Bookended by scenes from an episode of Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, entitled “Professor Peabody’s Last Lecture” what follows is madness of the highest order. I can’t really explain what ensues but it involves J-Pop and choreographed dance moves.
High atop his shelf in The Watcher in Toronto, Canada The Loneliest Cthulhu of All waits, weeping. From his precipitous perch he hangs his head, his muscles unable to support the massive weight of his Sadness; and really, who can blame him? Out of season the outlook for the future seems bleak; his stocking body and winter colors rendering him all but invisible in the heady days of spring. Perhaps once the weather turns, and the Earth once again shrivels under freezing conditions and slate skies he will rise triumphant over someone’s hearth. Until then he can do nothing but wallow, the promise of the future providing no solace.
I seem to remember seeing this before, though I’ll be damned if I can remember where. The inscription, from what can be made out reads as follows:
To R.H. Barlow, Esq., whose Sculpture hath given Immortality to this trivial Design of his oblig’d of all obdt (obedient) Servant.
Cthulhu
H.P. Lovecraft
11th May, 1934
Barlow was a close friend of Lovecraft and collaborated with him on several stories including, one might reasonably conclude, one of his most famous, The Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft went so far as to make Barlow his literary executor.
Despite its crude nature, it’s still a great representation of Cthulhu, not only because it is directly from the mind of his creator but also for the inclusion of the multiple, spider-like eyes. Few illustrations of the Lord of R’lyeh come to mind that show him this way.
Frequently featured ectopeep, and Ego Likeness front-man, Steven Archer has hit the halfway mark of his Lovecraftian art project “365 Days Of Blasphemous Horror,” in which he aims to create a Cthonic painting every day for a year. Being one hell of a mensch, Mr. Archer is offering up the pieces that haven’t yet sold to the tune of a mere $25 a piece.
Naturally, when I discovered these works were available for a pittance I snapped up a few for myself. For if my predictions are correct, these’ll be worth a tidy sum once this ritual project is complete and poor Mr. Archer gives birth to a tentacular monstrosity from the crown of his skull. There are but a few works left to be had, so to those of you interested in owning a piece of the Octopocalypse I recommend purchasing early and often.
Artist M.S. Corley has a fantastic collection of illustrations under the title Horrors of Literature which, along with more famous examples like Frankenstein’s monster and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde also includes cult favorites like the Swine Thing from William Hope Hodgson’s The House on the Borderland and, of course, a few Lovecraft mainstays like the Deep Ones. He has yet to do everyone’s favorite dreamer but had previously created a portrait of the great Cthulhu, found after the jump.
As Halloween approaches Ectomo would just like to remind our readers to take the time and do some research when putting together a costume depicting the awful form of the great Cthulhu. Should you choose to ignore us and instead rush headlong into it you risk ending up like this poor cultist, fashioning a costume comprised of sausage links, a couch cushion, and a bathrobe, flailing your meaty appendages uselessly whilst everyone else has fun drinking punch and bobbing for apples. Heed our words, no one gives candy to Cthulhus with sausage hands. No one.
In his sunken stable of R’lyeh, dead My Little Cthulhu waits, dreaming. If you wish, you may brush his tentacles with the included comb. You do so at your own risk, however.
Yes, yes I realize this is the second time in as many Cthursdays that I’ve linked to Drew Pocza’s art; but the chance to post an illustration of the slumbering Old One decked out in Run DMC gear was, well, just too much for me to resist.
Life can be tough sometimes. Just remember, when life gets you down, when it’s pushing and shoving you to the ground, that is the time when a person must show their mettle. When the world pushes you, you push back; you Cthulhu up and you destroy all the life you can get your monstrous claws on.
Publisher Digital Jokers has announced their first game for Apple’s hot new electronic leash, an adaptation of their point-and-click adventure entitled Call of Cthulhu: Darkness Within. You’ll excuse my skepticism, but I’ll be interested to hear if this will even prove functional on an iPhone or Touch. One can only hope that the game isn’t of the “pixel-hunt” variety, as searching for that one, particular place to click is frustrating enough on a full sized monitor using a mouse, never mind on a three inch screen using one’s finger. I predict sanity crushing frustration, marked by the rainbow trails of greasy fingerprints and the gnashing of teeth.
The World Wildlife Federation — whose acronym inspires images of spandex clad pandas duking it out on television — really need to change their marketing tactics if they intend to inspire people to comport themselves in an ecologically sound manner. Revealing that the continued decimation of the biosphere will result in everyone becoming aquatic hybrids is only going to spur a large number of the population — likely those who previously acted in global good-conscience — into a polluting frenzy.
In sheer defiance of the World Wide Web Consortium's will, Ectomo was designed using a non-web-standard font. Luckily, it is included in the excellent font pack released by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which can be freely downloaded in Mac and PC formats here. Ectomo should still look fine without it, though.
