Necronauts is a horror comic book story written by Gordon Rennie and illustrated by Frazer Irving. It was originally serialised in the magazine 2000 AD from December 13 2000 to February 21 2001.
The story features four historical characters: Harry Houdini, H. P. Lovecraft, Charles Fort, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, teaming up against the forces of the Great Old Ones.
Synopsis[]
Part One[]
In the year 1926, celebrated stage magician and escapologist Harry Houdini practices for a stunt in which he holds his breath in a water-coffin for over seven minutes. Falling unconscious, he experiences a vision of a dark abyss inhabited by monstrous entities which try to seize him. Luckily, he escapes the monsters' clutches just in time to return to his body and regain consciousness. Despite dismissing the experience as a hallucination, Houdini admits to his brother Dash that he is trying to witness what the afterlife is like, and come back alive to tell the world about it.
Meanwhile, a secret coven known as the Illuminati learns about Houdini's activities from one of their psychic agents, who reports that Houdini has travelled deep beyond the Dreamlands and into the void inhabited by the Sleepers (a.k.a. the Great Old Ones), awakening them from their slumber. While Houdini was able to evade them, the other psychics who were secretly following him were all slain. The Illuminati leader murders the surviving psychic for the insolence of refusing to give out his soul to the Sleepers, then orders his men to summon the Tcho-Tchos to track down Houdini by his psychic scent.
In Providence, Rhode Island, horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft receives a visit from a talking raven informing him that the Sleepers have been awakened, and that his presence is required in New York.
In England, spiritualist author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle participates in a séance in which the medium delivers him a message, explaining how Doyle's friend Houdini is now in grave danger. Suddenly possessed by one of the Sleepers, the medium tears off his own face in terror and dies, despite Doyle's efforts to save him. The Sleeper reanimates the medium's body and warns Doyle that it is too late: Houdini's life belongs to them already. Nevertheless, Doyle embarks to New York to try to save his friend.
Part Two[]
Doyle arrives in New York on October 30, and while Houdini is still skeptical about the danger, he does admit to having experienced strange and unpleasant dreams ever since the water-coffin stunt incident. In these dreams, he invariably finds himself in a lightless realm and feels the presence of the things that dwell there, as well as lesser presences that he understands to be the human servants of these entities.
Houdini and Doyle realise they're being followed by cloaked figures which, when confronted, reveal themselves as faceless inhuman creatures. They attack Houdini with what looks like an orb of energy and warn Doyle to not interfere.
Despite Doyle's concerns, Houdini brushes off his injuries and meets up with Charles Fort, a collector of unusual facts and connoisseur of the paranormal who might be of assistance. The three men are joined by Lovecraft, who offers to help them as well.
Part Three[]
Fort explains that the faceless creatures which attacked Doyle and Houdini are known as Tcho-Tchos, and lectures them about the Sleepers, a.k.a. the Great Old Ones, which once held domain over the Earth and now inhabit the extradimensional gulf between life and death, where they feed on the souls of the departed like a whale feeds upon plankton. Doyle is deeply disturbed by the idea, as it clashes with his own belief that souls pass on to the higher spheres in the afterlife. Lovecraft, in turn, reveals that the situation is much worse, since Houdini's death-defying stunt allowed the Great Old Ones to taste the life force of a living man—something they haven't tasted in a long time—and awakened them from their sleep, so they will try to reclaim the Earth and feast upon the living.
At this moment, Houdini collapses from an apparent heart attack and revives with a black mark on his chest shaped like a clawed hand. Doyle examines him and sadly concludes that Houdini has only a few days left to live. Lovecraft deems the situation as hopeless, but the magician remains determined to fight against their enemies before death claims him.
Part Four[]
With the house surrounded by Tcho-Tchos, Houdini devises a plan in which he and Lovecraft will travel through the Dreamlands and into the void, to fight against the Great Old Ones in their own realm. Meanwhile, Doyle and Fort will remain awake to guard their bodies, and communicate with their dreaming selves by a mechanical device owned by Houdini, which combines the features of phonograph and radio and allows one to contact spirits.
Fast asleep thanks to a sedative administered by Doyle, Houdini and Lovecraft find themselves in the Dreamlands, where sufficiently skilled dreamers are capable of creating objects with their minds. Houdini, who is also a seasoned aviator, creates an airplane, and the two fly off into the void that extends beyond the dream-world.
