Though I find Herbert West to be one of Lovecraft's least-memorable characters, he seems to be the one that gets continuation after continuation of his adventures. I think it might be because he's the least-Lovecraftian protagonist in all of Lovecraft's tales. The original story was written in a more popular style than most of Lovecraft's works, an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. As a morally-ambiguous anti-hero, West has had numerous films and comics patterned on his original story. This particular version seems to be a reworking of the original tale, but set in the contemporary world. I'm not sure that West's particular brand of mad scientist really translates well to a modern day setting (something his films also suffer from) - he really does need the battlefields of WWI, or the creepy, ancient streets of Arkham in the 20s, otherwise it's completely unbelievable that he'd be able to continue his reanimation experiments. I know we're supposed to suspend our disbelief, but I'm firmly convinced that there are characters who belong in particular periods.
This issue didn't really help me with my Lovecraft conundrum. It adapts one of his stories without really offering any commentary or critique on the man who wrote it - like the films that were based on West's story, this comic focusses on the horror aspects of the story, rather than the social or systemic critique that's often inherent in Lovecraft's tales. Which makes it entertaining, but, honestly, a little vapid. In the glut of zombie-themed stories of contemporary times, you need to do something to make a story stick out.
"I will never forget those terrible events that summer night."
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