Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

The three part "Eldritch Etchings: Cthulhu in Comics" concludes with a look at this three issue mini-series from Antony Johnston, Avatar Press and more artists than you shack a tentacle at.

Written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by a number of different artists, Yuggoth Creatures follows the adventures of Professor Ericson and details his various encounters with people, places, locations and creatures from the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft.

Each issue is broken down into a number of short stories, each short story illustrated by a different artist and sandwiched between a framing sequence at the begining and end of each issue illustrated by Dheeraj Verma. Some of the other artists involved include Mike Wolfer, Jacen (artist of the Scream Awards nominated Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Burrows and Juan Rose Ryp, who also provides the beautiful cover art for the entire series.

The main focus of the story is Proffessor Ericsson's determination to discover all he can about the hidden origins of man and the lost races and peoples that inhabited earth. Along the way he encounters just about every major Lovecraft creation. Yith, Leng, Cthulhu, Dagon, elder things, Mi-Go, the shining trapezohedron and more. And of course, the deeper he delves the more unsettling truths he encounters.

Spoilers

Writing wise, Antony Johnston does a very good job. Most of the text comes in the form of narration as the majority of the stories, aside from the framing sequence, are told from the stand point of one looking back and relating them. This does result in a complete lack of dialogue for most of the comics, but that's fairly consistant with Lovecrafts own narration heavy style. When you add that to the impressive arrary of material referenced throughout the series it becomes clear that Johnston's a well read Lovecraft fan. His familiarity with the material helps him construct a world that's larger than simply Cthulhu and the shoggoth, which is something that many Lovecraft inspiried comics and novels tend to fail at. Also anyone well versed in Lovecrafts work should enjoy picking out the various references and homages to the original stories that are strewn throughout the series. Some are more obvious, like names and places, while others are a bit more obscure involving story similiarties instead.

Of course a bunch of barely connected stories might not interest most people, so as the series progresses a more centralised plot does emerge. The first issue hints at this with the Ericssons dream sequence, but it fully comes to the forefront in the second and third issues. This central story has to do with the circumstances of the professors birth and his attempts to thwart his own destiny. Saying anything more would ruin the entire series.

The art for each short story varies heavily, from the intricately detailed and organic art of Juan Jose Ryp, to the slightly more traditional feel of Mike Wolfer's work. The real highlight, for me at least, was the stunning dream sequences done by Sebastian Fiumara. Fiumara's depictions of Nyarlathotep are second to none, and he does a fantastic job at getting across the sense of scale that accompanies much of Lovecrafts work, while at the same time producing a murky feel that one would expect from a dream. I was really blown away by his pieces and I really wish I had access to a scanner. The rest of the artist all do a good job with their respective pieces as well, though Fiumara and Ryp really steal the show.

The main problem with the series is the same with any Lovecraft comic, and that's that it has to show more than describe or hint at. Lovecraft's work and his creatures worked so well because it forced the reader to dredge up the monstrosities from his mind forcing him to fill in the blanks. Sadly the comics medium is very much a visual one and it's difficult to make some of this creatures truly scary. Have you ever actually seen a drawing of an elder thing? They're cucumbers with starfish heads and batwings. Terrifying it's not. Still, some of the depicitions of the various creatures are quite good and fairly accurate, and Ryp's deep ones are pretty damn ugly.

All in all it's a very good series and one that'd be enjoyed by just about Lovecraft fan. Sadly it's fairly difficult to come by. For whatever reason the series took nearly three years to release, meaning an issue a year. On top of that Avatar Press is a fairly small publisher and many stories probably don't carry it. If that wasn't enough, the series has yet to be collected so you can't even order it online. Still, if you do happen to stumble across it at your local comic shop and you like Lovecraft, definately give it a try.

Related Links:

Mostly Black - The official site of Yuggoth Creatures writer and creator, Antony Johnston. It includes information on his other works, links to his official message board, order codes for his comics and more.

Avatar Press - The homepage of Avatar Press, publisher of the series and many other good comics, including the Scream Awards nominated Texas Chainsaw Massacre comic.

Avatar Press: Yuggoth Creatures - The officisl section of the Avatar Press site dealing the Yuggoth Creatures mini-series. It includes preview and cover art and more.