theguywhoreads

Adaptations are never easy if not done right. My love for H.P. Lovecraft is by far, not the easiest but it is his stories that I enjoyed, even though I read only one collection of his stories (The Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories, which I had read and reviewed). Now, this recently released collection of four of his short stories into graphic novel is what excites me to read, especially when I enjoy the artwork by I.N.J. Culbard, which he too adapt the stories. There are four stories adapted into this one massive graphic novel - The Dream - Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, At the Mountain of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time - are related to one another in ways of the world building itself. But do any of it achieved its potential of enjoyment... to me, only two out of four of them are good.

The first two stories were some what slow and boring. Nothing really much happening and the narrative itself is rather monotonous. I can't help but feel like I am going into a history lesson class of the universe of ancient ones. Sadly, it doesn't bring the horror out of the stories and ends up pretty much a dud to me. The last two achieve what was intended - the true horrors of the unknown mystery that inspires movies like Alien or John Carpenter's The Thing that has a good substantial influence of Lovecraft's work - a perfect blend of science fiction and horror. The artwork brings out the best in the stories and fits very well here as it does brings out the macabre of the scary.

Fans of Lovecraft will enjoy parts of the stories but for those who do not know Lovecraft, might not appreciate much. To me, I would say it deserves a 3.5 out of 5 for this one.