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The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
In a world beyond the walls of sleep, Randolph Carter goes in search of an opulent and mysterious sunset city. First, he must go to Kadath, home of the Gods, where he hopes to be guided to the city of his dreams. No one has ever been to Kadath, and no one even knows how to get there – but that won’t stop Carter from trying. In this masterful adaptation of Lovecraft’s classic novella, I. N. J. Culbard captures Carter’s journey through the dangerous and spectacular Dreamlands in beautiful, gripping detail.
144 pages, Paperback
Published November 18, 2014
4 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
I.N.J. Culbard
194 books78 followersI.N.J. Culbard is an artist and writer. In 2006, he surpassed thousands of other writers and had his work published in Dark Horse Comics’ New Recruits anthology. He has since appeared in the anthology series Dark Horse Presents, the Judge Dredd Megazine and 2000 AD.
Culbard is an acclaimed animation director with considerable experience in directing commercials, developing projects for television, and producing and directing short films. His collaborator at SelfMadeHero is writer Ian Edginton.
Culbard is an acclaimed animation director with considerable experience in directing commercials, developing projects for television, and producing and directing short films. His collaborator at SelfMadeHero is writer Ian Edginton.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
June 30, 2015
Randolph Carter wanders the dreamlands in search of Kadath, home of the gods, in order to find a path to the sunset city of his dreams.
First off, I'm going to say something that may get me eaten alive by a swarm of zoogs but I've never held the writing of H.P. Lovecraft in high regard despite loving a lot of his concepts. Untold aeons ago, I read the prose version of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. When I saw the graphic novel version, I decided it was time to revisit it.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath works fairly well as a graphic novel. The adaptation has a somewhat disjointed feel, which I think fits the tale since it is a dream, after all. Unlike a lot of Lovecraft tales, it's a quest story rather than a race toward insanity. Randolph Carter encounters all manner of Lovecraftian beasties on his journey and I.N.J. Culbard depicts them rather well. Much like the pacing, the art contributes to the dreamlike feel of the story.
Even though I only have vague recollections of reading the prose version of this story, I felt like something was missing at times. The transitions from scene to scene were a little rough in places. Overall, though, I felt this was a worthwhile adaptation. Three out of five stars.
First off, I'm going to say something that may get me eaten alive by a swarm of zoogs but I've never held the writing of H.P. Lovecraft in high regard despite loving a lot of his concepts. Untold aeons ago, I read the prose version of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. When I saw the graphic novel version, I decided it was time to revisit it.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath works fairly well as a graphic novel. The adaptation has a somewhat disjointed feel, which I think fits the tale since it is a dream, after all. Unlike a lot of Lovecraft tales, it's a quest story rather than a race toward insanity. Randolph Carter encounters all manner of Lovecraftian beasties on his journey and I.N.J. Culbard depicts them rather well. Much like the pacing, the art contributes to the dreamlike feel of the story.
Even though I only have vague recollections of reading the prose version of this story, I felt like something was missing at times. The transitions from scene to scene were a little rough in places. Overall, though, I felt this was a worthwhile adaptation. Three out of five stars.
December 18, 2019
I.N.J. Culbard has for some time taken up the task of adapter/illustrator of H. P. Lovecraft's works. I picked up his huge, four-novel omnibus collection recently but saw that I had already read one or two, so decided to review them separately. This is the first one in the collection, and is the least horror-oriented of his works I have read. But let me add a caveat here, that I don't recall reading the original Lovecraft tale; I am sure I must have, in my teens, but I only have a vague memory of his prose, which some find lush and atmospheric and creepy, but I tend to find a bit turgid.
Dream-Quest reads more along the lines of an Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy/adventure than the chilling horror of another of Lovecraft's influences, Edgar Allen Poe. It's a dream quest, fair enough! So it is perfect for a comics adaptation, less narrative than a tone or mood piece, a collection of effects. I like the color and dream logic of it well enough, but I have already essentially forgotten what happens in it. I might have given it 4 stars for embodying the dream state and paring down the actual words to its essence, but I have experienced other illustrators visually capturing the Lovecraft vibe for me with greater detail (Culbard fills in very few backgrounds) such as Gabriel Rodriguez in Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, or (especially!) Jacen Burrows working with Alan Moore in Providence.
