Lovecraft Illustrated Volume 1 - The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath

The milestone for graphic adaptations of Lovecraft's novel "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" remains Jason Thompson's work from Mock Man Press; all other adaptations have to measure themselves against that standard. Culbard's effort doesn't equal Thompson's - the while fairly faithful to Lovecraft's story, and with the clever (if not uncommon) twist of making Randolph Carter a doppelganger for Lovecraft himself, and the art is more than sufficient to the task, the whole just doesn't quite come together into anything really awesome. Text and images just don't quite seem to mesh, and Culbard's little flourishes on Lovecraft's story, while interesting, are never pursued. The coloring in particular is exceptional, as is usual with Culbard's other graphic novels, and in general the landscapes and backgrounds are terrific, but some of the character and monster designs are lackluster. Dream-Quest is a story which should inspire greater extremes of fantasy in terms of character design - and in that regard, the book does fail to deliver. Even the ghoul Richard Upton Pickman is little more than a corpse in a bad suit, not just at odds with Lovecraft's text but devoid of any visual interest - in complete contrast to Culbard's vision of Nyarlathotep, which is terrific.But these criticisms should not be taken as a reason not to buy the book; they're quibbles regarding what is a substantial and excellent work. While I maintain that this is not the best adaptation of "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath," it is at least a close second, and a worthy addition to the roster of graphic adaptations of Lovecraft that Culbard has already completed.

While Jason Thompson's lovingly detailed adaptation of this Dunsany-like novella by HP Lovecraft is the best rendition that I've read, this version comes very close to it. The difference, I think, is that Thompson captures the Dunsany-to-true-HPL transition perfectly, with the otherworldly, almost fairytale Dreamlands yielding to the Cthulhu Mythos by the end; but Culbard is already pushing toward Cthulhu from the start. Both are equally valid approaches; and in fact I like that Culbard has chosen his own distinctive approach.The art style is simpler here, too … but Culbard works wonders with fewer lines & a powerful use of deep black negative space & swaths of color, creating a true dreamlike sensibility of unreal clarity juxtaposed with shadows. The lovely & exotic surface often reveals the darker, older, more primal nightmare just below, which we see before protagonist Randolph Carter does.As I said, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a transitional work for Lovecraft, wherein he bids an affectionate farewell to the Faerie of Lord Dunsany's jeweled tales & truly begins his own work. Fans of that work may feel a bit of disconnection in these pages; it's certainly not what people think of first when Lovecraft's name is spoken. But to my mind, Culbard does it justice. And it's simply a gorgeous story on its own merits, one with roots in both the Romantic & the Gothic traditions—a bit different & all the more recommended because of that.Sleep well ...

Lovecraft Illustrated Volume 1 - The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaoath – [H.P. Lovecraft reference library - 2019-05-21 - 0825] If you are interested in this title be aware it is NOT a fully illustrated version or a graphic novel of the remarkable Lovecraft story but the full story text with numerous full and double page illustrations by Peter Von Sholly. This is an excellent hardbound publication in a fine-looking matched designed set and the illustration are spot on with the story. The book is pricey but obviously worth it to some readers and a must, in my opinion for Lovecraft fans. I had never read "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaoath" before. I found this short novel at times tedious and at others captivating. The numerous color illustrations by Von Sholly are fascinatingly accurate with the dream-like text and story progression.Contents from ISFDBIntroduction (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath) • essay by S. T. JoshiThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath • [Randolph Carter] • (1943) • novella by H. P. LovecraftThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath • interior artwork by Pete Von Sholly

At £20 for a 130 page book of "Lovecraft Illustrated" you'd probably be expecting a lot of illustrations at least one for each scene change right? Well actually there are only 25 illustrations with some very key scenes being left out. The illustrations are decent albeit a tad too cartoony for my taste. The story is an infuriatingly frustrating and confusing read so it's nice to have illustrations to help make sense of the word salad in this but not every scene has an illustration unfortunately. The illustrations seem to become less and less frequent as the story progresses. The story itself is by far one of Lovecraft's worst and Lovecraft himself agreed with this assessment and it wasn't published until after his death probably against his wishes. I'm quite surprised they chose this to be Volume 1 of this illustrated series. Surely it's a good idea to put one of Lovecraft's best as Volume 1 so you don't put off first-timers from getting Volume 2. So in conclusion the illustrations are few and the story is garbage. You're better off buying a cheaper edition of the story if you're curious but it's really nothing special. Any story that features a kidnapped protagonist sailing to the moon on a pirate ship and getting rescued by a pack of flying cats probably isn't the most literate novel around. So yeah not worth £20 at all. £10 at best.

This book has a certain unique quality that comes from Mr. Culbard's background in animation. It doesn't read as an ordinary comics but as an animated movie instead. It's got the timing, it's got the editing, I could feel the drawings move in the panels and from one panel to another, listen to the voices of the characters and even hear the musical score as I was reading it (yep)! And while the storytelling and the art may feel a little bit hastened, the pros of I. N. J. Culbards's 'widescreen animated movie' Lovecraftian adaptation really beat the cons.

Wonderfully illustrated. Gives justice to the story in my opinion.

Not quite up there with the graphic novel adaptations of Charles Dexter Ward or At the Mountains of Madness but still worthwhile.

These Culbard adaptions are fantastic, and I think this one might be my favourite so far, vivid and imaginative, colourful and vibrant.Worth a look for any Lovecraft fan