Graphic Classics: H. P. Lovecraft

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Graphic Classics: H. P. Lovecraft
By Michael Vance
April 27, 2007 - 09:23

Eureka Productions
Writer(s): Various

Many consider H.P. Lovecraft to be the greatest horror writer who ever lived. The great disappointment in that statement is “lived”: there will never be a new Lovecraft story. So the best one can hope for are great interpretations of his existing work.

Graphic Classic has released a revised edition of their comics homage to the master with seventy-five new pages. It features his masterpiece, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”, several lesser stories, and poetry.

As is true with any anthology, readers will find work that thrills and disappoints them.

Disappoints?

Horror has its own strengths and weaknesses as a genre, and some readers may feel that this volume relies too much on "stripped-down" art.

Imagine, if you will, horror in the comic strip Peanuts.

The cover of GC:HPL by Giorgio Comolo is magnificent; it is a shame that this style of macabre art is not predominant inside. But much of the art does work.

Lovecraft’s prose is cumbersome in its detail by today’s literary tastes, but his style and outre ideas are so powerful that shudders still await readers in GC:HPL despite the minimalistic art.

Even more amazing, Lovecraft produced those shudders without profanity, graphic sex or buckets of blood and guts. Hurrah! They are not added by these adaptations for visual impact.

Despite its limitations, this is a must-have volume for Lovecraft and horror fans. This anthology is recommended.

MINIVIEW: NUMB by Joshua Kemble. An aspiring writer is betrayed by his muse and his love in this slice-of-life story of unrequited love. Thick-lined art and the heavy use of black make the art distinctive and engaging. Unnecessary profanity and situational ethics will make it less than desirable for some many readers.