Product Description: Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft is completely revised, with over 75 pages of new material. New to this edition are adaptations of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," illustrated by Simon Gane and "Dreams in the Witch House," by Pedro Lopez. Plus: "Sweet Ermengarde," a rare comedy by Lovecraft. Returning from the previous edition are "Reanimator," "The Shadow Out of Time," The Terrible Old Man" and "The Cats of Ulthar." With a stunning cover painting by Giorgio Comolo.
Graphic Classics a good book to own and read This is a very good book to read on a dark stormy night, all kidding aside though I did enjoy it, and found that some of the classics like Poe translate well over to graphic novel format, which was unexpected. It is like finding a treasure after high school forced reading of books that you could not associate with.
Overall five stars, enjoyed it a lot, worth picking up and reading.
A Fine Collection of Graphic Lovecraft As a lover of Lovecraft's lovely writing for over ten years now, I eagerly awaited this in the mail, and it turned out to be a very fine addition to any Lovecraftian library. Starting off nicely with a dark and touching one page version of Lovecraft's excellent poem; "A Memory". Then onwards to one of my most treasured pieces of literature; "The Shadow over Innsmouth". As a friend of mine remarked some time ago, we have now seen five versions of this magnificent tale, a tale that according to acknowledged Lovecraft-scholar S. T. Joshi is a thinly veiled allegory for the, I quote; "horrors of miscegenation". Hence, as one would suspect, it is a tale very dear to my heart. We now have this tale in the original written form from Lovecraft, in the computer-game "Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth", in the pen & paper RPG Call of Cthulhu's addition "Escape from Innsmouth", in the movie "Dagon" and now in the form of a graphic novel. It is a very fine adaption of the tale, and as has been previously pointed out, captures the "Innsmouth-look" and the feel of the story very well.
Then comes the recently filmed "Dreams in the Witch-House", once again this is very well done, mostly true to the story and not shortened to any significant degree. This is also very dark and eerie, like the original stories and the two previous tales between these covers.
The next tale is a to me previously unknown comedy tale, which is fine and slightly amusing, but not exactly what I was after in this type of book. It is very well made and so on, but oh well. Then follows "Herbert West: Reanimator", which is drawn by many different artists, something I'm not so fond of in this type of thing. This adaption is more text than drawing, so it doesn't really feel very thorough. Also, I laughingly noticed they had cut out the parts of the tale where Lovecraft is not so "up to date" in the department of Semitical Correctness. Pathetic, but quite common when it comes to adaptations of Lovecraft.
Then comes a highly amusing and artistically extremely well done adaption of the weird but great tale; "The Cats of Ulthar". Made of large but few drawings, I found this to be an excellent addition. Followed by a short but excellent version of the eerie tale "The Terrible Old Man". Then rounding off with a very aesthetically fine "The Shadow out of Time". As has been pointed out, I was amazed that it was possible to convey this long story of aeon-long terror in this few pages without loosing any of the essentials.
All in all a great addition to my library, but they could probably have replaced some of the material with other versions I've seen in various media. 4,5 stars.
THE BEST COMIC ADAPTATION YET OF LOVECRAFT'S WORK The works of H.P. Lovecraft have never had great success when adapted for film, TV, or comics. I think in failing to understand the nature of the source material...Lovecraft's unseen, indescribable brand of terror, film directors and comic writers have always tried to too hard to bring his work into the light, instead of allowing it to fester in the shadows. This is why we've seen so many truly terrible film adaptations of his work.
I'm happy to say that Graphic Classics finally has it right! Rather than making wholesale changes, the stories stick to the source material and many of the tales in the book end up actually being illustrated stories as opposed to traditional sequential artwork. You can't explain Lovecraft to someone who doesn't get it, so why try. Graphic Classics almost stubbornly clings to the spirit and tone of the original stories and delivers the best comic adaptation yet of Lovecraft's work.
