A Certain Symmetry: Houdini & Doyle short

This short, self-contained and "symmetrical" comic (mirrored front to back) was created in 2014 as a preview for a larger project exploring the unlikely friendship and rivalry of Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle.

Houdini and Doyle were two of the most influential men of their time. Each led extraordinary lives in his own right, but their lives also overlapped in astonishing ways. Their mutual admiration brought them together and the two men became fast friends, even accompanying one another on family holidays. And yet their conflicting beliefs and goals resulted in a heated rivalry. They died bitter and distant from each other, never reconciling.

BACKGROUND:

It is the 1920s and Spiritualism has taken the world by storm. Doyle is it's greatest champion, heralding it as the next great religion. Houdini is its greatest foe, viewing it as a swindle exploiting the vulnerable. While Houdini lamented the fact that his friend was being taken advantage of, Doyle mourned Houdini's refusal to accept the truth (he was even convinced that Houdini himself was a geniune medium but just didn't know it!)

THE SKEPTIC: Able to escape any physical prison or bonds, Houdini was also trying to break free of the prejudices surrounding a lower class Jewish entertainer, as well as his own magical training. After the death of his beloved mother, he wanted more than anything to believe that there was life after death. But it seemed that the harder he looked for proof of the supernatural, the more he found only conmen and charlatans. He was an amazing showman and entertainer but could be self-absorbed and righteous in his desire to prove others wrong. For better or worse, Houdini was unable to escape his own ego and skepticism.

THE BELIEVER: Belowed by the world yet despised by his creator, Sherlock Holmes became Doyle's greatest burden. He longed to move on to what he considered much more worthwhile endeavours, namely the proliferation of Spiritualism. Overwhelmed with grief after the loss of his son during the First World War, Doyle clung to the belief that the living could communicate with the dead. His fathomless hope that humanity could overcome its own criminality and hatred was what bonded him to a fantasy from which he could not escape, and which ultimately cost him his public reputation.