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5.0 out of 5 stars
The first English language Cthulhu manga!, February 7, 2009
Arkham Woods is manga book from Seaven Seas, a company well known to anime fans for such series as Boogiepop and Venus vs Virus. The author is Christopher Rowley (a fantasy/scifi author with Bazil Broketail and Starhammer to his credit) with art provided by Jhomar Soriano. List price is $9.99 with 200 pages of content, not discounted by Amazon. Like all manga, this is read back to front, then right to left, as in Japan (althoug there is no particular reason for that with this book, as it is an English language original as far as I know except perhaps for custom). As usual with comics and manga I approach them first as a Cthulhu mythos fan. I was grandly entertained by everything here.
Kirsti Rivers and her mother come to the town of Arkham Woods from California to live in an old house that they have inherited. Kirsti's mom is going blind and they need to sell the house to pay for her treatment. Kirst has made some friends: her boy friend Tommy Townsend, Dantwon Jones the star athlete, the brain at the local school Lin Won and a born again Christian boy Kevin spears who is also sweet on Kirsten. So far, this is pretty typical manga, middle school to high school aged protagonists who fit into convenient stereotypes. about a hundred years ago the house was owned by Krestazious Kraken, and was the site of some rather nefarious goings on. Whlie mom is away, Kirst and Tommy start exploring the house, and find some mysterious keys. They find a room filled with junk and inadvertantly open a hidden passage into a room filled with wooden boxes. Unfortunately they release something ancient and evil, although they don't realize it yet. Without spoilers, I can say some pretty good horrific and action sequences follow all the exposition. Up to the finale Arkham Woods is a pretty tautly plotted Cthulhu mythos comic, but then it deviates into something pure manga. Looking like a Tolkien-esque elf, Nyarlathotep appears and through convoluted means, helps to stop Cthullhu from freeing itself. We find out what happens to Kirsten and her mother in the epilogue.
I think this is an important book because it is the first English language Cthulhu mythos manga, and I think opens the door for a host of other ventures in the genre. HPL's creations are often seen in comics, why not manga? Maybe we will see some more tranlsations from the Japanese, like Taimashin #1. The art was quite good, especially the various beasties. The pictures of Cthulhu and its servitors were excellent, as were the action panels. As a manga comic it is first rate. As a Lovecraftian story it has a superb beginning and middle section. The finale was a misstep as far as I was concerned. Nyarlathotep looked nothing like an Egyptian (although I guess he doesn't have to; I just never imagined him as Orlando Bloom). Also, why would Azathoth intervene for the good of the planet, and why would Nyarlthotep seem so noble? Azathoth is an indifferent chaotic idiot, after all, and Nyarlathotep is trying to help Cthulhu get loose. Getting past this point, the epiogue was a fine conclusion.
I have no qulams about giving a warm recommendation to this book; I hope Mr. Rowley will write some other mythos manga! Anyone who reads it will while away a few very pleasant hours. I think it will hold up well to multiple re-reads (a big deal for all comics and manga fans!). Lovecraftian purists will need to let their hair down a little bit, but it's worth it.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
"Tentacles of some octopoid origin were snapping about its head as it progressed. It screeched most horrible.", June 30, 2011
Victoria Rivers is a well-known artist, and an unmentioned condition/disease is slowly causing her blindness. Unfortunately, her HMO won't cover the operation that will cure her, so she's moved to Arkham Woods to sell her Uncle Silas Scadmore's house to get the money needed. This is a move that doesn't go down well with Kira, her teenaged L. A. daughter, who doesn't like the New England winters. (Wuss!)
However things are looking up for Kira since she has hooked up with local boy Tommy Townsend. One day while Victoria is away seeing her doctor, Kira invites him over. When he comes over they explore the house and he sees a fanged, mounted, moose's head hanging in a stair's landing. This is dubbed a "wood goat", and Tommy sends a picture of it to the New Jersey transplant, his friend Dantwan Jones.
While waiting for him to show up they continue to explore the house and they find some strange chests in the house's attic. Opening up the chests they find some near human skeletons, only the skeletons have had the skulls separated from the bodies, which are stored in separate, smaller, chests. Needing for an explanation for what they have uncovered they call Dantwan's girlfriend, Lin Won, who comes over, and after an examination, comes to the conclusion that what they are dealing with isn't human. Then shows up the born-again Christian Kevin Spears, the story's mandatory fifth wheel, and the whole bunch of them end up in the basement. It's Spears who is the only one amongst them with the brains to realize that they are dealing with something evil. They also find that the basement stones can be moved about and/or easily lifted out to form and octopod creature.
While the bones are scattered about Kira's mom comes home, and as adults are want to do in books that are written down to juveniles by adults, freaks out. She is more upset over the fact that there ARE bones there than WHY there are bones there. Then Cthulhu comes to Kira in a dream, causing Kira to slit her wrists and paint pictograms on her bedroom wall.
Then things go downhill from there. The basic problem with this graphic novel is that it pretty much falls down on all fronts. The characters are all clichés. Kira, the novel's centerpiece, is your typical California blond teenager, Dantwan Jones is your typical black kid, a jock, and the first to buy it. Lin Won is your clichéd Asian, cute, long-haired, and a genius, Kevin Spears is a hysterical born-again bible-thumper whose weak mind folds at the first test of his faith, and all the adults, when they make an appearance, just ain't too bright. And why did I have to use the back cover to find out what some of the character's names are?
The story also isn't all that special either. Kira is constantly using the "I wish I had listened, soon they would be dead" plot device, and it got tiresome. The house turns out to have been originally built by Kretazious Kraken (!), has a long history of violence, Cthulhu is escaping from R'lyeh, some humanoid creatures, the Mi-Go?, (see customer images) are revived. The creatures then proceed to run amok and eat people's brains, and the world is in danger of being destroyed again. Nothing is really new here, much is cliché, and much is wrong. I mean, Nyarlathotep, who is ALWAYS described as the "Dark Man" shows up as a long-haired, blond Adonis (!!).
And lastly, there's the artwork, which is competent at best, and uninspired at worst, with most of the artwork looking like rough pencils. And EVERY single character looks alike, The end pages show Jhomar Soriano's early character design, and they are much better than what was finally used, as these characters show much more individuality, and aren't like the final cookie-cutter final results. And this is supposed to be a New England winter? Where's the snow, there ain't a snowflake to be seen. Great cover though.
In the end though, what we are left is a piece of second-rate fan fiction. Lovecraft was done better before this in manga form, and it's been done better since. Only for completists, and only if, like me, you can get this cheap.
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