Neonomicon

I know some who think Alan Moore has missed his mark lately, but I have to admit, as a fan of Lovecraft since a young teen, I was very pleasantly surprised with this book, both the storyline and great graphics provided by Jacen Burrows. Maybe 'cause it's so damn dark (yet done lightly), ground-breaking and has several dozen Lovecraft references peppering the tale throughout (many characters mentioned, story names, locations, Elder Ones, language and dialogue, similarly-influenced authors and pen pals referred to, etc.), there's nary a page when dear old HPL is absent. And not for the sake of name-dropping either, all the particulars and Mythos minutiae become intertwined pieces of the puzzle presented here. Die-hard Lovecraft purists will find much to loathe, but I found it refreshing, so sue me. All the characters are miscreants and fringe-dwellers here, even (and especially) the F.B.I. agents are marginalized misfits in a world heading down the crapper, even if the Old Ones don't return as promised. Or are here already, or never left, as our concept of time, as it turns out, isn't all we had hoped it to be. It's grand to see new life pumped into Lovecraftian legend, as punk bands in rat-cellar Brooklyn nightclubs take drugs to tap into the Mythos, informants are amphetamine psychotics, female federal agents are treated for sexual addictions, tenement neighbors are schizophrenics and ne'er-do-wells, graffiti murals are dimensional portals and a trip to Salem, Massachusetts involves a new age bookshop that's a cover for satanic sexual swingers in Dagon's watery love-nest. 'Still with me? 'Didn't think so, but wait, there's more. But you'll have to read it to find out. There's much to absorb, appreciate and admire here, layers to peel back, characters to enjoy for being so effed-up, filthy and foul-mouthed profanity, humorous and sarcastic dialogue laced with cultural references as well as an actual ending (however open-ended it may be - a sequel, perhaps?), so I'd heartily recommend this to all Lovecraft aficionados as well as Moore's legion of fans. PS - If you dig this one, like seeing Lovecraft respectfully re-imagined and his Mythos updated properly, you'll also want to check out 'The Strange Adventures of H. P. Lovecraft', 'The Calling - Cthulhu Chronicles', 'Dark Goodbye' volumes 1 + 2, and 'Fall of Cthulhu', volumes 1 through 5. All worth every penny as well as your time. Check it. "Cthulhu Fhtagn R'Lyeh"...

Neonomicon is a graphic novel. I don’t read many graphic novels –I make up my own pictures in my mind to match the words in non-graphic fiction. But I loved comic books when I was a kid and I am aware and appreciative of what a well crafted graphic novel can do. Like this one., Which is excellent. It’s exceedingly well scripted. (Plot and dialogue in a graphic novel are constrained –constricted may be better- by the limit on pages and the large amount of space taken up in the pictures.) The illustrations are superb, realistic, heavy on line but not ignoring shading and contour, and the coloring, dark but bursting into explosions of color in the more psychedelic interludes, is equally effective. Moore wrote story and dialogue, Burrows illustrated, someone named Juanmar colored the drawings. They all deserve praise. The story is a modernization of Lovecraft’s Chulthu mythos. An FBI agent is staking out a neighborhood where a series of brutal ghastly murders have taken place. The killer had no history of violence and only speaks now in a jumble of alien words. He’s hopelessly psychotic. But there are two other recent mass murders and in both cases, killers with same past record –no history of violence—and the same present behavior. There is no apparent connection among the three. The FBI agent is an expert in anomaly theory. He looks for anomalies and tries to fit them into patterns. The only connection seems to be a mysterious drug called aklo and a possible dealer, a man named Johnny Carcosa who hangs out at the Club Zothique. The band there is the Ulthar Cats. They’re beyond punk or Goth, singing songs that starts in freeform descriptions of violence and swerve part way through a (very long) song into a string of alien names which we know (because we’ve read Lovecraft) but the agent doesn’t are names of entities in the Chulthu myth. No one knows how old Johnny is and he wears a veil over the front of his face, covering it from the bridge of his nose down. The agent digs deeper, finds that a similar string of killings and mutilations occurred in the same place in the 1920s. (Think Lovecraft’s time.) He makes contact with Johnny Carcosa and arranges to buy some aklo. Soon, the agent is locked in a cell. He’s killed several people and he too speaks an alien tongue. A new team of agents is sent in to investigate, man and woman, and the story accelerates in tempo and in horror. It ends in an explosion of color and horrific images, with a dire fate in store for all of us. It’s a good recreation of Lovecraft’s twisted world, with one addition. The sexuality that is hinted at but never allowed to enter Lovecraft’s asexual tales is explicit, in text and drawings, in this disturbing story. It works and it’s not intruded gratuitously but if you’re squeamish about such things, you may want to take a pass on this book.