Dream-Quest reads more along the lines of an Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy/adventure than the chilling horror of another of Lovecraft's influences, Edgar Allen Poe. It's a dream quest, fair enough! So it is perfect for a comics adaptation, less narrative than a tone or mood piece, a collection of effects. I like the color and dream logic of it well enough, but I have already essentially forgotten what happens in it. I might have given it 4 stars for embodying the dream state and paring down the actual words to its essence, but I have experienced other illustrators visually capturing the Lovecraft vibe for me with greater detail (Culbard fills in very few backgrounds) such as Gabriel Rodriguez in Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, or (especially!) Jacen Burrows working with Alan Moore in Providence.
July 3, 2015
A worthy effort by I.N.J. Culbard. This is a good, though not great adaption, of H.P. Lovecraft's quest-adventure. There are some outstanding cinematic moments, but this work is not nearly as compelling at Jason Thompson's version of the same. Completists will want the Culbard version, but if you're looking for "bang for the buck," I would definitely go with Thompson's incredible work.
Special thanks to the always wonderful Dan Schwent for turning me on to this version and generously sharing an e-peek at it.
Special thanks to the always wonderful Dan Schwent for turning me on to this version and generously sharing an e-peek at it.
August 6, 2015
Randolph Carter dreams of a sunset city and decides to go looking for it(?!). His nutty friend tells him to pray to the dream gods or something and they’ll let him find it again (!?). Bonkers bullshit ensues!
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is plotted using dream logic, ie. anything goes! Carter rocks up in a forest of giant mushrooms with talking rodents. He sets sail on flying ships full of humanoid monsters, meets the Cats of Ulthar (who, of course, also talk) all so he can travel to a mountain with a face on the side.
Like a dream, you can’t really make sense of the story, you can only let it wash over you. And that’s why it leaves so slight an impression. It’s a quest story where the end goal is never very clear and the resolution is puzzling. Everything that happens along the way is similarly confusing and random so it’s hard to care about any of it.
This is HP Lovecraft at his most free-flowing and least horrific, and yet completely uninteresting too. It’s wholly unengaging as nothing in the story feels like it matters. Sure, INJ Culbard’s art is great, especially as he’s given more range with this story to cut loose and draw big, exotic, fantastical landscapes and creatures, but Lovecraft’s rambling, barely coherent story is totally forgettable.
Lovecraft wasn’t just a shaky writer but quite often he was a weak storyteller too as shown by Dream-Quest. His strengths lay in the horrific visions he conjured up that leapt off the page. A few panels are like that here but not nearly enough to call this anywhere near compelling or worth seeking out.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is the weakest in the Culbard/Lovecraft adaptations. Maybe this has connections to Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones mythos but I’m not that big a fan to say. Kadath, what/whoever it is, remains unknown!
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is plotted using dream logic, ie. anything goes! Carter rocks up in a forest of giant mushrooms with talking rodents. He sets sail on flying ships full of humanoid monsters, meets the Cats of Ulthar (who, of course, also talk) all so he can travel to a mountain with a face on the side.
Like a dream, you can’t really make sense of the story, you can only let it wash over you. And that’s why it leaves so slight an impression. It’s a quest story where the end goal is never very clear and the resolution is puzzling. Everything that happens along the way is similarly confusing and random so it’s hard to care about any of it.
This is HP Lovecraft at his most free-flowing and least horrific, and yet completely uninteresting too. It’s wholly unengaging as nothing in the story feels like it matters. Sure, INJ Culbard’s art is great, especially as he’s given more range with this story to cut loose and draw big, exotic, fantastical landscapes and creatures, but Lovecraft’s rambling, barely coherent story is totally forgettable.
Lovecraft wasn’t just a shaky writer but quite often he was a weak storyteller too as shown by Dream-Quest. His strengths lay in the horrific visions he conjured up that leapt off the page. A few panels are like that here but not nearly enough to call this anywhere near compelling or worth seeking out.
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is the weakest in the Culbard/Lovecraft adaptations. Maybe this has connections to Lovecraft’s Great Old Ones mythos but I’m not that big a fan to say. Kadath, what/whoever it is, remains unknown!
December 22, 2017
So on to the next of my catch up titles.
This is another of the H P Lovecraft titles - however its rather different in that its from his Dream Cycle of stories and is in fact probably the longest of the series.
