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ramonnogueras's review
3.0
Alan Moore domina el género. No importa cuándo leas esto.
Esta es una historia que podría ser una partida de Delta Green. Ahora quiero que Alan Moore me arbitre Delta Green. Me cago en mi vida.
Se trata de una historia corta sobre cómo un agente federal especializado en casos extraños investiga un caso de los Mitos en la actualidad sin saber acerca de los Mitos (cree que el Aklo es una droga), y lo que los Mitos hacen contigo. Ni más ni menos. Si te gusta el horror de Lovecraft, es para ti. Si no, no. Es una historia completamente sólida, y el dibujo de Jacen Burrows está, como siempre, a la altura.
Esta es una historia que podría ser una partida de Delta Green. Ahora quiero que Alan Moore me arbitre Delta Green. Me cago en mi vida.
Se trata de una historia corta sobre cómo un agente federal especializado en casos extraños investiga un caso de los Mitos en la actualidad sin saber acerca de los Mitos (cree que el Aklo es una droga), y lo que los Mitos hacen contigo. Ni más ni menos. Si te gusta el horror de Lovecraft, es para ti. Si no, no. Es una historia completamente sólida, y el dibujo de Jacen Burrows está, como siempre, a la altura.
erimia's review
5.0
This Lovecraftian story is so great it seems almost Ligottian - and that's the best thing you can say about any Lovecraftian story.
arthurbdd's review
3.0
It's alright, but adapting this to comics format doesn't add that much over the original prose short story, which I consider the definitive version of this tale. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2018/06/11/alan-moores-yuggoth-pastiches/
bananafreckles's review
I'm pretty sure there's a lot going on here that I don't understand at all.
crowyhead's review
3.0
A brief, intriguing foray into Lovecraftian horror. Still, I'm glad I didn't buy this one, because it was very short, and thus punchy, but just a tad unsatisfying.
verkisto's review
3.0
As mentioned previously, I've tracked down some of Alan Moore's more recent works to get caught up on him. I've been a fan of his for a while, though his later work isn't nearly as good as his earlier stuff, but even then, his stories have a certain style and punch to them that makes it distinctive. The Courtyard is the first in a series of three collections using the Cthulhu Mythos as their center.
In The Courtyard, we meet a government agent in a world very similar to ours, though it's significantly different. This agent is investigating three different murder cases that seem related, despite the different locations and perpetrators, and his job is to find the connection that links all of those murders. His investigation takes him to a club where he sees a band perform, and then meets a strange man from whom he purchases a drug that he thinks links all of the cases together. He discovers that he is right, but not in a way that he expects.
This is a brief graphic novel (56 pages), so the story moves quickly, and is more build-up than conclusion. Additionally, it's lacking some of the poignant points that I've come to expect in Moore's work. Instead, it seems more focused on story, but it feels like it's incomplete. It does seem to be saying something, as Moore appropriates some thematic elements that makes it a commentary on Lovecraft himself. Lovecraft is a troublesome role model, as he was a blatant racist, and Moore makes his main character the same. The thing is, that point doesn't go anywhere significant. It seems to be there to shock more than anything, which is disappointing when you consider Moore also wrote the classics Watchmen and V for Vendetta, which were all about making a point.
It turns out that The Courtyard is an adaptation based on a prose story Moore wrote for a Lovecraftian collection several years before. Given that the adaptation was written by someone else (Johnston) instead of Moore, I assume that the foibles of the story are due to the adaptation and not the work itself. Either that or the story was just too short to go into the level of detail that I expect from Moore.
I'm interested in seeing where the story goes from here. It's so short that it seems to require more to fill in the blanks, which I assume will happen in Neonomicon and Providence. I'm not sure if I would recommend it at this point, given that the story is out of print and commanding some high prices on the secondary market. As it is, the minimal story doesn't justify the prices, but if it serves as the starting point for a larger, more cohesive story in the following volumes, maybe it will be worth it. We'll see.
