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A review by zare_i
Neonomicon by Alan Moore
4.0
So this collection is a weird one. Story "The Courtyard" is pretty much what you be expecting from the Lovecraft story. There is horror element, bizarre people uttering incomprehensible words and a detective hunting down mysterious murderers that seem completely unconnected, independent from each other but commencing gruesome murders in a same way. And then detective makes the mistake.
Story is full of tension, you do not see much of actual bloodshed - everything is right there but somewhere in the periphery of your vision. As I said very Lovecraftian.
Then we get to "Neonomicon" story arc. It is basically continuation of Courtyard but now detective from that story is arrested and committed to mental institution after events in "The Courtyard". Nobody knows what happened to the man - he speaks same gibberish language as those he initially hunted himself - but everything points to the same location where he sought the murderers. Two agents (male and female, where female has certain sexual addiction problems) are sent to investigate and then situation escalates rather quickly - very soon horrendous creatures start popping out. It ends on a rather strange (and rather depressing) note for the humanity itself because in the end everything hints to birth (and thus invasion or awakening) of ancient monsters bent on destroying humanity. Are we but a dream of a monster or do we all exist on separate astral planes and monsters are thinning the borders between the planes thus endangering us? Is what we see the past or the future - are the monsters yet to be born in the first place? Are Lovecraft's works basis for the strange cults or are they inspired by true stories buried down by authorities? Again, very interesting and very Lovecraftian.
And then we get to most conflicting part of this story - monster raping above mentioned female agent. Is it disturbing, oh believe me it is. Following contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk. That aside in regard to the topic of monster rape... As I said this is very disturbing scene and as far as I can see it is main reason why people don't like this collection. Again very understandable. With all of that keep in mind that sexual attack was always present in Lovecraft stories - never the detailed act itself but in hints and general neurosis and madness of the events. Also do note that in art first step for shock is always through sex and nudity. It must be something in us that drives us that way but I am yet to see representation of decadent society that does not include some sexual perversion or other (just look at Metabarons and latest [and even rather good [but using same approach]] Elric of Melninbone series of graphic novels).
In many aspects this story seems very much like Warhammer40k story - especially time warping and establishment of monster portals through living beings. But again W40K has many common elements with unspeakable terrors from Lovecraft.
So to sum it up - pretty much what you would expect from Lovecraft is present here: depression, madness, hints of horrors and no happy ending.
This is not for underage readers due to rather traumatic part of the story - it is prolonged sequence, that indirectly shows all the horror, fear and despair (there are no explicit scenes in here) and maybe this is what makes it more horrifying. If you cannot stomach it then I would not advise you to go through this comic collection.
Recommended to all fans of Lovecraft and horror stories.
Story is full of tension, you do not see much of actual bloodshed - everything is right there but somewhere in the periphery of your vision. As I said very Lovecraftian.
Then we get to "Neonomicon" story arc. It is basically continuation of Courtyard but now detective from that story is arrested and committed to mental institution after events in "The Courtyard". Nobody knows what happened to the man - he speaks same gibberish language as those he initially hunted himself - but everything points to the same location where he sought the murderers. Two agents (male and female, where female has certain sexual addiction problems) are sent to investigate and then situation escalates rather quickly - very soon horrendous creatures start popping out. It ends on a rather strange (and rather depressing) note for the humanity itself because in the end everything hints to birth (and thus invasion or awakening) of ancient monsters bent on destroying humanity. Are we but a dream of a monster or do we all exist on separate astral planes and monsters are thinning the borders between the planes thus endangering us? Is what we see the past or the future - are the monsters yet to be born in the first place? Are Lovecraft's works basis for the strange cults or are they inspired by true stories buried down by authorities? Again, very interesting and very Lovecraftian.
And then we get to most conflicting part of this story - monster raping above mentioned female agent. Is it disturbing, oh believe me it is. Following contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk.
Spoiler
Captured by the cult and offered to the unspeakable monstrosity of the deep as a sex toy agent barely survives and at the end is even offered help by that very same monster because it sensed something in her that makes her very special for its kind. After police rescues her and kills the monster in the process, strange language and images become more regular and soon she finds out that she is actually a portal for this horrendous creatures into our own reality. When she meets the detective from "The Courtyard" and starts talking the strange language she gets the confirmation that she is living portal that will enable monsters takeover of the planet and rise of their civilization. Crazed detective calls her a Chosen and even raises her to the level of deity - all of this just shows how dangerous she is to human civilization.In many aspects this story seems very much like Warhammer40k story - especially time warping and establishment of monster portals through living beings. But again W40K has many common elements with unspeakable terrors from Lovecraft.
So to sum it up - pretty much what you would expect from Lovecraft is present here: depression, madness, hints of horrors and no happy ending.
This is not for underage readers due to rather traumatic part of the story - it is prolonged sequence, that indirectly shows all the horror, fear and despair (there are no explicit scenes in here) and maybe this is what makes it more horrifying. If you cannot stomach it then I would not advise you to go through this comic collection.
Recommended to all fans of Lovecraft and horror stories.