This is the recently released second edition of this title and it features seven stories including: The Shadow over Innsmouth, Dreams in the Witch House, Sweet Ermengarde, Herbert West: Reanimator, The Cats of Ulthar, The Terrible Old Man, and the Shadow out of Time. It's an eclectic collection to say the least. The Shadow over Innsmouth and Dreams in the Witch House are Lovecraft classics while Herbert West: Reanimator is probably Lovecraft's most macabre work.
The Shadow over Innsmouth relate the terrible story of a young man who visits the seaside New England town of Innsmouth, a dying, dilapidated town that reeks of fish. There he learns the terrible history of the town and of the strange, "Innsmouth look" of its inhabitants. He further finds out his own lineage is connected to Innsmouth.
Dreams in the Witch House draws upon Lovecraft's own upbringing in New England of the old gabled houses, many of which still stand today. A student named Walter Gilman rents a room in one of these ancient homes, a room with oddly configured geometry. His dreams are haunted by the spirit of a witch named Keziah Mason who fled Salem centuries earlier, and her rat familiar Brown Jenkin.
Lovecraft was not a fan of Herbert West: Reanimator, considering it spectacular drivel. There's no questioning though it's influence on the modern day Zombie lore. The story is told by an unnamed assistant to West. West begins to experiment with trying to revive corpses while at Miskatonic University. With a further need for fresh bodies, he becomes an army surgeon during World War I, and is soon animating not only entire bodies, but body parts as well. The original story, and this adaptation, is far better than the campy films starring Jeffrey Combs. A truly ghoulish story and masterfully done by Tom Pomplun and artists Richard Corben, Rick Geary, J.B. Bonivert, and Mark A. Nelson.
Shadow Out of Time by Matt Howarth is another strong piece. This is a Cthulhu Mythos story about a man possessed by one of the Great Race of Yith who have mastered time travel and can transfer their conscious into the minds of other living beings. It is Professor Peaslee's unfortunate burden to learn about them and the Ancient Ones who even the Great Race fears and tries to keep locked away.
Only Sweet Ermengarde seems a curious choice for inclusion, if for nothing else other than the fact that it is one of Lovecraft's least well-known stories. This is a book that Lovecraft fans can rejoice in as Eureka Production as finally done Lovecraft right.
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON
A new Way of looking at Classics. Being a big fan of classic and horror literature I happened across these books quite by accident . I was immediatley struck by the talent of the artists across the board ranging from the comedic interpretations to the serious. These graphic novels are a wonderful way to access Lovecrafts work whether you are a novice or devoted follower. But be warned they are addictive and you will want to colleect the whole series .
A 'must' for the legions of Lovecraft fans H.P. Lovecraft was a reclusive and idiosyncratic New England writer whose horror fantasy stories were to influence generations of authors down to the present day. Now seven of his macabre tales have been illustrated by a series of skilled artists into the newly revised and enlarged second edition of the fourteen volume of the increasingly impressive Graphic Classics series from Eureka Productions. The illustrated stories comprising "Graphic Classics; H.P. Lovecraft" include 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' (Simon Gane); 'Dreams in the Witch-House' (Pedro Lopez); 'The Shadow Out of Time' (Matt Howarth); 'The Cats of Ulthar' (Lisa K. Weber); 'The Terrible Old Man' (Onsmith Jeremi); 'Sweet Ermengarde' (one of Lovecrafts attempts at comedy and illustrated by Kevin Atkinson); and 'Herbert West: Reanimator' (presented in four chapters illustrated by Richard Corben, Rick Geary, J.B. Bonivert, and Mark A. Nelson respectively). A 'must' for the legions of Lovecraft fans and very highly recommended reading for graphic novel enthusiasts, this second edition 'Graphic Classics: H.P. Lovecraft" is enhanced with the addition of illustrations by Skot Olsen, Gerry Alanguilan, Jim Nelson, and Maxon Crumb.
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