Product Description: Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths features tons of Alan's classic short sequential comic book stories that have been long out of print, stories that have never before been seen and special developmental sections with original script pages and comments from Alan and the creators. This massive volume also has an extensive interview with Moore as he discusses Yuggoth Cultures, the stories inside and some of the amazing tales the lead to their creation as well as the real magic behind the works. As if that wasn't enough, Antony Johnston's work inspired by Yuggoth Cultures and the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft is included and features all-star art by Juan Jose Ryp, Jacen Burrows, Dheeraj Verma and many more along with copious notes on the Lovecraftian origins of the tales.
selling off moore's name the majority of this collection is actually written by Antony Johnston. the never actually done Moore story nightjar is good & the Moore interviews are interesting, but not worth the price
This has the entire contents of Yuggoth Creatures Alan Moore is rightfully venerated as first rate author of comics and graphic novels. In my opinion, his effort at a meditation on Lovecraft's Fungi from Yuggoth was less successful, particularly compared to such triumphs as The Watchmen, Swamp Thing or The Dark Knight. My understanding is that while writing a novel, Yuggoth Cultures, he lost more than ¾ of his work, when it was inadvertently left in a taxi one day, and he could not bring himself to start again. Even so, fans of Moore's more outré efforts should like this book. I found the production qualities to be excellent. It is a bit pricey but I think reproducing the art must be expensive, and there is a generous page count, plus lots of notes on the contents.
My highest recommendation, however, comes for the inclusion of the entire contents of the 3 issue series from Avatar Press in 2006, Yuggoth Creatures. The blurb states that it was inspired by Moore. I am not so sure that is the case, but we must rely on the writer's attribution. All the writing for this series was by the well known Antony Johnson, who collaborated with Moore on some of his earlier Lovecraftian efforts. The fact that the whole series was written by a single author gave the work a unity of voice and purpose that contributed to its great success, similar to Fall of Cthulhu with Michael Alan Nelson as sole author. The writing caliber is very good for a comic, which does not carry the same demands as a short story or novel. The single author gives consistency and fortunately Johnson knows both his craft and the mythos. None of the stories venture beyond a typical mythos type plot. Each one has our hero encounter a new creature or location. The whole story is very mythosian (if that's a word...). The idea is quite familiar to us fans, a reclusive professor, Dr. Ericsson, committing his experiences to paper, describing his fantastic and unfortunate experiences to a disbelieving publisher. And of course the professor has a mysterious Egyptian manservant (One wonders why these weird recluses never have a womanservant...). The introductory and ending panels framing the main stories from the first issue are drawn by Dheeraj Verma, and are quite nice. The first story Under the Cliffs finds the professor in a village where the inhabitants engage in unspeakable rites with The Deep Ones. The art by Juan Jose Ryp was just a tad too busy for me, too bad in the smallish panels of this publication. I would like to have seen a larger, clearer picture of his conception of a Deep One. The Thing in the Graveyard was drawn by Mike Wolfer. This short was only a few pages but there was a marvelous picture of a Lovecraftian ghoul. I wish it was longer. The professor is spending a disconcerting evening stargazing near the Arkham graveyard. Sebastien Fiumara drew Through Dreams of R'lyeh. Excellent stylized panels of the sunken city, and of Shantack Birds. I would like to have seen more by this artist also. Our hero dreams himself into non Euclidean places. Unfortunately the art for Wings in the Darkness was my least favorite in the book, Andres Guinaldo. This was one of the more substantial tales and the panels just did nothing for me. Too bad, maybe we'll see more Mi-Go later. The professor investigates a strange disappearance. The Volcano, drawn by Jason Burrows was quite engaging, even if they were not my favorite panels in the book. If I read it right, it showed the corpse of one of the Great Race. The University has sent an (ill fated) (is there ever any other kind in a mythos story?) expedition to explore a newly discovered volcanic island in the Pacific. Blue Water had an absolutely beautiful Dagon depicted by Matt Martin. Our hero and the (currently) surviving members of the expedition are forced by a storm into uncharted regions of the Pacific over a certain city...In the second issue, again the framing story art was by Dheermaj Verma; it was good and I wish he had more panels in the book. The story is a very comfortable read for us mythos fans. Of course we must wonder who is the mysterious Egyptian manservant? The Final Aspect was drawn by Juan Jose Ryp. In it, the professor is taken through R'lyeh by Deep Ones and finds he is to play a role in the freeing of Cthulhu. I thought the art was beautiful, but rather busy, and I would have preferred larger panels for this piece, like the cover art. Dreams in the Madhouse drawn by Sebastian Fiumara finds the professor committed to the Arkham asylum, where he finds out more unspeakable truths from one of the asylum's inmates. Mr. Fiumara draws lovely, evocative panels. In the next story, The Road into the Woods, the Professor's old friend Harvey frees him and takes him out into the woods, seemingly no worse the wear from his experiences with the MiGo. The art by Andres Giunaldo was adequate but did not knock my socks off. Next, in The Shifting Effigy, Professor Ericsson makes a new friend, Randall, who describes his own encounter with a Great Old One when he was just a boy. Some of the best panels in the book by Mike Wolfer appear in this story. From the Dark Side is somewhat of a sideline to the main plot, and is a bit similar to the Colour Out of Space. Wellington Alves does the story proud. Finally, in The Legacy Ericsson finds he has an uncomfortably close connection to the mythos. Jacen Burrows' panels did not wow me, alas. And the end framing panels set us up for next issue's conclusion. In the final issue of Yuggoth Creatures Dheeraj Verma drew the framing story as usual, Sebastian Fiumara drew The Bifurcation, Mike Wolfer The Mayan Mummy, Jacen Burrows The Speaker, Juan Jose Ryp The Onyx Pillar and Andres Guinaldo A Sign in the Sand. All of these artists have had their work featured in previous issues. By and large I was duly impressed again this issue, although my favorite work was by Dheeraj Verma in the conclusion. The story arc introduced and expanded upon in issues #1 and 2, reaches its terrifying climax here. I don't want to give it away but it is a grand read for us mythos fans, and the ending is true to the genre. I certainly want to read more mythos work by Mr. Johnston. The only disadvantage of this graphic novel compilation is the reproduction is in black and white, without the lovely colors of the comics, and we miss the covers by Juan Jose Ryp.
If you are at all fond of Lovecraftian comics, if you liked HPL's Haunt of Horror or Fall of Cthulhu, I can't imagine you would not be happy with this book. Everything by Moore is worth a look, of course, but to me his contribution was secondary here.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
