Jonathan Currinn
A while ago, I received four Dark Tales graphic novels that I couldn’t wait to start to read. They were all classic stories re-told with beautiful imagery. I was in awe of the beautiful covers when they arrived, as you can tell by my first article, and I loved reading them from cover to cover. They were sent to me for review on Fuzzable, so here’s the third one, which is Dark Tales: The Call Of Cthulhu: A Graphic Novel by H. P. Lovecraft and illustrated by Dave Shephard. I previously reviewed Dark Tales: Beauty And The Beast: A Modern Retelling by Jeanne-Marie Leprince and illustrated by Pete Katz here on Fuzzable and Dark Tales: The Hound Of The Baskervilles: A Graphic Novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and illustrated by Dave Shephard.
Before I had even picked up this book to read, I had researched Cthulhu because I have never heard of it – feel free to look at me with disapproval. This is officially my first H. P. Lovecraft story I’ve read and I really like the graphic novel format as it certainly brought the story to me and it’s one I’ll never forget. This version has certainly made me want to read the original novel, so much so that I’ve added it to my wishlist books.
Just like the previous books I’ve reviewed, I just have to comment on the gorgeous cover design. All four of these books are something I would probably have picked up if I was in a bookstore purely because of the cover artwork. It’s just stunning. On this one, we see Dave Shephard’s depiction of the Cthuhlu behind a ship that is caught up in some choppy waters.
The story opens with Henry Wilcox who is a prominent character, of sorts. He has been having nightmares and he has gone to see Professor Angell to ask for his help. We then jump forward in time where Mr. Thurston becomes our lead character where he attempts to find out what happened to his grandfather, Professor Angell, and this leads on to him attempting to complete the last of his work.
Mr. Thurston is thrust into quite the adventure as he talks to many different people about the Cthulhu. The adventure also leads into great backstories that are captured on the pages of this stunning graphic novel.
If there’s anything that lets this book down, it’s the jumping through time without allowing the reader to fully comprehend – but then again it gives us a good excuse to go over and over this beautiful imagery again and again. This was definitely my favourite out of the four books and it certainly piqued my interest to the extent where I want to read the original story now.
Dark Tales: The Call Of Cthuhlu by H. P. Lovecraft and illustrated by Dave Shephard, was released on 22 March 2018. It is available to buy online and you can find out more information on the official Canterbury Classics website. We can’t recommend this enough.
Look out for our reviews of the three accompany Dark Tales novels that were also released at the same time, in the coming weeks. These Canterbury Classics are “Beauty And The Beast” by Jeanne-Marie Leprince and illustrated by Pete Katz, “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and illustrated by Dave Shephard, and “The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen and illustrated by Emilie Majarian.
