Fall of Cthulhu Vol. 2: The Gathering
Grade 10 Up–Nelson and various teams inject a sophisticated artistic sensibility and a literary pedigree to the pulp-horror comic genre. This book collects issues 6 to 10 of the series, where the contemporary tales are set in the universe created by H. P. Lovecraft in his best-known stories. Each part covers the emergence or addition of a powerfully evil entity to serve under the leadership of Mr. Arkham, the human form of the god Nyarlathotep. While not awash in blood, guts, and gore, there are a fair number of decapitations, demons, and murderous children. The artwork effectively promotes a growing sense of menace, from the palatable isolation of Arctic explorers to the surreal journey of a mute masked girl to a hellish dream world. As a whole, the narrative structure is not as strong, mostly because the apocalypse seems inevitable. Even the insubordination of Arkham&'s previously unquestioning minion comes off as anticlimatic. Though this volume can stand alone, fans of Lovecraft and the series will definitely get more out of it than first-time readers.–Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public LibraryCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.