inventor. A quirky writer. All the elements of a 1990’s Saturday-morning cartoon blend into the fictional account of historical figures entwined in an adventure of epic proportions.

Herald: Lovecraft and Tesla blends science and magic, history and lore to bring the reader an exciting tale about the disappearance of Nikola Tesla’s new fiancee’, Amelia Earhart. Tesla’s world is coming apart as he is fired by Thomas Edison and bullied by his goons, so he sets out to find out how he can rescue his love from an interdimensional rift. After a series of fortunate events, Dr. Tesla [as he likes to be called] turns to none other than HP Lovecraft, a friend of Harry Houdini [who, it is implied, may not be human]) and famous writer of weird horror.

The twosome come to the realization that only the Necronomicon holds the secret to rescuing Amelia, and they set out to find it at any cost.

The unique and grandiose nature of all the characters in this story feels like a role-playng game [and the story was actually turned into one], with nutty professors, weird, but likeable monsters, mysterious old ladies with mystical abilities, magic, technology, and evil cults.

The book doesn’t for a minute take itself seriously, setting HP Lovecraft’s college professor as a forgetful, moody spoof; The bad guys as self-aware exaggerations and stereotypes; and events that are so outrageous they seem straight out of a Monty Python skit [a Mi-go so dastardly that it dares to shatter Lovecraft’s Remington typewriter against the floor]).

The art is very cartoon-like, and the dialogue is less than serious, making for light reading purely for a quick escape from the everyday. This first volume only compiles the first three issues of the comic book, so it doesn’t really encompass a complete story arc [unlike most trade paperbacks], so it leaves the reader in limbo [or some other Lovecraftian dimension])wondering what has happened.

There are many loose ends and the conclusion is not satisfactory, making it seem like a money grab for the reader to have to buy the second volume. Despite this, the story was quite enjoyable and filled my lunch break with some entertainment that kept my mind off work for a while. Despite its shortcomings, I give this book a 4 out of 5.