Snapshot review: 4/5
Written by H.P. Lovecraft
Adapted by Ian N. J. Culbard
128 pages, color
Published by Illustrated Classics
As I have been working on my latest personal project (which if you sign up for “anytime” emails, you’ll hear more about first!), I’ve been on the lookout for books that have a certain visual style that I keep thinking of in my head that I would like to emulate for the story. I happened across this book one night in the book store and it was perfect. So, I found it mostly for studying the style, but I stayed for the Lovecraft.
It wasn’t too long ago that I dipped my toe into the Lovecraftian waters with The Call for Cthulhu for Beginning Readers. I loved it so much that I was directed to a source of free Lovecraft audiobooks. Anyway, this book was a great way to swim a little deeper in while also looking at some stunning artwork.
At the Mountains of Madness reminded me of John Carpenter’s The Thing in both tone and setting (which is great because that’s one of my favorite horror movies). It’s told from the perspective of a geologist who is retelling the story of he and a group of scientists traveling to Antarctica in a time when only one other explorer had been there. The area was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. And their party had gone down to take samples of the ground to see what they could find. When they get there, they find more than they bargained for and death and horror ensue!
It seems that storytellers have adapted this story over time to include different unknown terrains. From the bottom of the sea, to the moon, to Mars, to Europa and beyond. What H.P. Lovecraft did best was to remind people of how little we actually knew of our world and the universe we live in. His stories thrive on the idea that if we ever realized how insignificant we were, it would break our brains and drive us bananas.
Ian N. J. Culbard has captured this mystery in a fantastic way. His style has a similarity to Hergé’s Tin Tin series, but there’s a certain seriousness to the whole thing that I found fascinating. The characters were cartoonish but the landscapes were fantastic (in the original sense of the word) and the events and details gruesome. It’s this sensibility for when to show detail and when not to that I found especially attractive. I will be on the lookout for more books illustrated by Culbard in the future.
Summary: At the Mountains of Madness is a great horror/mystery comic with fantastic art and Lovecraft’s spirit. Fantastic read, would definitely read again.
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