Few writers in history have managed to sustain the lasting influence that HP Lovecraft has.
However, many attempt to occupy his seat by continuing his legacy through Lovecraft inspired
works, whether it be through books, films, or even graphic novels. So today on Top 5
Scary Videos, I’m going to be counting down our list of the Top 5 Scariest Cosmic Horror
Comics You Need To Read. Before we begin though, be sure to stick around until the end of the
video where I’ll be responding to some of your comments, and with that, let’s jump
in.
5 Locke and Key Locke and Key is an American comic book series
written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez, and published by IDW Publishing.
The plot is presented in non-chronological order. During the American Revolution, a group
of Rebels, hiding beneath the future Keyhouse, discover a portal to another dimension, the
plains of Leng filled with demons who can mesmerize anyone that seems them and possess
them through touch. However, when demons attempt to enter the real world, they collapse into
lumps of whispering iron, which young smith Benjamin Locke forges into a variety of magical
keys, including the Omega Key, which seals the entrance to the dimension. The magic of
the Keyhouse gradually evolves over the years, including a spell which causes occupants to
forget about the keys and the magic of the house when they pass their 18th birthday.
The narrative of Locke and Key is structured in three acts. Each act consists of two storylines
of six monthly issues. Act One’s story arc, Welcome to Lovecraft, was a six-issue limited
series published by IDW Publishing. The series was adapted into a film trilogy
which was officially announced at the 2014 comic con. However, in october 2015, Joe Hill
confirmed that the films are no longer happening. However, he stated that a TV series is still
possible. In May 2016, Joe Hill announced he would write a TV pilot, serve as executive
producer and pitch the show to various networks.
4 Fatale Fatale is a supernatural noir comic book created
by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips. It was published by Image Comics between January 2012 and July
2014. The series was initially announced as a 12-issue limited series, but it was later
extended to 24 issues. Fatale chronicles the life of Josephine, or Jo, an archetypal femme
fatale who is seeemingly immortal, having survived from the 1930s to the modern day
unaged, and also has a supernatural ability to hypnotize men into becoming intensely infatuated
with her, whether she wants them to be or not. Through the decades, Jo struggles to
understand and control her powers while being pursued by a violent cult. The cult worships
cosmic gods reminiscent of Lovecraftian horrors, which are somehow tied to Jo. During her travels,
Jo also encounters many men who quickly become entranced by her, often to fanatical degrees.
They become entangled in her escapades, possibly as guardians, collaborators, and lovers. A
motif of the series is how these men pay dearly for becoming involved with Jo.The narrative
jumps back and forth between different time periods and points of view, primarily Jo and
then men entranced by her. The first issue of the series sold well, with reviews being
mostly positive with comparisons to the creative team’s previous work on Sleeper, Criminal,
and Incognito.
3 The Courtyard Alan Moore’s The Courtyard is a two-issue
comic book mini-series published back in 2003 by Avatar Press. The comic was adapted by
Antony Johnston with artwork by Jacen Burrows from a 1994 prose story by Alan Moore. The
plot concerns Aldo Sax, an FBI agent using “anomaly theory”, a method that correlates
seemingly unrelated data into a cohesive whole, to investigate three smingly unrelated ritual
murders around the United States. His investigation leads him to a nightclub in Red Hook, Brooklyn
where he hears of a psychoactive drug called Aklo, peddled by a mysterious veiled man named
Johnny Carcosa. Sax sets up a meet with Carcosa at the dealer’s apartment building, where
he is given a hallucinogenic white powder as a prelude to the Aklo. Carcosa speaks an
unknown language to Sax, who experiences visions of spectral planes and hideous primordial
creatures, while understanding the truth that Aklo is not a drug, but the language Carcosa
spoke to him. The visions, given to him by Aklo, drive Sax to murder his neighbor using
the same modus operandi as the killers he was investigating. The original 1994 prose
story first appeared in an anthology, The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to HP Lovecraft.
