''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' is a two-issue comic book mini-series published in 2003 by

Avatar Press Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. Avatar Press is most notable for publishing Bad girl art, bad girl comics, such as ''Faust (Avatar Press), Fau ...

. The comic was adapted by Antony Johnston with artwork by Jacen Burrows from a 1994 prose story by

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...

(credited as "consulting editor").

Plot

Aldo Sax is an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

agent using "anomaly theory", a method that correlates seemingly unrelated data into a cohesive whole, to investigate three seemingly unrelated ritual murders around the United States. His investigation leads him to a nightclub in Red Hook,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where he hears of a

psychoactive drug A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. ...

called

Aklo Aklo is the name of a fictional language that has been used by many authors from its first reference in 1899.Johnny Carcosa. Sax sets up a meet with Carcosa at the dealer's apartment building, where he is given a

hallucinogenic Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...

white powder as a prelude to the Aklo. Carcosa speaks an unknown language to Sax, who experiences visions of spectral planes and hideous primordial creatures, while understanding the truth that Aklo is not a drug, but the language Carcosa spoke to him. The visions, given to him by Aklo, drive Sax to murder his neighbor using the same '' modus operandi'' as the killers he was investigating.

Publication history

The original 1994 prose story had first appeared in an anthology ''

The Starry Wisdom A Cthulhu Mythos anthology is a type of short story collection that contains stories written in, or related to, the Cthulhu Mythos genre of horror fiction launched by H. P. Lovecraft. Such anthologies have helped to define and popularize the gen ...

: A Tribute to H. P. Lovecraft'' (Creation Books, 1995, ). The comic book adaptation was planned to appear in '' Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths'', but it was published as a

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...

in January and February 2003.

Collected editions

The series was collected in a trade paperback in 2003, a second version (the Companion) was released in 2004, which contained annotations by H. P. Lovecraft scholar N. G. Christakos and reprinted Moore's original short story. A limited edition hardcover set of the two volumes was also released in 2004. In 2009 a full color version was released separately, as well as in a collection with Moore's sequel series ''

Neonomicon ''Neonomicon'' is a four-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Jacen Burrows, published by American company Avatar Press in 2010. The story is a sequel to Moore's previous story ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' a ...

''. * ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' (

, softcover, 56 pages, 2004, ) * ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard Companion'' (Avatar Press, softcover, 72 pages, 2004, ) * ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard Deluxe Hardcover Set'' (Avatar Press, hardcover, 128 pages, 2004, ) * ''Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Color Edition)'' (Avatar Press, 56 pages, 11 March 2009, )

Sequel

Alan Moore has written a 4-part sequel to ''The Courtyard'' called ''

,'' the final issue of which was released by Avatar on 23 March 2011. Moore's 2015–17 comic '' Providence'' is a further continuation in the series.

References

Sources

* *

External links

''The Courtyard'' page
at

{{Cthulhu Mythos Comics based on fiction Comics set in New York City Comics by Alan Moore