If you were to explain the concept of this book to me I'd think you were a huge hack. Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini team up and face off against Rasputin. The idea is rough, it's played out, those three figures are ubiquitous throughout pop culture and pretty much everything that can be said about them has. I can't tell you if those three figures have been put in the same place at the same time before but it sounds like a 1980's made for TV thriller pitch. Sherlock Holmes and Harry Houdini solve crimes in their VW bus and it's always Rasputin that's behind the crime. Like a bearded, Russian Dr. Claw. When you have a concept like that it comes down purely to execution. Can your writing and characterization pull the story through the cliche'. I'm happy to say, in this case, it does. I was a little confused by what was happening but there isn't anything here that doesn't feel like it's a buildup to something else and there wasn't so much missing that I couldn't figure out the plot with what was given to me.

The characters are interesting and distinct. Not massively distinct mind you but distinct enough that I could appreciate each as individual characters. Holmes and Houdini have decent chemistry that leads to good dialogue exchanged as well as some funny moments. They cap it off on a cliffhanger that makes me want to see what happens next. There definitely is promise here. Dynamite seems to excel in promising stories in fact. My suggestion would be to keep an eye on this book and maybe jump on between arcs or track down the previous issues. The older issues might provide enough depth to really bring out the potential I see in this individual story.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Anthony Del Col & Connor McCreery Artist: Carlos Furuzono Colorist: Aikau Oliva Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 2/25/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital