*organ music plays*
*a woman screams*
*suspenseful music plays*
*Moarte laughs maniacally*
Hello, my children!
And I do mean my 'children', today.
The Long Box does not only provide for the mature tastes!
Indeed, we have something for ALL ages today,
inspired by the most notable of children's authors:
HP Lovecraft!
'Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom' tells the tale of a young HP Lovecraft,
who visits his father in the mental asylum.
You know, for kids!
Oh, but it is!
His father warns him to,
"Destroy it if he sees it!",
giving him also some kind of pendant.
That night, the poor boy cannot sleep - so his mother gives him his Christmas present early:
A book that his father had intended for him.
Young Howard starts reading from the book, which warns of a terrible, nightmarish Kingdom called:
"R'yleh".
What's that?
I did not pronounce the city name correctly?
One, it's how it's spelled in the book.
Two, if I don't speak Japanese, what the hell makes you think I speak 'Old One'?!?
Howard accidentally repeats the words that allow one access to the kingdom,
and he is sent into the frozen wastes with only his pajamas and his blanket.
There, he encounters a tentacle-headed creature who tries to kill him;
but Howard then saves his life, before he can fall over the edge.
It swears its fealty to Howard,
and Howard names it Spot!
They travel to the kingdom and meet the Child-King Abdul.
He tells them of a dark creature called a Jinn,
that ate up all the adults of the Kingdom and stole their most holy of books.
A prophecy, however, tells of one from outside their world who will go and retrieve their book from the Jinn.
Naturally, that is Howard, who drags Spot along to go fight the beast and save the kingdom R'yleh.
Ahhh, but my children - one must ask:
when your kingdom has such creatures walking amongst it, you have to wonder
who is truly the Dark Beast waiting for its chance to return?
If you're expecting a faithful retelling of the Cthulhu mythos, don't hold your breath.
This takes a lot of liberty with the source material.
Still, it probably works best as a child's introduction to Lovecraft.
At times, the artwork could be a little frightening for the younger kiddies,
but otherwise, this is a great fantasy adventure for children,
with a likable Howard having to face off against beings far beyond his imagination or control!
You will be disappointed that it seems to end on a cliffhanger,
but the good news is that there is a sequel: Howard Lovecraft and the Undersea Kingdom.
But we won't talk about that today...
Howard Lovecraft is highly recommended, my children!
But just remember: in his house at R'lyeh,
Dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...
...so he can wake up and read this comic!
*Moarte laughs maniacally*
*organ music plays*
(subtitles by LePhantome)
