While I've thoroughly enjoyed the first two collected volumes of 'Miskatonic High' that my better half picked up during one of their Kickstarter campaigns, I don't currently have twenty five bucks each to hand for the three further volumes that were made available in February. And that's not volumes three, four and five; for some reason it's two parts of volume three and the first of four. Maybe down the road, especially if they have a table at a convention that I find myself at. Instead, I'll wrap up for now with this fascinating standalone accompaniment.

As the title suggests, and indeed the four names attached, this is a crossover between two comic book series, 'Miskatonic High' being the first. The other is 'Lovecraft, P.I.', which I believe also had a couple of collected volumes out when this crossover happened, namely 'A Shot in the Dark' and 'The Curious Case of Reanimator'. However, unlike 'Miskatonic High', I hadn't read either, so this was my introduction to that series. They aren't on Amazon but only cost twenty bucks each at the series website, presumably plus tax and shipping. Again, down the road, I think.

The approach taken is a very good one indeed, especially given that the two series, their common Lovecraftian influence aside, unfold in completely different times and styles. 'Miskatonic High' is a modern comic book, unfolding at least predominantly in the present day and with modern teen sensibilities. 'Lovecraft, P.I.', on the other hand, is retro in nature, taking place in the thirties and with a hardboiled detective vibe. Combining the two would be a curiosity, not unlike shooting an episode of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' in black and white to be a flashback in a film noir.

Instead, Mike Shea, the writer of 'Miskatonic High' remembered watching the primetime double bill of 'Magnum, P.I.' and 'Simon and Simon'. At one point, they crossed over, so Simon and Simon guested on 'Magnum, P.I.' and that story continued into Magnum guesting on 'Simon and Simon'. I'm a fan of that approach too, though I remember it more from 'Martial Law' and 'Walker, Texas Ranger' or 'Millennium' and 'The X-Files'. Anyway, that's precisely what they did here, merely in comic book form.

This is therefore a two-issue story called 'The Medusa Paradox'. The first, cunningly titled 'Part 1', is a 'Miskatonic High' issue, drawn and coloured by series regular Ryan Mendoza, which thus looks exactly like it should, and written by series regular Mike Shea, with D. W. Kann credited after him, presumably to ensure appropriate continuity. Similarly, the second, inevitably, titled 'Part 2', is a 'Lovecraft, P.I.' issue, drawn and coloured by its series regular Daniel Sguiglia, with Kann credited as the writer, with Shea second billed for the same reason. It's an approach built on trust, each of these creators putting their characters into the hands of others, but it's a good one.

Ironically, the 'Miskatonic High' issue begins with Lovecraft, P.I., or Ward Lovecraft, who works for the Miskatonic Detective Agency. He's visiting Washington, DC in 1932 to meet Senator Buckley at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, because the latter has seen something deeply weird and he wants it found and stopped. Fast forward almost a century to 2020 and the members of the Community Services Club are watching the Perseid meteor shower as a distraction from cleaning out Mr. Paulson's barn of his grandfather's stuff from World War I. Eventually, they get round to doing that and find a statue that they don't recognise but we do.

Sure enough, it's Ward Lovecraft, who found the something deeply weird, a.k.a. Shub Niggurath, the black goat with a thousand young, and shoved a grenade down her throat, at which point she "turned into glop, encasing me within it", to use Lovecraft's own words. Needless to say, he's able to deliver them because a combination of Ren's witch powers and a broken vial of Radithor, melt the glop and both sides of that battle emerge to promptly continue it as if a century hadn't gone by without them noticing. And we're in business.

Sure, it's a convenient plot device, though one deepened by connections to the Medusa myth, but it does the job, which is to bring both Lovecraft, P.I. and a supernatural threat into the present so he and the Miskatonic High students can counter it. That's not ignored, but much of the joy is in a powerful culture shock between the two sides of the crossover. Det. Lovecraft may be different in his own time, given the business he's in, but he's an outright fish out of water in 2020 who's forced to adapt on the fly. After all, his reawakening seems like only a second after he was encased back in 1932. Suddenly, girls have pink hair, smoking causes cancer and the Japanese can't make toys.

Eventually, of course, after things get outrageously bad, they realise that they have to go back in time, which makes it very useful that Matt has the Blade of Khronus in his underwear drawer. And now we're in Part 2 and everything looks different. From my perspective, having read 'Miskatonic High' but not 'Lovecraft, P.I.', it's the art that changes but, of course, it changes to the regular art style of the latter series. Sguiglia has a very clean style that works well with a thirties timeframe, though I was surprised to find him working in full colour rather than film noir monochrome. In fact, his colours are generally lighter than the ones Mendoza employs in the first issue, though he does set up some neat shadowplay, all the way to silhouette.

I won't dip any deeper into the story, though it unfolds much as you might expect for a standalone crossover that only has two issues in which to both set up and wrap up. What I will add is that both issues do a solid job of giving the guest(s) something to do. Shea couldn't really avoid that, with a single guest, but he pretty much gives Det. Lovecraft the lead in the 'Miskatonic High' issue. With five guests in the 'Lovecraft, P.I.' issue, Kann had a tougher task but he does a solid job of it. What I think I liked the most was the way he ends it, not just with the threat resolved and the kids safely back in their own time but with a little subplot featuring Sarah, the rat girl.

All in all, this is a thoroughly successful crossover. I'm sure I'd have got more out of it if I'd already been familiar with both comic book series, but only having one under my belt didn't hold me back. To be fair, it actually mimicked the TV show crossovers I mentioned earlier, as I knew 'Martial Law' but not 'Walker, Texas Ranger' and 'Millennium' but not 'The X-Files' going into those episodes. In all instances, including this one, the introduction worked well. Quite frankly, I suddenly want a lot more comic books to do this sort of thing, just so long as they break down their responsibilities in exactly the same way. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles by Mike Shea click here
For more titles by Ryan Mendoza click here