''Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths'' is a three-issue comic book miniseries presenting work written by comics writer
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 (comic book), ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman: The Killing Joke' ...
, based on the writings of horror writer
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Born in Provi ...
. It was published by
Avatar Press
Avatar Press is an independent American comic book publisher founded in 1996 by William A. Christensen, and based in Rantoul, Illinois. It was originally known for publishing bad girl comics, such as ''Pandora'', ''Hellina'', ''Lookers'', ''The ...
in 2003.
Background
After Dave Mitchell of Oneiros Books asked Alan Moore to contribute to ''
The Starry Wisdom'', a collection of new writings inspired by
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (, ; August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American writer of Weird fiction, weird, Science fiction, science, fantasy, and horror fiction. He is best known for his creation of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Born in Provi ...
, Moore came up with the idea to do an entire book, to be called ''Yuggoth Cultures'', based on Lovecraft's
Fungi From Yuggoth cycle of poems. Unfortunately, Moore lost the only copies of most of the pieces he had written for the book in a London taxi cab. Moore submitted a short story entitled "The Courtyard" as his entry for ''The Starry Wisdom'', but suspended work on ''Yuggoth Cultures''. "So the project went 'on hold,'...I kind of shoved it in the back of a drawer and forgot about it," he told Avatar editor-in-chief William Christensen in an interview included in Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths No. 3. The two other surviving pieces from ''Yuggoth Cultures'', the poems "Recognition" and "Zaman's Hill," were included in the 1995 book ''Dust: A Creation Books Reader''.
Avatar's 2003 anthology miniseries ''Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths'' presented Antony Johnston's comics adaptation of "Recognition" and "Zaman's Hill" as well as two of Alan Moore's songs, "Litvinoff's Book" and "Me and Dorothy Parker", the never-before-seen "Nightjar," and reprints of many of Alan Moore's short comics.
Publication
The series was published as a 3-part black and white monthly comic:
Issue #1 (September 2003)
* "Zaman's Hill" (adapted by
Antony Johnston from Moore's poem, art by
Juan Jose Ryp)
* "Nightjar" (art by
Bryan Talbot, planned as the first instalment of a serial to appear in ''
Warrior
A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste.
History
...
'')
* Nightjar first draft script by Alan Moore
* A letter from Alan Moore to Bryan Talbot outlining the creation of Nightjar
* Nightjar commentary by Bryan Talbot
Issue No. 2 (October 2003)
* "Litvinoff's Book" (adapted by
Antony Johnston from Moore's song, art by
Mike Wolfer)
* "Cold Snap" (art by Bryan Talbot, previously published in the 1985 Flying Pig benefit comic ''Food for Thought'')
* "Itchy Peterson: Just Born Lucky I Guess" (pencils by
Val Semeiks, inks by Kevin Conrad, previously published in
Chaos! Comics's ''Nightmare Theater'' #4 in 1997)
* "The Nativity on Ice" (written by Alan Moore under the pen name "Kurt Vile", with art by Bryan Talbot, previously published in ''Kimota Magazine ''#3 in 1995)
* "Recognition" (adapted by
Antony Johnston from Moore's poem, art by
Jacen Burrows
Jacen Burrows (born September 11, 1972) is an American comic book artist best known for his work on various books from Avatar Press and Marvel Comics.
Career
Burrows graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in 1996 with a degree in Seque ...
)
Issue No. 3. Published November 2003
* "Leviticus" (art by
Hunt Emerson
Hunt Emerson (born 1952) is an English cartoonist. He was closely involved with the Birmingham Arts Lab of the mid-to-late 1970s, and with the British underground comics scene of the 1970s and 1980s. His many comic strips and graphic novels have ...
, previously published in
Knockabout Comics's ''Outrageous Tales From the Old Testament'' in 1987)
* "I Keep Coming Back" (art by
Oscar Zarate, described as a coda to ''
From Hell'', previously published by Serpent's Tail in ''
It's Dark in London'' in 1996)
* "Me and Dorothy Parker" (adapted by
Antony Johnston from Moore's song, art by
Marat Mychaels)
* "The Story Behind the Stories" – An interview with Alan Moore about the ''Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths'' by William Christensen, edited by Antony Johnston
''
Alan Moore's The Courtyard
''Alan Moore's The Courtyard'' is a two-issue comic book mini-series published in 2003 by Avatar Press. The comic was adapted by Antony Johnston with artwork by Jacen Burrows from a 1994 prose story by Alan Moore (credited as "consulting edi ...
'' was originally scheduled for appearances in this collection but was turned into its own separate series.
Collected editions
The three issue miniseries and more were collected into a
trade paperback, ''Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths'' (
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...
, 334 pages, 2006 softcover, , hardcover, ), containing
* Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths #1–3 (See above for contents)
* "Magic Is Afoot" (Alan Moore interviewed by Jay Babcock, originally published in Arthur No. 4, May 2003)
* "Rolling Commentary" (A political essay by Alan Moore, originally published in Arthur No. 5, July 2003)
* Alan Moore Interview (Conducted by Alan David Doane, February 2004)
* Yuggoth Creatures #1–3 (An unrelated Lovecraft-inspired miniseries written by Antony Johnston)
* "Shadows Over Lovecraft" (An essay on H. P. Lovecraft by NG Christakos)
* Yuggoth Creatures Annotated, Volumes 1–3 (Antony Johnston's scripts with annotations by NG Christakos)
Spin-offs
''Nightjar''
The Nightjar story was spun off into a four-part mini-series written by Johnston with art by
Max Fiumara, plus a one-shot entitled ''Nightjar: Hollow Bones''. The basis was the story as seen in ''Yuggoth Cultures'' #1 with some additional notes from Bryan Talbot, but the bulk of the story was created by Johnston.
''Yuggoth Creatures''
Johnston would later produce more work in the
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American Horror fiction, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, t ...
, for Avatar, under the title ''Yuggoth Creatures''.
Johnston and the Yuggoth
Newsarama
''Newsarama'' is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website ''GamesRadar+'', also owned by Future US.
Hi ...
, 5 May 2004 All three issues are included in the collected ''Alan Moore's Yuggoth Cultures and Other Growths''.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
External links
Avatar Press' page on the series
about Nightjar, from Bryan Talbot's official fanpage
Reviews
Review of issue #1
{{Alan Moore
2003 comics debuts
Comics by Alan Moore
Cthulhu Mythos comics