Interesting collection of graphic novel adaptations of the Lovecraft's short stories.

Art is a mixed bag for me but in overall it is good. Only thing that might cause the "problems" here is that all stories are written in the similar manner and so after a while there might be a feeling of saturation. This happened to me when I read Conan anthologies - stories that were very much written in the same way might bore the modern reader (since now we have similar authors and stories published every so often so there is no that awe moment present) so my advice with works of this type is to spread it across longer time period (which is the way they were published and meant to be read).

So all in all good collection, recommended to fans of horror and Lovecraft especially. ( )

[a: H.P. Lovecraft|9494|H.P. Lovecraft|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1299165714p2/9494.jpg] is an author I have very complicated feelings towards. While I enjoy the concepts behind his stories for the most part, there is the trouble of his overly vague and altogether sloppy writing to overcome. Beyond that, there is the obvious racism of his writing, the misogyny of it and his own personal beliefs... More than once I've seen articles titled "Hatecraft" and for the most part I find that sentiment difficult to argue against.

That having been said, Lovecraft had some rather brilliant concepts and his writing tends to do very well in the hands of others. For instance, Stephen King has written extensively within the Lovecraftian genre and one of my very favorite of his stories, "N", falls firmly into that classification.

The Lovecraft Anthology (Volume 1) is of interest due to the fact that it neatly distills the best of the Cthulhu mythos stories into an easily digestible graphic novel. It holds onto the tone of the original stories, while cutting through the sloppy characterization and overblown descriptions of the original text. What one is left with is a series of short cosmic horror tales rendered by an ever-changing array of artists that each seek to employ a different style to convey that creeping dread. Innsmouth and Dagon were my favorites from this collection, as I feel the watery scenes and submarine horror were aided greatly by the artistry. A fun quick read for a fan of the stories. ( )

I enjoyed this illustrated version of HP Lovecraft's work and how artists had interpreted the stories. If you're a fan of Lovecraft than I certainly recommend this graphic novel to you. ( )

I enjoyed this illustrated version of HP Lovecraft's work and how artists had interpreted the stories. If you're a fan of Lovecraft than I certainly recommend this graphic novel to you. ( )

This anthology is a graphic collection of H. P. Lovecraft's best known short stories, from publisher Self Made Hero and edited by Dan Lockwood, who also writes a number of the adaptations. Behind a cover by Ben Templesmith there are seven adaptations, all of which have something of merit to them. Unfortunately, all the artwork takes an overly cartoony approach and veers away from any form of realistic depiction of the stories. The “cartoony” approach works well for each individual story, but unfortunately becomes a bit too similar and repetitive when viewed within the context of the overall book. Without doubt the anthology would have benefitted immeasurably from a mix of artistic styles and approaches. My favourite adaptations were the first and the last in the book. The first is Lovecraft's most iconic tale, "The Call of Cthulhu" by Ian Edginton and D’Israeli. Edington's approach cleverly abridges elements of the story, while capturing the essence of Lovecraft’s cosmic horror, while D'Israeli, whose art style is an acquired taste, provides some beautiful, clean line designs with a clever use of changing colours. The book ends with "Dagon" adapted by Lockwood and drawn by Alice Duke, whose watercolour artwork brings a disturbing and gruesome, half-hidden feel to the story. Lockwood's adaption is faithful and mysteriously surreal, despite the finale lacking a touch of clarity. In between these two excellent adaptations are: "The Haunter of the Dark" by Lockwood and Shane Oakley; "The Dunwich Horror" by Rob Davis and I. N. J. Culbard; "The Colour Out of Space" by David Hine and Mark Stafford (some clever, twisted imagery here); "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by Leah Moore, John Reppion and Leigh Gallagher (great use of colour) and "The Rats in the Walls", again by Lockwood and drawn by David Hartman in a studiously creepy style. Despite my concern about the samey quality of the artistic styles, this is still a very decent anthology. The writers have done well in cutting to the core themes of the stories and honing in on the visual aspects that are critical to the comic book medium. The artists have done reasonably well in grappling with the "indescribable" horrors and Lovecraft's odd turn of phrase. There are better adaptations of these tales out there, but this is still a nice wee anthology, well worth reading and pouring over. ( )