Alan Moore's The Courtyard [Paperback]

Alan Moore (Author), Jacen Burrows (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2004

FBI man Aldo Sax has an amazing service record with the FBI. His legendary skills at piecing together the most baffling of cases has gotten him assigned to what may be his most confusing case yet. Several murders, no, more like lethal dismemberments, from the most unlikely of suspects just don't add up. And what few leads there are, all point to The Courtyard. Introduction by Garth Ennis.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Moore is widely considered to be the greatest comic book writer of all time. With over thirty years dedicated to the medium, his body of work includes Watchmen (the best-selling graphic novel in history), From Hell, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Swamp Thing, Tom Strong, Promethea, V for Vendetta, and Lost Girls, just to name a few.He is the nine-time winner of the Eisner Award for Best Writer, and recipient of a Hugo Award. Avatar Press has published numerous Moore projects in recent years, including his seminal guide to graphic storytelling, WRITING FOR COMICS. His other Avatar projects include HYPOTHETICAL LIZARD, YUGGOTH CULTURES, and the highly anticipated Fall 2011 release, NEONOMICON. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 56 pages
• Publisher: Avatar Press (February 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592910157
• ISBN-13: 978-1592910151
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,691,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Antony Johnston is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of comics, graphic novels, video games and books, with titles including Wasteland, Daredevil, Dead Space, Julius, and Frightening Curves. He has also adapted books by bestselling novelist Anthony Horowitz, collaborated with comics legend Alan Moore, and reinvented Marvel's flagship character Wolverine for manga. His titles have been translated throughout the world and optioned for film. He lives and works in England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ulthar Cats Worldwide Tour!, March 25, 2004

By 

Misfit "misfit_138" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alan Moore's The Courtyard Deluxe Hardcover Set (Hardcover)

This book blew my mind! Unlike most people who probably read it, I had no idea it was a Lovecraftian piece, just that it was Alan Moore's first horror comic in something like a decade. So as I read it I was confronted with a vaguely unsettling sense of familiarity, until I realized at the end exactly what this monstrosity was and started over from the beginning! Notes in Yuggoth Cultures #3 (another Lovecraftian collection by Moore) reveal that The Courtyard was originally intended as part of a novel (Yuggoth Cultures) wherein he treated Lovecraft's 36 sonnet "Fungi From Yuggoth" cycle as "literary fungi" (basically taking each sonnet and writing a story based on or inspired by it) So this is NOT like the many lovecraft pastiches out there which just invent more extraterrestrial deities, it's Alan Moore's warped take on Lovecraft's universe. There's even some mystical concepts worked into the tapestry, the like of which might be somewhat familiar to Promethea readers, except they're twisted to fit a very Lovecraftian end...I must have read this thing four or five times by now, and each time I read it I pick up on things I didn't notice or didn't understand before. I don't have the companion (yet!) but I'm sure it enhances the reading immensely...

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars go buy the companion, December 8, 2005

By 

g10tto "Chris" (Kingston Springs, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Paperback)

I picked this up at my school's library(along with 100 Bullets, go figure) and read through in about 20 minutes. Well, gee, that was short. Very Lovecraftian ending, which still intrigues me, and some nice hallucenogenic visuals...but what happened? It was like a short story that didn't feel the need to elaborate on its characters at all, therefore, I don't sympathize with any of them. So yeah, if you want the actual experience of this piece, just forego this 20-minute noir fix and pick up the Companion--which makes little sense to me that it needs a companion when it's but one issue that anyone can manage by themselves.

The companion is just under the price of the hardback copy and has not only the script(like I said, why buy the comic?) but more original art, essays, and the references that are practically required for the HPL uninitiated. Interesting little read. I think I just spent half the time reviewing the book that I spent reading it.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovecraftian brilliance, July 19, 2009

By 

Matthew T. Carpenter (Peoria, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Color Edition) (Paperback)

I first read Moore's short story The Courtyard in Starry Wisdom back in 1994. I did not have a favorable impression but after all these years I guess it was because the whole book put me off (still does; haven't yet read the sequel). I only recently found out he made it into a comic. Avatar has just issued a full color edition, which is how I encountered it. Jacen Burrows provides the art and Juanmar the interior colors.

The story takes place in Red Hook and it owes a good deal to HPL's story The Horror at Red Hook. Again strange horrific crimes are taking place and a federal agent is sent to investigate under deep cover. Like HPL's Malone, Agent Sax is world weary and deeply prejudiced. Moore does not shy away from the racism that suffused the original story; in fact it makes this comic that much more gritty and realistic. To solve the crimes he traces everything back perhaps to a drug being sold in a club in Red Hook. Under deep cover he attempts to get a sample so he can nail the dealer. He succeeds after a fashion.

The story is taut and intense, very compelling. Language and imagery are graphic, but I did not think gratuitously so. It all fit so well with the mood being created. The artwork and colors are superb. For Lovecraftians, there are quite a few HPL place and character names that pop up in the narrative. It is a nice diversion to place them all; any assiduous fan should be able to do it. But better still, the story's horrors that slowly reveal themselves are quite Lovecraftian in their sensibility.

Previously I thought Fall of Cthulhu was the finest Lovecraftian comic book, and it was great although I was let down by the way the series wound down. Now I think this title by Moore takes the crown. Anyone who likes mythos comics should read this book.