THE HAUNTER
OF THE DARK AND OTHER GROTESQUE VISIONS
art by John Coulthart
introduction and evocatoins by Alan Moore
published by Creation Oneiros
ISBN-10: 1902197232
ISBN-13: 978-1902197234
reviewed by Adam
Armstrong
04.20.2008
In 1923 Howard Phillip Lovecraft published his first story (Dagon) professionally
in Weird Tales and changed the face of Horror forever. Lovecraft’s
unique writing style coupled with his massive imagination entrapped readers and
imbued them with a ravenous hunger for more of his work. His life was cut
tragically short leaving a small collection of work behind and a desire of
emulation, along with a strong inspiration, for many writers including: Stephen
King, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey
Campbell, and Brian Lumley.
Attempts to depict his
ideas in the visual arts for the most part have…well, sucked. John Coulthart’s pen and ink renderings of Lovecraft’s
ideas are the best visual interpretations that I have ever seen. Coulthart’s meticulous detail in ink corresponds nicely to Lovecraft’s meticulous detail in words. This collection
illustrates “The Haunter Of The Dark”, “The
Call Of Cthulhu”, a small part of “The Dunwich
Horror”, along with a segment dedicated to “The Great Old Ones”, with evocations by Alan Moore, and a few
pages of “Lord Horror” (David Britton) at the end.
With every frame you can see and feel the amount of dedication and work that
went into the art.
I found Alan Moore’s
evocations a bit turgid, but they seem to fit in with the Cthulhu
Mythos. I do caution those that have not read Lovecraft
to skip over this and look into it later. Lovecraft’s
words can hide the horrors from the reader until he is ready to drop them on
you like an atomic bomb. Coulthart’s skills draw your
eyes across every detail saving nothing for a surprise.
Pick up a copy: 5 out of 5
Purchase this book at Amazon.com: THE HAUNTER OF THE DARK AND OTHER GROTESQUE VISIONS