The Witches of World War II

This entertaining comics faux history from Cornell (the Doctor Who comic series) and Burzo (the Castle Full of Blackbirds series) posits a hidden war of WWII: British witches versus Hitler. English Wiccan Doreen Dominy is tasked by the British government to undermine Nazi intelligence and gathers a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen–style team, including Gerald Gardner, founder of 20th-century Wicca; Prince Rollo Ahmed, who claims to be from Atlantis in his previous life; Dion Fortune, cofounder of the cabalist Fraternity of the Inner Light; and the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley. The imagined “hidden lives” of these real figures has them posing as a traitorous magicians’ resistance to England, instituting an elaborate con game against the Nazis. It all unwinds like a mystical-tinged heist thriller. A faked assassination attempt against Churchill by magical weapon, a dangerous journey into Germany, and a test of death against the Holy Grail leads to the team’s ultimate target: capturing “deputy Führer” Rudolf Hess. Cornell builds eerie adventure and chapter-end cliffhangers into a packed script, with moody art by Burzo that conjures a shadow world halfway between history and horror. For fans of Hellboy and Sandman who also dig wartime period pieces, this one’s spine-tingling fun. (Mar.)