Overall the story is pretty straightforward, and sometimes rushed, but interesting nevertheless. It explains Lovecraft's reason for writing his stories, blends in some esoteric history, has secret society elements, and gives clues on what the nature of reality may truly be. To top it off we find that there may be people among us with supernatural destinies that affect the outcome of our world. It's an easy read, and may not be too mysterious despite what I wrote above, but it keeps your attention and makes you want to find out what's going to happen. Yes, the rape scene is offensive, yet somehow it plays directly into the fate of the main character, and because of it being part of "the bigger plan", explains how the character in the story seems to handle it so well; her role in the fate of our world becomes "activated" by the events. I understand the arguments for some of the faults in the writing, but overall the execution of the story makes sense. I think it's worth checking out if you have any interest in reading it.

Une bonne interprétation de Alan Moore de ce qui fait l'essence du mythe de Cthulhu ; mais là où la menace Lovecraftienne trouvait son origine chez l'autre, l'étranger, "l'envahisseur" venu d'autres dimensions (thématique classique dans l'entre-deux guerres, assez sulfureuse de nos jours), Moore joue excellemment bien avec l'origine même du "mal", mettant en exergue cet aspect "raciste" des récits Lovecraftiennes et réussissant en même temps à brouiller les pistes. Sans trahir l'essence même du mythe (dans lequel la plupart des personnages sont condamnés à la folie et à l'horreur de part leur "héritage" personnel, familial ou génétique), Moore renouvelle avec talent cette thématique, dans un final très très intéressant et délicieusement étonnant. Niveau horreur, gore, et autres joyeusetés "indicibles", on n'échappe pas à certaines maladresses visuelles et graphiques (il est toujours difficile de donner trait à l'indicible, justement), mais globalement les auteurs s'en sortent pas mal. La narration est classique, efficace, linéaire ; les personnages sont bien écrits mais restent assez basiques. L'horreur, la terreur, et l'épouvante psychologique sont par contre particulièrement réussies car Moore aborde un aspect rarement traité dans le Mythe de Cthulhu : la sexualité. Ses aspects "orgiaques". Le viol. Et là, ça devient parfois un peu casse-gueule... A ce titre, c'est parfois difficile à lire, et ça laisse - volontairement, on le comprend - une impression de malaise... A ne pas mettre entre toutes les mains, donc. Pour faire bref, ce n'est pas un chef d’œuvre, mais une très belle variation sur le Mythe.

This volume includes the short story "The Courtyard" and its sequel. The Courtyard is brilliant and disturbing. A visit to the Lovecraftian Mythos without falling in the usual cliches. This story is worth 5 or more stars, by itself alone. It has lingered on my mind for weeks, and I felt compelled to re read it over again. It is totally unforgettable The sequel is a good story. Nothing remarkable. although it attempts to push the limits of what is acceptable with some graphically explicit adult material, it lacks the surprise factor of the Courtyard and is very predictable, with an ending expected as a 80s horror movie. It is not bad, but just not good enough. If I was to rate it alone I would give it 3 stars. I felt I should weight both reviews and give the whole story 4 stars, yet that would not be fair for The Courtyard, which alone is worth the price of the book.

Parece que la fuente de inagotable inspiración de Alan Moore que nos dió tantas buenas historias en los 80, está llegando a su fin... y que el sigue rascando el fondo del fango. Decepcionante... no recomendado para fanáticos de Alan Moore o superhéroes. Los amantes de H.P. Lovecraft podrán disfrutarlo un poco más...

まさに現代のH,P.ラグクラフトの世界！リアルなイラストで綴られる現代のクトゥルー神話です。アンダーグラウンドな雰囲気とそこに蠢く邪神の影が見事に表現されています！ラグクラフチィアン必見です！

Para quem conhece a abordagem de From Hell e Promethea, a mistura entre ficção e ocultismo vai fazer mais sentido. Os temas são pesados. É uma história de terror assustadora. Quem pesquisar as referências a Kenneth Grant e se aprofundar, pode acabar tendo sua vida mudada para sempre. A arte de de Jacen Burrows e as cores de Juanmar são fenomenais. É daqui para Providence.