Writer: Florentino Flórez
Artists: Guillermo Sanna & Jacques Salomon
Letterer: Saida Temofonte
Cover Artist: Gabriel Gomez
Publisher: Ablaze
Price: $19.99
Release Date: September 6, 2023
Roused from slumber, Randolph Carter spies gleaming towers
rising above his native Boston. Yet each time the boy tries to enter this
fabulous realm, he awakens in his bedroom. Is this incredible city a mirage or
somewhere he can visit? Let's leap into the Lovecraft Unknown Kadath TP and
find out!
Story
We next see Carter as a young man, fighting off the filthy
Zoogs. When they realize he is the friend of Pickman and Kuranes, the creatures
bring him to their council chamber. Carter wants to visit the land of Kadath.
They tell him about a five-hundred-year-old priest who once scaled the
mountains to see the gods dance. The Zoogs also warn him against searching for
the city of his dreams: it's the gods’ home, not his.
Undeterred, Carter treks to Ulthar, where ancient Atal
mentions a face carved into Mount Ngranek. If he finds a race of people with
similar features, they’ll tell him how to reach Kadath. “Beware the black
galleys,” Atal adds, drunk on moon-wine. On the priest's instructions, Carter
travels to Dylath-Leen, where he drinks wine from a hollow ruby. He awakens
aboard a black galley, where sailors eat food made from former slaves.
So begins Ablaze’s Lovecraft Unknown Kadath TP, an
eight-issue trade paperback adapted from H.P. Lovecraft's novella The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. It follows Randolph Carter’s journey across the
dreamscape of the late author’s mind. It’s a world filled with Night-Gaunts,
Moon-Beasts, and kaiju-sized Sentinels. Carter's artist-friend Pickman is now a
corpse-eating Ghoul, who urges Carter to not just travel through the dream but
let it transform him. His friend Kuranes—a king who grew tired of his palaces
and now lives in a house along the cliffs—pleads with Carter to remain with
him. But then Kuranes becomes a queen and weeps when Carter leaves.
As Carter sails past moaning islands, braves narrow mountain
trails, battles monstrous Gugs and Ghasts, and seeks a merchant who sells rare
eggs, a black cat accompanies him. Yet the question remains: if he can enter
the beautiful city, should he? Like many of us, Carter seeks perfection. Is he
wrong to dream of Utopia? Or, as his friends Pickman and Kuranes suggest,
should Carter seek perfection within?
Art
Guillermo Sanna & Jacques Salomon's art has a fluid,
dreamlike quality in Lovecraft Unknown Kadath TP. Churning chaos takes on distinct
and structured shapes. Taverns, temples, and towers evoke recognizable historic
and fantasy landscapes. Some of the strange beings Carter meets resemble sea
creatures. The Night-Gaunts evoke the flying bat-people who often took Human
appearance in Marvel's 1970s Conan comics. Perspective shifts as readily as Kuranes
changes sex, and page layouts also change. While unprepossessing, Sanna and
Salomon prove that artists don’t need splash pages and double-page spreads to
invoke awe.
Wait! Did I mention the whimsical Children's book-style
interludes that conclude each chapter? Should I compare the first to Georges
Méliès’ film A Trip To The Moon? (Or would that be a spoiler?)
Like their art, Sanna and Salomon’s coloring changes within
panels to enhance Carter's nightmare journey. They load their palette with
bright, contrasting colors in Lovecraft Unknown Kadath TP. Pink, purple,
orange, and teal are their friends! Their limited color approach resembles
markers wielded by experienced hands. While its sources aren't always apparent,
light shines upon people and monsters in this dark Land Of Dreams.
Black, uppercase words inhabit white dialogue balloons. When
the artists' page compositions make reading order unclear, Saida Temofonte
helps by changing balloon shapes and sizes. Aside from the chapter titles, Temofonte’s
small lettering and print-handwriting font may stress tired, aging eyes.
Thankfully, the font of Lovecraft’s novella, which Ablaze included with
Florentino Flórez’s compelling adaptation, proves easier to read.
Final Thoughts
Ablaze’s Lovecraft Unknown Kadath TP invites similarities
with the fantasy worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert E. Howard as it
takes readers on a mesmerizing journey through the haunting landscape of the
subconscious.
Rating 8.2/10
For the trade paperback cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
To preview interior art see the Previews World website.