In The Courtyard, we meet a government agent in a world very similar to ours, though it's significantly different. This agent is investigating three different murder cases that seem related, despite the different locations and perpetrators, and his job is to find the connection that links all of those murders. His investigation takes him to a club where he sees a band perform, and then meets a strange man from whom he purchases a drug that he thinks links all of the cases together. He discovers that he is right, but not in a way that he expects.
This is a brief graphic novel (56 pages), so the story moves quickly, and is more build-up than conclusion. Additionally, it's lacking some of the poignant points that I've come to expect in Moore's work. Instead, it seems more focused on story, but it feels like it's incomplete. It does seem to be saying something, as Moore appropriates some thematic elements that makes it a commentary on Lovecraft himself. Lovecraft is a troublesome role model, as he was a blatant racist, and Moore makes his main character the same. The thing is, that point doesn't go anywhere significant. It seems to be there to shock more than anything, which is disappointing when you consider Moore also wrote the classics Watchmen and V for Vendetta, which were all about making a point.
It turns out that The Courtyard is an adaptation based on a prose story Moore wrote for a Lovecraftian collection several years before. Given that the adaptation was written by someone else (Johnston) instead of Moore, I assume that the foibles of the story are due to the adaptation and not the work itself. Either that or the story was just too short to go into the level of detail that I expect from Moore.
I'm interested in seeing where the story goes from here. It's so short that it seems to require more to fill in the blanks, which I assume will happen in Neonomicon and Providence. I'm not sure if I would recommend it at this point, given that the story is out of print and commanding some high prices on the secondary market. As it is, the minimal story doesn't justify the prices, but if it serves as the starting point for a larger, more cohesive story in the following volumes, maybe it will be worth it. We'll see.
directorpurry's review
4.0
CW: gore, drug use, racism, antisemitic slurs, references to N*zis, mental illness comments
This story is closely related to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" which I previously read and reviewed here!
Dismantling Lovecraft is one of my favorite genres/literary concepts. Generally, I find his writing boring and painfully racist/xenophobic/antisemitic, so it's lots of fun to see non-white and LGBT writers take stabs at him.
In this particular instance, it's not a dismantling so much as a bare-ing. This story hits many of the Lovecraft expectations while upholding the typical disgustingly racist/xenophobic/antisemitic/etc male narrator, but in almost a tongue-in-cheek way. Both the reader and the author are aware of how terrible Aldo Sax is.
And that kind of makes it more fun to watch him get absolutely fucked over.
This story is closely related to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" which I previously read and reviewed here!
Dismantling Lovecraft is one of my favorite genres/literary concepts. Generally, I find his writing boring and painfully racist/xenophobic/antisemitic, so it's lots of fun to see non-white and LGBT writers take stabs at him.
In this particular instance, it's not a dismantling so much as a bare-ing. This story hits many of the Lovecraft expectations while upholding the typical disgustingly racist/xenophobic/antisemitic/etc male narrator, but in almost a tongue-in-cheek way. Both the reader and the author are aware of how terrible Aldo Sax is.
And that kind of makes it more fun to watch him get absolutely fucked over.
theartolater's review
5.0
For a 56 page graphic novel, this is really, really strong. Just creepy enough, has enough nods to the mythos, and has plenty of the whole "Alan Moore is probably a pretty scary person" vibe to it. I reached for this after reading the 4 issues of Neonomicon, so seeing some of the stuff in the newer Neonomicon issues that are described here was a neat little flashback.
Definitely worth your time if you're into Cthuhlu/Lovecrafty-type stuff.
Definitely worth your time if you're into Cthuhlu/Lovecrafty-type stuff.
spoerk's review
2.0
Eh. Not good, but not horrible. A good little story, just isn't super memorable.
beyadob's review
5.0
Finally, Lovecraftian fiction that's actually on par with Lovecraft. The ending was amazing.