Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Neonomicon

I really was not expecting something so, er, rife with the “liveliest awfulness” (to make a pointless reference to a Lovecraft story, to which this comic is also rife). I was not aware of the censorship issues with this title, nor the “controversial” aspects of the plot- I guess this was a very good reading choice for Banned Books Week, even if I did not plan it that way! After reading “Neonomicon,” a collection of a few Lovecraftian stories by famed comic book writer Alan Moore, I can definitely see why, as I have rarely seen anything quite so vile; I guess I’m beginning to see that I’m really not the biggest fan of Alan Moore.

“Neonomicon” rips into it’s analysis of Lovecraft’s sexual and social subtext with all the subtlety of a shoggoth gulping down two dozen giant albino penguins and a few Antarctic explorers. The stories follow the investigation of a xenophobic racist asexual FBI agent (HPL?) into a series of brutal, senseless murders that are linked by some odd, minor coincidences. He encounters a weird goth-punk band, the Ulthar Cats, and a drug dealer who just might be Nyarlathotep. Later, after the agent goes completely mad and joins in the killings, another pair of FBI agents take up the investigation but stumble upon a cult of racist yuppies in Salem, MA who introduce them to some of the more horrifying denizens of the deep. There are some kernels of interesting ideas, taking Lovecraft’s work in new directions, but oftentimes boils down to ham-fisted analysis of Lovecraft’s foibles, using the old cliche that Lovecraft was really writing about “the truth.” Little is explained, which can be a plus in such stories, but here just comes off as obtuse. In many ways, for instance, the setting itself seemed really dated (the club they visited included young scenesters dressed in fashions not topical since the mid ‘90s) while the FBI looked right out of the X-Files. On the other hand, there are weird futuristic/alternate world elements that are never explained, such as references to a President Farrakhan and the huge domes over the city skylines.

Then there is the matter of the utterly over the top sexual violence and racism that, I feel, add little more than rote shock value. I can see Moore’s intent was to comment on the latent racism and misogyny seething below the surface of Lovecraft’s horror, but how is this served by ratcheting it all “up to eleven” and making something even more racist and misogynistic than anything in Lovecraft? Lovecraft was racist, right? Let’s hammer the reader over the head with so much ugly racist pablum they can’t tell if it is not better that Cthulhu does devour all of foul humanity. On occasion, such analysis go past the boundary of mere commentary on violence, racism, and rape culture to the point where there is really no difference between itself and the subjects it is trying to criticize. However, I can say that I was happy that my local library carries a copy of this graphic novel for its patrons to make up their own minds as to its artistic merits, as I would not really want to have to purchase it myself.

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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Neonomicon by Alan Moore

alukemartin's review

mildred981's review

sobral's review against another edition

otterno11's review against another edition