World Famous Comics: Alan Moore's The Courtyard Deluxe Hardcover Set
Alan Moore's The Courtyard Deluxe Hardcover Set
By: Alan Moore, Jacen Burrows Publisher: Avatar Press Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Format: Deluxe Edition Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: April 07, 2004 Studio: Avatar Press
Product Description: A special deluxe set featuring two hardcover volumes: Alan Moore's Courtyard Collected Edition - The story of FBI man Aldo Sax, whose legendary skills at piecing together the most baffling of cases have gotten him assigned to what may be his most confusing case yet. The Courtyard Companion - Explores The Courtyard's Lovecraftian roots, reprinting the original script along with full annotations of all Lovecraftian references, researched by scholar NG Christakos. Also includes Moore's original short story, pinups and art, and an essay from adapter Antony Johnston. Both volumes are hardcovers with exclusive new full color cover images, along with an art print by Jacen Burrows, packaged in a full color sleeve!
not worth it ^ This is the most poorly executed HPL homage I have ever had the sad duty to own.
Lovecraftian brilliance ^ I first read Moore's short story The Courtyard in Starry Wisdom back in 1994. I did not have a favorable impression but after all these years I guess it was because the whole book put me off (still does; haven't yet read the sequel). I only recently found out he made it into a comic. Avatar has just issued a full color edition, which is how I encountered it. Jacen Burrows provides the art and Juanmar the interior colors.
The story takes place in Red Hook and it owes a good deal to HPL's story The Horror at Red Hook. Again strange horrific crimes are taking place and a federal agent is sent to investigate under deep cover. Like HPL's Malone, Agent Sax is world weary and deeply prejudiced. Moore does not shy away from the racism that suffused the original story; in fact it makes this comic that much more gritty and realistic. To solve the crimes he traces everything back perhaps to a drug being sold in a club in Red Hook. Under deep cover he attempts to get a sample so he can nail the dealer. He succeeds after a fashion.
The story is taut and intense, very compelling. Language and imagery are graphic, but I did not think gratuitously so. It all fit so well with the mood being created. The artwork and colors are superb. For Lovecraftians, there are quite a few HPL place and character names that pop up in the narrative. It is a nice diversion to place them all; any assiduous fan should be able to do it. But better still, the story's horrors that slowly reveal themselves are quite Lovecraftian in their sensibility.
Previously I thought Fall of Cthulhu was the finest Lovecraftian comic book, and it was great although I was let down by the way the series wound down. Now I think this title by Moore takes the crown. Anyone who likes mythos comics should read this book.
Overrated ^ Well, I've read some other Alan Moore's graphic novels, such as V, Watchmen and The killing joke. I thought those were fantastic, very creative pieces of art. Then I read that the Courtyard will be finally available and that it's probably the best he has done, very intricate plot, blablablah and what do you know? my hopes went sky high. What I got was a short story, macabre, dense, nicely delivered, but that was pretty much it. The plot is very straight forward, it didn't impact me as much as I thought. Maybe I didn't get it, maybe I'm still expecting this to be a serie, with subsequent installments, maybe I need to be more Moore to understand the deepness. Right now I think it was a very expensive item for what I got.
In Madness You Dwell ^ Very good story but first let me clear some things up. The book is not double long like it appears in the picture above, that is actually the front cover on the right and back cover on the left, but the size is about the same as a comic. Second it is in black and white, which is alright but unfortunate because of how beautiful color makes the covers look.
Obviously this story doesn't seem to appeal to everyone. I haven't read lovecraft so maybe in comparison it sucks, I am however actively interested in the occult studies, and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say if you're neither interested in the occult or lovecraft you're probably going to find this very unenjoyable, that is to say it's definitely geared towards those audiences.
If you like horror it's my understanding that you should run, not walk, and get yourself some H.P. Lovecraft to read immediately. I'd also like to recommend to anybody who wants to know more about this occult stuff that Alan Moore himself is so enamored with to check out Robert Anton Wilson as soon as humanly possible.
I liked this book, it spooked me, or was that me just working myself up? At any rate it was a cool fun twisted good time on the edges of sanity with an FBI Agent, Presidential cover-up Evil Rock bands, drugs, flaming weirdoes, and the elder gods. Not to be missed by those especially attuned to receive this transmission.
go buy the companion ^ I picked this up at my school's library(along with 100 Bullets, go figure) and read through in about 20 minutes. Well, gee, that was short. Very Lovecraftian ending, which still intrigues me, and some nice hallucenogenic visuals...but what happened? It was like a short story that didn't feel the need to elaborate on its characters at all, therefore, I don't sympathize with any of them. So yeah, if you want the actual experience of this piece, just forego this 20-minute noir fix and pick up the Companion--which makes little sense to me that it needs a companion when it's but one issue that anyone can manage by themselves.
The companion is just under the price of the hardback copy and has not only the script(like I said, why buy the comic?) but more original art, essays, and the references that are practically required for the HPL uninitiated. Interesting little read. I think I just spent half the time reviewing the book that I spent reading it.
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