Anyone that has known me for awhile knows that the only thing I find more interesting than magic is the people who practice it. Therefore, the graphic novel, “Witches of World War II” by Paul Cornell with art by Valeria Burzo was too juicy to pass up. Although a work of fiction, Cornell shows some genuine occult nerd bona fide with his creative use of actual history and well-established magical lore to tell the tale of the greatest magicians of the era coming together to battle Nazi Germany. Shall I introduce you to our colorful cast of character?
The leader of the team is Doreen Valiente, who is best known today as one of the founders and shapers of Wicca. Valiente lost her husband in the war, and although has never officially been found to have served in the war effort, she did spend extended periods away from her family during the war and never spoke about what happened. Next is Gerald Gardner, founder of Gardnerian Wicca. Gardner was an ARP Warden during the war and with his New Forest Coven facilitated the famous “Operation Cone of Power” to keep Britain from being invaded. Another magic practitioner known to have undertaken magical workings to help Britain during the war was Dion Fortune, a well-known British occultist and one of the founders of The Fraternity of the Inner Light. Her letter writing efforts of magical operations undertaken during the war have been cataloged into the book “The Magical Battle of Britain”, a book that drifts in and out of print. Aleister Crowley certainly needs no introduction as he founded Thelema with its assorted organizations and had a penchant for publicity. There is much lore, and some fact, around the idea that Crowley aided Britain during the war, whether in an official capacity or not is up for debate. It is true he corresponded with Rudolf Hess, a Nazi big wig with an interest in the occult. Last is Rollo Ahmed, he wrote about magic as well as his experiences being a black man in Britain.
Cornell takes this band of magic makers on a fantastical wartime journey filled with intrigue, heroics, a cameo from Winston Churchill, and Valiente punching a Nazi. Along the way you see magic and scams, learning that the line between magician and conman can at times be thin, and that both can be effective in times of war. Burzo’s artistic style worked well with the story and did an excellent job rendering these characters.
I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed “Witches of World War II.” It appealed to my occult nerd tendencies, my love of reimaging history, and adventure. Do yourself a favor and get yourself a copy asap!
You can preorder your copy here! (This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)
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I’m a huge fan of the horror genre, however I’m a big scaredy cat. I will spend hours reading plot synopses of horror films and novels, reveling in the versatility of the genre. That’s why when given the chance to review “Sacred Lamb”, a slasher movie inspired comic by Tim Seeley with illustrations by Jelena Ðordevic and lettering by Steve Wands, I said, “Sure!”
The story follows social media influencer Kellyn West, who live streamed killing her fan, turned stalker, turned slasher killer, by beating him to death with a backhoe. And thus begins her journey to Sacred Lamb, a quaint town that no one knows exists, where West, and survivors like her, are locked away to be forgotten by the outside world and any would be copycat slashers, or killers back from the dead. Once in Sacred Lamb we’re introduced to a trope’s gallery of survivors of assorted killers. In town, our EVs go to group therapy, terrorize each other, plot escapes, and mostly, wallow in their fate. However, when killings begin to occur in the government’s best kept secret location, we start to see what makes a “killer” and what makes a “victim.”
Studio Ghibli has created numerous wonderful films: “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Princess Mononoke”, “Grave of the Fireflies”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, and more. However, “Spirited Away” is by far my favorite, with its beautiful art, relatable young female protagonist, and supernatural hijinks galore. Why is Hawaii the only state that gets it?
Tarot decks are wonderful, and versatile. They lend themselves to all sorts of reinvention, for better or worse. Today’s deck is for the better because it takes the mythic, fantasy setting of “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” (an insanely popular video game) and meshes it nicely with the mythic, traditional tarot. 
Obviously, it is important for a tarot deck such as this to be well thought out, but if the artwork doesn’t do justice to the game, and the grand tradition of excellent tarot artwork, the deck is worthless. Fortunately, it was Erika Hollice’s artwork that first caught my eye, before I even realized I was looking at a deck based on a game I personally love. Hollice’s art deco, graphic, fantasy style translates wonderfully to the card. The only complaint that I have is in Insight Editions attempt to have the cards be matte, the cards tend to stick together, making for difficult shuffling.
In June 2022, 
Travis Petersen and USDish wanted to try and figure out who the most popular superhero was in each state in the United States, but also the most popular superhero universe. To identify each state’s most popular superheroes, they used SEMRush keyword volume data. Once they had their list of 20 superheroes total (10 for DC Universe and 10 for Marvel Universe), they used Google Trends to see which state googled which superhero the most. For each state’s most popular comic book universe, they analyzed each state on Google Trends to find out which of the comic book universes they googled the most. 
Anyone who has had a wonderful, immersive, video game playing experience has thought it. “This would make an awesome movie.” We all know to be careful of what you wish for, because movies based on video games still tend towards the bad end of the film spectrum. However, I’m sure you’ve thought about it. 
She looked at a few studies and found, “that eight out of 10 (79%) gamers state that gaming provides relaxation and stress relief, with well over half of c-suite executives taking daily gaming breaks and benefiting from meditation techniques and hits of dopamine.” With that in mind, they surveyed their online community asked them to “list the games that made them feel the most mindful and in a state of ‘flow’.”
I know we just had a not entirely scientific pop culture article, but when