By Lyndsey Holder
Michael Alan Nelson (Author), Christopher Posseni (Illustrator) The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles BOOM! Studios; Original edition (March 1, 2011) ISBN-13: 978-1608860517
H.P. Lovecraft. Every aspiring writer of weird fiction pays homage to him at some point or another – Lovecraft is the author’s author; he’s like the Pixies of the written word.
Comics are no exception to this. There have been some excellent Lovecraftian comics: Hellboy, for instance, is at times very obviously influenced by Lovecraft’s works. Vertigo’s absolutely gorgeous graphic novel Lovecraft was a beautiful tribute to the man. Even the more mainstream comics have featured veins of eldritch horror – the Cthulhu Mythos was cleverly transmuted into the Batman universe in The Doom that Came to Gotham. No list of Lovecraft-inspired comics would be complete without a mention of Alan Moore, who unfortunately decided that Lovecraft’s misogyny and racism needed to be underlined and bolded and put in neon lights and so, wrote The Courtyard and Neonomicon.
I am lucky enough to have a friend at a comic shop who knows me well enough to put away any Lovecraft-related comics that pass his way. I’ve noticed a sharp drop-off in these lately, although Cthulhu merchandise seems to be popular, and seriously, who would not want a pair of Cthulhu slippers? When the stars are right and he arises from his slumber, he is going to eat all of us with the cute, little, plush representations of him first. Actual stories about Lovecraft or his works, however are becoming harder to find. Kids these days, I tell you. It’s all zombies and vampires – there’s no respect for the elder gods, anymore.
It’s unfortunate, this dearth of Lovecraftian stories, because it means that I’ll get excited about things that aren’t really very good. Lovecraft is very often imitated and generally poorly. I’ve read far too many horrible Lovecraft-inspired comics and my secret shame is that I’ll keep buying a series, even if it’s really bad, just because there isn’t always a good alternative that satisfies my Mythos craving.
However, out this month is a trade paperback of The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles from BOOM! Studios and it is so Lovecraft you’ll need to speak Aklo to fully appreciate it. Okay, not really, but it is Lovecraft and it’s Lovecraft done properly.
A cruise ship arrives at port, all its passengers dead. A pharmaceutical salesman finds that his sister has committed herself to a mental hospital – and who is that mysterious figure that appears behind her in photographs?
The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles has all of the elements of a typical Lovecraftian tale, from the ill-fated protagonist to the overarching feeling that you are but one tiny person in a callous, unfriendly world, victim to the machinations of cruel beings far too vast to comprehend.
The art is decent. One of my main grievances about comic art is when the artist draws the characters so similarly that it’s difficult to tell who is who and the story becomes muddled. This isn’t like that – it’s very clean, very easy to follow. I wouldn’t say that it was amazing or fantastic – it’s not something that you’d want to frame – but it does a good job of telling the story, which is really the most important thing.
The story itself is great, although I found the ending a bit lacking in the soul-crushing doom I typically associate with Lovecraft stories. I’m not really sure what that says about me, that I’m sitting here complaining that the ending of a comic wasn’t enough of a downer for my tastes, but I’m fairly certain it’s nothing good.
I hope that The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles does very well and inspires more well-written Lovecraftian comics. Perhaps this is the beginning of a glorious new era in which properly executed Lovecraft is the norm, and we can all wallow in depressing bleakness.
The Calling: Cthulhu Chronicles is available from Amazon.com
Bio: Lyndsey Holder is a Lovecraft nerd with a fondness for cephalopods.