As the Tcho-Tchos become aware of Houdini and Lovecraft intruding on their masters' domain, the horde prepares to attack. Doyle arms himself with a revolver while Fort prefers to use a cricket bat.
Part Five[]
While Doyle and Fort battle against the Tcho-Tchos, Houdini and Lovecraft are attacked by flying insectoid creatures, which Lovecraft describes as "fragments from the sleeping minds" of the Great Old Ones. Using the power of his mind, Houdini equips the airplane with weapons and fires at their pursuers. However, another airplane shows up, piloted by the Illuminati leader.
When the fight is over in the waking world, Doyle and Fort emerge exhausted while the bodies of the slain Tcho-Tchos evaporate. Doyle uses his serum to try to wake up Houdini and Lovecraft, but it only affects the latter. Once awake, Lovecraft tells the others about how the second aviator appeared out of nowhere and took down their plane, causing them to plunge into the abyss, where Houdini's spirit still remains trapped.
Part Six[]
Down in the lightless abyss, Houdini faces the Illuminati leader, who calls himself the Aviator of the Unknown. A willing servant of the Great Old Ones, he believes that he and his group will be spared from the massacre when their masters return. Houdini chastises him for selling out mankind to these creatures, but the Aviator is unperturbed, as he talks about Houdini's own role in the plan. Once Houdini is sacrificed, the Great Old Ones will be able to bridge the gap between his body and soul to guide themselves back to the Earth, where humanity will be harvested.
On top of it, the Aviator reveals that Lovecraft is one of the cult's agents, sent specifically to lead Houdini into a trap. In the waking world, Fort and Doyle come to the same conclusion.
Part Seven[]
Fort and Doyle accuse Lovecraft of betraying them, which the weak-willed author confesses he did, not out of malice or sympathy for the cult, but rather fear of the things they could make him see and do, as well as the belief that all was already lost and there was no way to stop the Great Old Ones from succeeding.
Fort formulates a plan, reasoning that for the moment, the creatures still need their earthly servants. A remorseful Lovecraft guides Fort and Doyle to the lair of the cultists, taking Houdini's unconscious body with them. Once inside, the three authors open fire at the Tcho-Tchos, then lock themselves inside the room where the human cultists lie dreaming.
Part Eight[]
While the remaining Tcho-Tchos try to get through the door to the authors, Lovecraft returns to the Dreamlands to try to rescue Houdini. He finds him at the mercy of the Aviator and the other Illuminati cultists, all ready to sacrifice the magician.
Lovecraft warns the cultists that Fort and Doyle are standing right next to their bodies in the waking world, ready to poison each and every one of them if Houdini isn't returned. The Aviator calls it a bluff, but the authors prove they are serious when Lovecraft signals the others to give a demonstration. Sure enough, Doyle poisons one of the villains with a syringe, causing the man's dream-body to collapse in front of the others.
As the cultists watch the death of their comrade, the Raven appears as a manifestation of the Great Old Ones to remind the Aviator of their bargain: the life of his first-born child in exchange for eternal servitude. The Aviator complies and tries to throw Houdini into the abyss, but the latter responds by holding his attacker and causing them both to fall, much to the despair of Lovecraft.
Part Nine[]
While they plunge into the void, Houdini forces the Aviator to look into the faces of the entities he has served, a sight which horrifies the cultist. As the creatures consume his soul, Houdini realises that they want him to fight back, to struggle for his life as he's done countless times before, and thus bridge the way to his body back on Earth. Instead, he offers no resistance and dies peacefully, sealing the creatures' passage and foiling their plan.
In the waking world, Doyle and Fort realise that Houdini has died. They revive Lovecraft just in time to spare him of the wrath of the Great Old Ones, who massacre all the cultists. Unfortunately, they can't prevent Lovecraft from actually seeing the Great Old Ones—a sight which traumatises him to the point that Doyle has to help him out of the building, which catches fire when the Illuminati's bodies spontaneously combust as their spirits are consumed. With barely enough time to save themselves, Fort, Doyle and Lovecraft are forced to leave Houdini's corpse behind.
One year later, on Halloween 1927, Doyle and Fort meet again to attend the completion of Houdini's tombstone (which, according to Jewish custom, is only completed a year after the funeral). They speak to Dash, who reveals how his brother knew he was going to die and came up with a melodramatic cover story. Dash also discourages them from talking to Houdini's widow, Rosabelle, who remains deeply affected not only by her husband's death, but also by his failure to deliver a message he had promised to send her from beyond the grave, assuming it was possible for spirits to communicate with the living. Houdini's failure to deliver the message to his wife after a year convinces Dash that communicating with spirits really is impossible.
