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• Price: $19.99
• Pages: 80
• On Sale: March 13, 2018
• Story: H.P. Lovecraft
  
• Adapted By: Esteban Maroto
• Publisher: IDW

From the publisher: Illustrated in haunting black and white over 30 years ago, these comics are re-presented in a new edition, adapting three of H.P. Lovecraft’s most famous stories involving the Cthulhu Mythos.

“The Nameless City” is considered the first story of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, detailing the discovery of an ancient city in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula built by an unnamed race of beings of reptilian appearance. In “The Festival” a man arrives at the sea town of Kingsport, Massachusetts during Christmas but finds a place eerily empty and centuries out of date. “The Call of Cthulhu” is perhaps Lovecraft’s most famous story, describing a man who after finding the notes of his grand-uncle is lead on a journey around the world in search of this mysterious and disturbing phenomenon.

Our WTComics WeView:  Whether or not you are a fan of HP Love Craft, the IDW reissue of Esteban Maroto’s interpretation of the Cthulhu lore is a privilege to read. Originally published in the early 1980s, Maroto’s use of the comic book format in Lovecraft – The Myth of Cthulhu is technically beautiful despite the grotesque imagery that Lovecraft begs us to imagine.

Flipping through these pages, we find ourselves helplessly drawn in and staggering around “The Nameless City”, or following the unholy procession in “The Festival” or barely escaping with our lives from “The Call of Cthulhu”. Although there are more commonly accepted images of the Cthulhu beast floating around these days, Maroto’s depiction of the towering oozing brute is just as unsettling.

Since he does not use grayscale, every black line drawn into the white expanse of a panel was an invasion of artistic intent. Thus this collection rises above a mere word balloon adaptation and starts to read like a classic book accompanied with gorgeous spooky illustrations.

The black and white comic art (and I do mean art), reaches back into horror comic book history and then surpasses it in a style and flair that is not seen much today. It cannot be described as traditional, old school and certainly not generic. The closest I have seen to this style in a modern sense is Mike Mignola’s work but I am sure you can think of others who remind you of Maroto’s art or perhaps even emulates it.

The additional cool things found in this reissue include an Introduction which gives us a censorship history between the Comics Code Authority and horror comics along with the necessary underground comic scene. The EC Comics connection to all of this is a topic that should be taught to all readers, or should I say students? Then in the Preface and Prologue, we find out that HP Love Craft was a rather complicated individual and that Maroto should be urgently classified as intense.

Maroto is certainly an artist and by just staring at the detailed panels within Lovecraft – The Myth of Cthulhu, I feel regret for not completing art school. I could have been a contender!

Rating: Near Mint (NM) or 9.4/10

Review by DJ Rat Bastard

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