The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2262: Skull #5, 1972

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  When I picked this comic up, I had no idea that it was a collection of adaptations of Lovecraft's tales. Though I'm having a bit of a tough time with old HPL these days, given that his work is just brimming over with disgusting racism, but it's undeniable the influence he's had on writers and artists in the 100 or so years that his work has been in publication. And, in the fifty or so years since this comic was published, the ways we think about, and recognize, racism have become much more sophisticated.

That said, not many of the gross parts of Lovecraft's stories, ideologically speaking, show up in this comic. In fact, they're all pretty excellent adaptations, the Larry Todd "Shadow Out of the Abyss," an adaptation of "The Shadow Out of Time," is definitely the stand out. I've always liked that story. It also turns out that, potentially, the previous issue of this series is the first appearance of Cthulhu in a comic book. That basically immediately shoots it to the top of the hunt list. Always a good feeling.

For those, like myself, who may be wrestling with Lovecraft's racism, here's one way of doing it. I find such attitudes thoroughly repugnant, so when I read one of his stories, because it is undeniable that there is something brilliant and incredible about them, the layer of racism actually ads a level of horror for me. Rather than simply being scared or titillated by the actual events of the story, the added inflection of racism, when it becomes apparent, makes the stories even more horrifying. The excellent Internet critic hbomberguy does some cool stuff with Lovecraft, including talking about being queer and liking HPL's work. In the final analysis, he suggests also that it would thoroughly piss off the old racist to know that we're reading and talking about his work the way we are. And that's what racists deserve.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

Check out the rest of hbomberguy's stuff on YouTube.

Unsurprisingly, Lovecraft shows up quite a bit in my writing. Shocking, I know. 

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2260: Compost Comics #1, 1973

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As Abed says at the beginning of Community season 2, "And we're back." I've decided that it's time I get back to my routines - they're very helpful for someone with ADHD, and I've let them, and my mental health, slide, for far too long. So I'm really going to try this time.

I posted a picture of this comic and some others that I bought last week on my Instagram, which I'll also be getting back to. I think I may open up a Twitter and Facebook page for the GBoC as well. And, I'd forgotten, but there's a GBoC Pinterest page too. Just gotta make sure I don't get sucked into them again.

Soooo....this was a pretty great comic. Honestly, in much the same way that the EC horror comics are, it's difficult to find an underground comic that isn't great. Sometimes they're off-putting and awful, but that's the whole point and they say what they want to say, and what they mean to say, without too much obfuscation.

Also, the comic says "Vegetarians Only" on the cover, so I was wooed immediately. Published in 1973 (a year before my own advent), the comic deals with the Hippie movement pretty much full on. Though often associated with the previous decade, the Hippies really came into their own in the wake of the Summer of Love (1969, for those of you who are very young), and spent the first few years of the 70s trying to bring about the perfect world they envisioned. Then cocaine happened, and the Hippies started on their downward journey to becoming Boomers. *sigh*

For me, the highlight (pun intended) is a Larry Todd "Dr. Atomic" story. I like the doctor. He reminds me of me, had I been a scientifically-inclined pot-head in the early years of the 70s. The rest of the pieces are entertaining, especially the weird little alternate history tale at the end, giving us the "true origin of civilization" while still sticking, at least geographically, to the very fertile valley towhich we often assign the earliest of civilizations. Some history along with our drug-fuelled insanity.

I have to admit, I'd gotten out of comics for a bit. When Doom Patrol: Weight of Worlds and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl ended, I really couldn't find anything to interest me anymore. It happens occasionally. But I'm back in, with continuation of the absolutely brilliant The Wrong Earth and the very strange Ice Cream Man. Check them out. They're really good.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Links

There's not much out there about Larry Todd, one of today's artists. Here's his Wikipedia page. 

But if you're interested in what I've had to say about Underground comics, here it all is.