Review Coming Soon: H.P. Lovecraft's Superhero Comics Stories!

[eric_hinkle]

Just got a great book in the mail that I'll be reviewing fully in a day or so after I read it. It covers H.P. Lovecraft's little-known or appreciated period from 1938-1947 when he was writing Golden Age superhero comics for Julius Schwartz alongside old pals like Robert Bloch and Fritz Leiber. It takes you back to the days of four-color comics when

Comments

[stokerbramwell]

I never even knew Lovecraft wrote comics!

[eric_hinkle]

I trust you know I'm joking about the "Lovecraft writing comics" bit. ;)

The book was more of a collection of Golden Age superhero characters -- mostly very obscure ones, where the writer didn't just make them up -- retooled to work in a Lovecraftian universe. Basically, imagine what the Golden Age Superman, Batman, and Captain America might have been like and who they would have fought if the comics were written according to Lovecraft's sensibilities.

Though some of them are indeed very cool, like Randolph Carter (hero of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath) as the Dream Master and an Egyptian mummy returned to life as a Doctor Fate/the Spectre homage, and the god Nodens as a good guy. And the villains are good. They have a Deep One from Innsmouth as Devilfish, crime boss and would-be world ruler; Nyarlathotep Lucifuge as a sorcerous Master of Evil (hey, who better?); and even The Dreams in the Witch-House's Keziah the Dimension-Rending witch together with Brown Jenkin!

It's not quite as good as I'd hoped, but it's worth what it

[stokerbramwell]

What's the title of the book, anyway? I might want to look it up myself!

[eric_hinkle]

It's Adventures Into Darkness: H.P. Lovecraft's Superheroic Horror, by Kenneth Hite. You can find it either at Hero Games in their store, or at Atomic Overmind Press. Happy hunting!