After Dash leaves, Fort and Doyle reminisce about Lovecraft, who Fort tried to contact several times to no avail. After reading Lovecraft's recent work, they conclude that he is still deeply traumatised by their adventure. They also believe that the Illuminati might still be around, but that fighting them would be a venture best left for younger men.
In the Library of Congress, where Houdini's device for communicating with the dead is stored with the rest of his possessions, the machine faintly repeats the message "Rosabelle... believe...", with no one around to hear it.
Characters[]
- Harry Houdini: Known as the Great Houdini. A peerless, world-renowned illusionist, escapist, and aviator. Having started out in poverty, he credits his determination and ability to face challenges as the key to his achievements. This same determination makes him a natural leader to the group. As an open-minded skeptic, Houdini seeks out the truth via first-hand evidence, and is contemptuous of frauds and scams.
- Howard Phillips Lovecraft: A horror author from Providence who appears sensitive, weak-willed, cautious, and somewhat pessimistic by nature, but proves himself capable of overcoming his fears. An experienced dreamer, he has seen the Great Old Ones in his dreams and feels when they awake from their sleep.
- Charles Fort: A self-styled collector of unexplained phenomena. Irreverent, brusque, and fearless. He expresses the belief that the world we inhabit is no more "organised for the benefit of mankind than a stockyard is organised for the benefit of hogs".
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Scottish author, spiritualist, and doctor of medicine. Easily the most idealistic of the group, he is appalled both by the Great Old Ones' existence and the fact that any human would voluntarily choose to serve them.
- Dash: Houdini's brother who admires him, even while acknowledging that he himself has lived in his brother's shadow.
- The Aviator of the Unknown: The leader of the Illuminati and loyal servitor of the Great Old Ones. His identity is never revealed, but he is recognised as a famous aviator. He considers himself similar to Houdini as they "both seek to challenge the notions of what lesser men consider possible", but is otherwise dismissive of Houdini's career as an entertainer, and considers the magician unworthy to join the cult even if he wanted to.
Behind the Mythos[]
The Great Old Ones and their servitors[]
| “ | We are they who dwell between the spaces you know, and we are forever. Man rules now where we ruled once, and we shall rule again. | „ | |
| ~ A spirit medium possessed by one of the Great Old Ones. |
The portrayal of the Great Old Ones in Necronauts is derived chiefly from the Old Ones from "The Dunwich Horror": eldritch creatures that ruled the Earth before mankind, and are destined to someday reclaim it, but currently dwell in an unreachable space, which the comic identifies as the gulf between life and death, adding that they feed on the spirits of the deceased. At one point, Charles Fort lists several names by which these entities are known: "the Great Old Ones, the Dark Gods, the Sleepers in the Void, the Shadows at the Threshold". The words "Ia Iak Sakkak" are uttered by them and their servants, and are reminiscent of "The Dunwich Horror"'s Yog-Sothoth.
The faceless Tcho-Tchos describe themselves to Doyle as "the Crawling Chaos... Haunters of the dark... The watchers in the void... The end of all things". The first two monikers might suggest a connection to Nyarlathotep. It's not clear whether these Tcho-Tchos are individual creatures or just automatous bodies animated by the Great Old Ones.
Deviations from Lovecraft's works[]
The nature of the Dreamlands, as portrayed in Necronauts, differs from Lovecraft's stories in that, in the latter, it is perfectly possible for someone to die in the waking world and remain alive in the Dreamlands (HPL: "Celephais") or vice-versa (HPL: "The White Ship"). In Necronauts, this doesn't seem to be the case. However, a case could be made that the abyss where the Illuminati were killed was stated to be beyond the Dreamlands, not within them, and thus possibly operates by different rules.
Deviations from real history[]
Houdini and Lovecraft are portrayed as meeting for the first time in this story. In the real world, in 1926, the two would already be acquainted, as they collaborated on "Imprisoned with the Pharaohs" (published in 1924) and The Cancer of Superstition (unfinished).
Houdini's wife is named Rosabelle in this story. In reality, she was named Bess. The message "Rosabelle believe" is real, but the word "Rosabelle" refers to a song, as the message was supposed to be a secret, not something easy to guess.