Cthulhu Cthursday: Lovecraft

Lovecraft written by Hans Rodionoff and Keith Giffen with art by Enrique Breccia, is a fictional take on H.P. Lovecraft life, combining it with his fiction. It supposes that Lovecraft’s father actually possessed a copy of the Necronomicon which gave him visions of very real, otherworldly horrors and allowed him to travel to an alternate Providence, known as Arkham, where he was known as Randolph Carter.

The graphic novel has received some harsh criticism for its portrayal of Lovecraft, specifically his sexuality which, in turn, leads to some mis-dated references to events in his life. The authors seem to take Lovecraft’s inferred, underlying misogyny and expand it into a fear of women and sex, turning his creations into psychosexual representations of feminine nether-regions.

This seems only as annoying as the reader makes it, in much the same way that the film Amadeus can be enjoyed as fiction or reviled as an affront to historical accuracy and Mozart’s legacy. Personally, I find it more interesting that the authors felt the need to change the name of Lovecraft’s cat from “Nigger Man” to “Necro Man” in an attempt to seemingly clean up his image. Needless to say that they do not quote his poem On the Creation of Niggers either.

Lovecraft (Paperback) [Amazon] : The Groovy Age of Horror : Thanks, Asa!