Maritime Merriment for ‘The Girl Called Cthulhu’ by Bryan Reesman, The Aquarion

The talented Cynthia von Buhler loves throwing festive theme parties which vibe with her artistic world. The dynamic illustrator and painter recently held a celebration of her collected third Minky Woodcock detective series, The Girl Called Cthulhu, out now through Titan Books. Appropriately enough, the nocturnal soiree was held on a boat in NYC that served as a replication of Aleister Crowley’s aquatic vessel from the new tale....MORE.

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Photograph above by Kevin Vonesper.

​Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu (2025) by Cynthia von Buhler, Review, Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian Vein, The Undiscovered Mythos
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​In 2017, writer-artist Cynthia von Buhler introduced the world to Minky Woodcock, private detective, in a 4-issue series The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini, published under the Hard Case Crime imprint of Titan Comics. The series was a clever mix of hardboiled detective themes with historical characters, with the bisexual and extraordinarily intelligent and adaptable Minky Woodcock often ending up in dangerous situations and/or sans her clothes—but also finding or fighting her way out again. The series was followed up with a sequel, The Girl Who Electrified Tesla (2021), and then The Girl Called Cthulhu (2024), which was lettered by Jim Campbell.

​At its heart, Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu is a rather traditional detective/mystery story, tied up in a historical setting and with some added titillation thrown in. The depiction of H. P. Lovecraft and his wife Sonia are synthesized from various sources, notably The Private Life of H. P. Lovecraft (1985) by Sonia H. Davis, but aren’t particularly cruel or inaccurate given the needs of the story. Buhler flaunts her artistic homages, such as Hokusai’s “Diver and Two Octopi,” and is one of the few artists not afraid to depict Howard’s penis. Whether that’s a warning or an enticement to read the book is something I leave up to the readers...MORE.

We don’t review many graphic novels on Crime Fiction Lover, but I wish we did. The artistry and imagination on display in books like Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu provides us with plenty of reasons to.
So, here’s the skinny… and there’s plenty of skin, believe me. Minky is New York a private eye, running her father’s detective agency in his absence. It’s the 1920s and Minky always manages to be at the heart of things. She’s worked an infidelity case commissioned by Harry Houdini’s wife (Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini) and she’s investigated whether Nicola Tesla has developed a death ray (Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Electrified Tesla).
In her third case – The Girl Called Cthulhu – Minky’s hired by the occultist Aleister Crowley to exonerate him. One of Crowley’s disciples has died and the man’s wife has accused Crowley of murder. It’s all over the press. Crowley wants Minky to gain the woman’s trust and get her to confess to making false claims against him.
On the way, Minky helps a Welsh woman escape an assault. The woman has just arrived in New York, and the pair form a bond. They end up in a threesome smoking opium with the woman Minky is investigating, but their cover is blown and the woman, who’s in a tiger outfit, tries to kill them by setting the room on fire. Although she’s tied up, Minky manages to fling a burning bra onto the sprinkler system using her toe, thus putting out the fire. That’s just a taste of the daring, madcap action that’s to follow.
Via her surveillance of Harry Houdini, Minky has met HP Lovecraft. Lovecraft was helping the escapologist write a book debunking occult spiritualism. Since reading stories like The Call of Cthulhu written by Lovecraft, Minky has been plagued by nightmares and she has been exchanging letters with the author. Aleister Cowley lures Minky, her Welsh friend, Lovecraft and his wife to an island on the Hudson near Poughkeepsie. They’re drugged and we see the amazing spectacle of Crowley preparing to sacrifice them to some ancient horror of the type Lovecraft envisaged in his books.
The years pass and the story skips ahead, getting wilder and wilder as we go. The action shifts from New York to London to Spain and the Caribbean. By World War II, Minky accidentally involves herself in an espionage mission wherein British agents have stolen a dead body. Pulling the strings are secret agent Ian Fleming and Aleister Crowley is his unlikely accomplice. They’re using occult fortune telling to mess with the Nazis, there are submarines, explosions and daring escapes.
The story – originally published across four 32-page comic books – is extremely far fetched. Or so it seems. However, a thread of facts runs through it making everything Cynthia von Buhler has concocted plausible. The author reveals her research in a Q&A section at the conclusion of the story, and it’s just as compelling as the content of her graphic novel...MORE.

INTERVIEWS

EM Magazine - The Hard Case Crime Issue. This is a print magazine and cannot be read online, therefore a portion of the interview pages are above. The whole issue of the magazine is dedicated to Hard Case Crime and there is an extensive photo spread of Pearls Daily, the model for Cynthia's drawings. You can buy a PDF of the gorgeous issue for $5 at - EM Magazine

Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Electrified Tesla is the second volume in this electrifying series from Titan Comics and the brilliant mind of Cynthia Von Buhler! I had the pleasure of interviewing Cynthia to talk all about this brilliant historical fiction graphic novel. - The GWW

"Ms. Woodcock’s latest case is quite the alt-history humdinger, with references to “Nikola Tesla’s death ray, Josephine Baker’s spy activity during WWII, and Donald Trump’s uncle’s involvement following Tesla’s mysterious death.” It’s an old-school detective’s story with some gorgeous art, unique sensibilities, and twists galore." - AIPT

"Cynthia von Buhler has an inspiring range of talents. In addition to writing and performing in immersive theatre productions, she’s a fine artist and a writer, and she illustrates her own crime stories. Her favourite milieu is the early 20th century – a period during which many of her family’s best stories took place. For example, her grandparents ran speakeasies in The Bronx in the 1920s, and one of her grandfathers was murdered in the street in 1935. The crime remains a mystery."  - Crime Fiction Lover

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REVIEWS OF THE PLAY

"Entrancing immersive theatre adventure" - Broadway World

"Moving in its beauty and in the humanist and feminist ideas that weave their way into the storytelling" - Comicon.com

"Sheer theatrical comic bliss" - Off Off Online

"You had us at Houdini. Throw in a séance, a water tank, and a disputed death, and we were completely hooked" - Bowery Boogie

"Worth a trip from anywhere in the world" - Wild About Houdini

"Secrets are uncovered, as there are nine and counting ways to experience the show - which we love about all of Buhler productions" - BlackBook

"Alluring world of mysterious magicians, strong cocktails, shady lawyers, eerie mediums, and private detectives" - No Proscenium