Fall of Cthulhu Vol. 2: The Gathering

A war is brewing as the Dreamlands is in upheaval and Mister Arkham plots his strategy on Earth. With only mankind standing in the way of a godwar, players and pawns move into place, choose new allegiances, and struggle with their role in Mister Arkham's plans for universal domination. Who will survive? Secrets are revealed as the next chapter in the war of Lovecraftian gods continues! Collecting issues 6-10 of the critically acclaimed ongoing series!

Grade 10 Up–Nelson and various teams inject a sophisticated artistic sensibility and a literary pedigree to the pulp-horror comic genre. This book collects issues 6 to 10 of the series, where the contemporary tales are set in the universe created by H. P. Lovecraft in his best-known stories. Each part covers the emergence or addition of a powerfully evil entity to serve under the leadership of Mr. Arkham, the human form of the god Nyarlathotep. While not awash in blood, guts, and gore, there are a fair number of decapitations, demons, and murderous children. The artwork effectively promotes a growing sense of menace, from the palatable isolation of Arctic explorers to the surreal journey of a mute masked girl to a hellish dream world. As a whole, the narrative structure is not as strong, mostly because the apocalypse seems inevitable. Even the insubordination of Arkham&'s previously unquestioning minion comes off as anticlimatic. Though this volume can stand alone, fans of Lovecraft and the series will definitely get more out of it than first-time readers.–Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Fugue (2008) is a monumentally tough act to follow, so the second Fall of Cthulhu collection seemingly marks time, showing how three Elder Gods of H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos are released into contemporary reality and join Mr. Arkham, the embodiment of the powerful Nyarlathotep, to await Cthulhu. Their arrivals entail engrossingly gruesome endings for several adults and one little boy. Pablo E. Quiligotti, the last in a line of five artists who replace The Fugue’s Jean Dzialowski in this book, brings some light and air into the proceedings by painting its final and longest episode, which makes the characters deceptively winsome. --Ray Olson