Via Fangoria magazine, TKO Studios have announced “The Witches of World War II,” a graphic novel by author Paul Cornell, artist Valeria Burzo, and colorist Jordie Bellaire, that will imagine a spy adventure for the British occultists who were active during the Nazi conquest of Europe. It will center on Doreen Dominy, the Wiccan author who worked as a translator at Bletchley Park, whose portrayal here will begin with a general approaching her for help, after learning of her interest in magic.
Together with Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, Gerald Gardner, and Rollo Ahmed, Doreen “will travel deep into the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe,” where her team will “gamble their lives, their beliefs, and their powers on a mission to help capture Rudolf Hess, fervent occultist, and second-in-command to Adolf Hitler himself.”
“It’s been one of the best creative experiences of my life to bring these five amazing people to a wider audience,” Cornell said. “We consulted with those who maintain their legacies, and everyone involved, including the spectacular artist team of Valeria Burzo and Jordie Bellaire, has stepped up to the challenge of the material. I couldn’t be more proud of this book.”
The book’s events are inspired by Gerald Gardner’s account of the New Forest Coven performing “Operation: Cone of Power” to prevent the Nazis from invading Britain in 1940, and Crowley’s attempt to join the Naval Intelligence Division at the start of the war (he dubiously claimed to have come up with the idea of Winston Churchill’s “V for Victory” salute.) Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Fuhrer, was interested in the occult, and was infamously captured in Scotland in 1941 after being sidelined by Hitler, and going AWOL to begin peace negotiations by himself.
“The Witches of World War II” will be released by TKO in March 2023. Until then, you can check out a preview (featuring Crowley) at Fangoria. This is the second original graphic novel announced by TKO this week, after Tim Seeley and Jelena Ðordevic-Maksimovic’s “Sacred Lamb,” which will follow in April 2023. Cornell’s latest graphic novel, “Three Little Wishes,” is available now from Legendary Comics, while Italian artist Valeria Burzo’s American debut, Mike Mignola and Angela Slatter’s “Castle Full of Blackbirds,” will bow from Dark Horse on September 14.