The comic book adaptation was pllaned to appear in Alan Moore’s Yuggoth Cultures and Other
Growths, but it was published as a limited series by Avatar in January February 2003.
2 Neonomicon Neonomicon is a four-issue comic book limited
series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Jacen Burrows, published by American Company
Avatar Press in 2010. The story is a sequel to Moore’s The Courtyard and part of HP
Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Moore later continued the sequence with his comic Providence. The
plot concerns FBI agents Lamper and Brears who visit Aldo Sax at a psychiatric hospital,
where he has been detained since committing two murders. They are investigating a copycat
killer, and want to question Sax about his motives. Moore talked about the genesis of
the project in an interview with Wired Magazine: “It was just at the time when I finally
parted company with DC Comics over something dreadful that happened around the Watchmen
film...I had a tax bill coming up, and I needed some money quickly. So I happened to be talking
to William A Christensen from Avatar Press, and he suggested that he could provide some
if I was up for doing a four-part series, so I did. So although I took it to pay off
the tax bill, I’m always going to make sure I try and make it the best possible story
I can.” According to reports, Moore wanted to elaborate on some of the ideas presented
in The Courtyard while at the same time telling a modern story that did not rely upon a 1930s
atmosphere. Another idea was to use some of the elements he felt Lovecraft himself and
pastiche writers censored or left out of the stories, such as the racism and sexual phobias.
Moore explains: “Lovecraft was sexually squeamish; would only talk of certain nameless
rituals. Or he’d use some euphemism: blasphemous rites. It was pretty obvious, given that a
lot of his stories detailed the inhuman offspring of these blasphemous rituals that sex was
probably involved somewhere along the line. But that never used to feature in Lovecraft’s
stories, except as a kind of suggested undercurrent. So I thought, let’s put all of the unpleasant
racial stuff back in, let’s put sex back in. Let’s come up with some genuinely nameless
rituals: let’s give them a name.”
1 Fall of Cthulhu Fall of Cthulhu is a 2007 American comic book
series, written by Michael Alan Nelson and published by Boom! Studios. The series itself
was creatively influenced by the works of HP Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, specifically
“The Call of Cthulhu”, with the main characters of the comic finding themselves swept up in
an ancient and elaborate plot, designed by the dark god Nyarlathotep to provoke an apocalyptic
war between powerful beings known as the Great Old Ones. Following the initial 15 issue series
in June 2008, a sequel four-issue miniseries subtitled Godwar began publication the following
month. “Fall of Cthulhu” Apocalypse, a second four-issue miniseries, ran from November
2008 to February 2009. Then, the third and final miniseries, Fall of Cthulhu: Nemesis,
acted as both a prequel and coda, detailing the origin of Mr. Arkham’s pet cat. Hexed,
a spin-off four-issue limited series starring Lucifer, also written by Nelson and illustrated
by Emma Riso was published alongside Apocalu[se. An ongoing series that ran for 12 issues,
also titled Hexed, was launched in August 2008.
Well, there we have it! Do you guys agree with our list? Were there any Cosmic Horror
Comics that we missed? Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and
perhaps we can do a part 2. Before I go though, I just want to respond to a few comments from
one of our last videos, Top 5 Greatest Horror Movies Nobody Watched - Part 2.
Mr-ScarySketchy said: “Hush is one of the most underrated horror movies of the last
decade. Very small amounts of kills and more focus put on a terrifying atmosphere. I love
it!” ----
Adam Jenks said: “the owls are not what they seem” - now I want to rewatch Twin
Peaks. Welcome back, Lucy. Hope you enjoyed your holiday.” ----
RG Crispin said: “The intro sounded like she was convincing herself rather than us.”
---
Juria316 said: “So glad you included both ‘As Above, So Below’ and ‘The House
At The End of The Street,’ as I thought both were excellent movies and criminally
underrated.” ----
And on that note, if you haven’t already, be sure to give this video a big thumbs up,
subscribe, and turn on notifications so you never miss another Scary vid. And until next
time, see ya later.