Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3 Review

 

Writer, Artist, Colorist & Cover Artist: Cynthia Von Buhler

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Publisher: Titan Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: July 9, 2025

 

When Howard Lovecraft travels to the Providence Opera House on October 4, 1926, he gets an eyeful. He wants to confer with Harry Houdini on the book they are writing together. Instead, he finds Harry in flagrante delicto with the delectable Minky Woodcock.

 

Minky compliments Howard on the unpublished manuscript for his story, “The Call of Cthulhu,” which Harry had shared with her. But even after she wraps herself in a towel, Howard averts his gaze while speaking with her. How will this chance meeting affect Howard Lovecraft and Minky Woodcock? Let’s grab the latest issue of Weird Tales magazine, leap into Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3, and find out!

 

Story

Sadly, Harry Houdini died before the month was out. The following year, Howard Lovecraft writes to Minky Woodcock. Despite Minky's participation in Harry's unfaithfulness, Bess Houdini speaks highly of her. Howard asks Minky to approach the widow on his behalf. But before Minky can respond to Howard Lovecraft's plea about finishing The Cancer of Superstition, a man steeped in the supernatural bursts into her New York office.

 

The sign on the door may read Woodcock & Son, but Minky’s father is on a golfing trip, and her brother spends his days auditioning. In their absence, Minky runs the private detective agency. Although she doesn't know him, Aleister Crowley has a long association with Minky's family. He requests her aid in getting a guttersnipe off his back. A woman named Betty May is writing a tell-all memoir, and it doesn't paint Aleister in a positive light. The scandalous Tiger Woman is generating headlines by portraying Aleister as the wickedest man alive. He appeals to Minky to get the feisty tiger off his back.

 

In Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3, she investigates Aleister's claims. Minky also gets to know the man who inspired W. Somerset Maugham's 1908 novel The Magician and Rex Ingram's 1926 film. Aleister Crowley is a talented author who writes supernatural detective novels, poetry, and nonfiction. Yet, he is a scoundrel who also influences world-shaping events. Perhaps due to his occult ceremonies, Aleister enthralls people, and governments seek his aid.

 

While beginning her story in the 1920s, Cynthia Von Buhler advances the latter half to 1943. Once again, the world is marching toward war. On a trip to England, a friend requests Minky’s aid. Like Houdini, Howard Lovecraft has long since died. Yet, his memory lingers. While seeking to help her friend, Minky helps prevent the spread of the Third Reich. Ironically, for a woman who bonded with Howard Lovecraft over her fear of the sea, Minky Woodcock will become synonymous with one of his immortal creations in Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3.

 

Art 

Cynthia Von Buhler’s art portrays Minky and Houdini as uninhibited, in love with life, and cruelly parted by fate. Minky has a soft side, as revealed by her white rabbits, Agatha and Miss Marple. And when Crowley enters her office, she pulls away. Then Minky retakes her seat, smiles demurely, and allows the bald man Betty May paints as Dr Evil to treat her like a lady. Aleister Crowley doesn’t say, “Throw me a frickin bone here." Still, he convinces Minky to take his case.

 

The primary colors of red, blue, and yellow energize Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3. Buhler adds a touch of orange to enhance Minky's hair, wooden furniture, Betty May's cat and tiger costume, and Crowley's cravat. Yellow dominates as Crowley retells his history with Betty May and her husband Raoul at the Abbey of Thelema in Sicily. Green enters Minky's story when she meets Gladys. And that night, green tinges her dreams.

 

Block letters place readers in space and time. Music notes accompany song lyrics. Delicate black uppercase letters in dialogue balloons and narrative boxes relate Minky’s efforts to protect people from danger, uncover mysteries, and learn more about her late mother. Handwritten letters, typed correspondence, and sound effects accompany invocations and symbols drawn in blood. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a review copy.

 

Final Thoughts

Every man and woman is a star, whether well-known like the famous magician and writer Harry Houdini, the author and occultist Aleister Crowley, a globe-trotting Tiger Woman, or a British Intelligence officer with literary aspirations. Yet the star we most worry about flaming out is the stalwart and fearless private detective in Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HC Vol 3.

 

Rating 9/10

To look inside see my preview of Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu HCVol 3.