Customer Reviews

Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Color Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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...

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.

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.

Very good story but first let me clear some things up. The book is not double long like it appears in the picture above, that is actually the front cover on the right and back cover on the left, but the size is about the same as a comic. Second it is in black and white, which is alright but unfortunate because of how beautiful color makes the covers look.

Obviously this story doesn't seem to appeal to everyone. I haven't read lovecraft so maybe in comparison it sucks, I am however actively interested in the occult studies, and I'm going to go out on a limb here and say if you're neither interested in the occult or lovecraft you're probably going to find this very unenjoyable, that is to say it's definitely geared towards those audiences.

If you like horror it's my understanding that you should run, not walk, and get yourself some H.P. Lovecraft to read immediately. I'd also like to recommend to anybody who wants to know more about this occult stuff that Alan Moore himself is so enamored with to check out Robert Anton Wilson as soon as humanly possible.

I liked this book, it spooked me, or was that me just working myself up? At any rate it was a cool fun twisted good time on the edges of sanity with an FBI Agent, Presidential cover-up Evil Rock bands, drugs, flaming weirdoes, and the elder gods. Not to be missed by those especially attuned to receive this transmission.

Rather bizarre and disturbing at times, but well written and illustrated. Not for small children, unless you are raising sociopaths.

An undercover federal agent is on the lookout for a peculiar drug that's sweeping the underground music scene. The agent, Aldo Sax, traces it to a rock concert where he's directed to a mysterious fellow with a veil over his mouth who speaks with a lisp. But what's that strange language he speaks? And will Aldo make it back to reality once he's tried this drug?

This odd short comic book has undertones of HP Lovecraft as the weird language the dealer and the rock group speak sounds a lot like the kind of stuff Cthulu and shoggoths would say. Then there are the hallucinations once Aldo takes the drug, the depictions of which look pretty damn frightening yet reminiscent of what most people would think of as the kind of stuff Lovecraft wrote about.

Jacen Burrows' artwork really makes this book stand out. His artwork is always top notch but his work on the hallucinations really put this into some of his best efforts. Also it's worth noting that while Alan Moore is credited here, his input was the idea of the story - Antony Johnston wrote the script.

A pretty decent, bizarre comic book to read, it's worth picking up "Neonomicon" by Alan Moore as that is the sequel to "The Courtyard" and includes it as a prologue to the book as well. I think Lovecraft would have approved of this nasty little nightmare of a book.

All the low ratings for this book are by fanboys of the "Cthulhu Mythos". This Graphic Novel is much BETTER than the stories by Lovecraft in my opinion. I wonder how many of these fanboys can PRONOUNCE "Cthulhu" (the pronunciation is given in a history of Lovecraft, and nobody would guess it). Come on fellow Courtyard Lovers -- make your ratings known! It's so depressing to see such a great graphic novel (followed by the great series "Neonomicon 1 through 4") being downgraded by these deadheads!

When this first came out, it was like a little light shining through the casmos. Alan's here, and he had work to do. I always like looking at Moore's work, and I always like it when more picks up something tasty and makes it better - in a way it isn't really supposed to be done anyhow.

When approaching Lovecraftian stories, I have seen a lot of things happen in a story and I have dealt with some nasty people. A lot of the Gods are nasty as well, and that makes you think of followers sometimes and Gods sometimes but you forget the whole thing is cemented by people. That is why I really like this guy. He is a person and not just a doodle.

One thing I like about him is he is flawed. He is even a racist, classist, and one of those rare birds that believes they belong on top of the roost. Still, the Badge seems to help him with his tteth and his other elation has him going as well. The one thing I have to say about this is that it is not kid-oriented, should not be considered that way, and should be seen as one of the first real horror comics. Not only do you have the tools, but the dream.

The dream.

I love this book and the color brings more out. It is like s 5/5 with more. Great and then some.

This is an Alan Moore Chtuhlu myths short story, beautifully adapted for comics by writer Anthony Johnston and artist Jacen Burrows.
FBI agent Aldo Sax is investigating a number of unconnnected but identical murders committed by the most unlikely of suspects. All of them candidly confessed to the murders they committed, but no more. All of them were spotted speaking similar gibberish and were probably buying and using drug from the same Courtyard...
Follow agent Sax as he uncovers what is behind the murders and stumbles upon much, much more than he expected.
This book is downright scary and, in typical Alan Moore fashion, touches upon many hemes at once, adapting them to his sensibilities and making them relevant and poignant.
At some level, this is a story of urban decay and hash social commentary. The neighbourhood Sax is conducting his investigation in is squallid and drugs seem the only real escape from its murdering depression. On some other level, this is a Lovecraftian horror tale, but it is brilliantly executed and would make Lovecraft proud: The Boston writer and his literary peers often visited each others fantastic worlds, and Moore does nothing less here, paying homage and at the same time bringing his ample palette to the picture.
Lastly, this is typical Moore because it is another hymn to the power of language, another look into its many facets and recesses, this time boldly going into almost non-human territory (again, Swamp Thing readers would say :-).
A lot of merit also goes to ANthony Johnston for choosing this stunning format based on a grid of two vertical panels per page, which really gives Jacen Burrows' artwork the deserved room to breathe, while avoiding to turn this into a spalsh page slugfest or a simple illustrated prose story. So Burrows' considerable illustration talents are once again out to great use and turned into storytelling brilliance. My favourite pages are the last ones, as Sax receives three hits of the mysterious aklo drug and the artwork becomes incision-like (when he takes the drug) and the art breaks the basic panels pattern to delve into two 3-panels double page spreads and a full 2-page spread for the drug induced vision, before going full circle and showing the first panels of the story again, but with a decisive, perverse twist.
This book come with my highest recommendation to all fans of the crime and horror genres this book mainly belongs to, to all fans off poignant social commentary, and to all fans of the authors.

this GN was well reviewed. I bought it, and found it ordinary. Nothing a few dozen twilight zone episodes have not covered.