Here we have the challenges of the famous dreamer Randolph Carter on his quest - for yes you guessed it Unknown Kadath. Okay you know me by now with my no spoilers policy so you will need to read the book (or at least the story) to find out if he finds it or not but like many of these stories there is more often than not more going on while trying to complete the quest than the actual goal at the end of it.
The thing that I think most impresses me with this story is that even though the lands and people are pretty fantastic even for Lovecraft (after all anything goes in the Dreamlands) the artists are still able to capture and convey that sense of wonder and otherness to the page. You actually do feel you are feeling through the underground caverns or charging across the grass covered plans.
for me I think this is probably the most enjoyable of the books (although I have still yet 2 more to collect and read) and I think the artists at least probably had the most fun with it too (it sort of shows). Another great title in the series and I cannot wait to read more.
This is another of the H P Lovecraft titles - however its rather different in that its from his Dream Cycle of stories and is in fact probably the longest of the series.
Here we have the challenges of the famous dreamer Randolph Carter on his quest - for yes you guessed it Unknown Kadath. Okay you know me by now with my no spoilers policy so you will need to read the book (or at least the story) to find out if he finds it or not but like many of these stories there is more often than not more going on while trying to complete the quest than the actual goal at the end of it.
The thing that I think most impresses me with this story is that even though the lands and people are pretty fantastic even for Lovecraft (after all anything goes in the Dreamlands) the artists are still able to capture and convey that sense of wonder and otherness to the page. You actually do feel you are feeling through the underground caverns or charging across the grass covered plans.
for me I think this is probably the most enjoyable of the books (although I have still yet 2 more to collect and read) and I think the artists at least probably had the most fun with it too (it sort of shows). Another great title in the series and I cannot wait to read more.
October 6, 2015
Bullet Review:
This was...good. I don't think I was nearly as excited about this as The Shadow Out of Time, but it was interesting and unique. Really bizarre, as you would expect from a graphic novel about a dream. I can only imagine how challenging it might have been for Lovecraft to intricately detail this world, given he had only words to use - the graphic artist has an arsenal of tools so that you can see what the narrator is seeing. The author can only use words.
Anyway, it was a good read, and I'm glad I chose the graphic route to read Lovecraft.
This was...good. I don't think I was nearly as excited about this as The Shadow Out of Time, but it was interesting and unique. Really bizarre, as you would expect from a graphic novel about a dream. I can only imagine how challenging it might have been for Lovecraft to intricately detail this world, given he had only words to use - the graphic artist has an arsenal of tools so that you can see what the narrator is seeing. The author can only use words.
Anyway, it was a good read, and I'm glad I chose the graphic route to read Lovecraft.
October 31, 2020
The art is a bit sketchy at times, especially with the ghouls and their rictus-grins, but on the whole this is an excellent adaptation of an already great story.
November 13, 2022
Rating 3 out of 5 | Grade: C; Not the Silver key
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, doesn't really do it for me. I guess Lovecraft is at his best, or rather his most miserable, when spouting archaic Victorian prose about uncaring Gods, a nihilistic world, where nothing you do really matters.
There are a number of references to other Lovecraft stories, such as Pickman's Model , Nyarlathotepand The Cats of Ulthar. But this story doesn't have as much of a kick as The Silver Key, which is a sequel to the story.
The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, doesn't really do it for me. I guess Lovecraft is at his best, or rather his most miserable, when spouting archaic Victorian prose about uncaring Gods, a nihilistic world, where nothing you do really matters.
There are a number of references to other Lovecraft stories, such as Pickman's Model , Nyarlathotepand The Cats of Ulthar. But this story doesn't have as much of a kick as The Silver Key, which is a sequel to the story.
January 31, 2016
With Lovecraft's prose being what it is - and with some of us not having English as our first language - I greatly appreciate art heavy adaptions of his stories.
This is a good one. A bit dark, visually I mean, which made some scenes hard to "read". But that said, it slims down a very wordy if interesting story to make it more accessible to, well, eveyone.
The story itself? Well, this is one of those stories that I think of as not being completely enchanting but an important influence on things that were written after it. Not that it's a boring story, and it has a very dream like feel to it. It's just smacks a lot of "white middle aged men are special and/or the default human". That should not come as a surprise to anyone who's ever read Lovecraft though.
I recommend this book to people who like stories about dreams and most general Fantasy themes. It's not a horror story, at least not for people nowadays, I think.
Also, what was up with that last page? Interesting.
This is a good one. A bit dark, visually I mean, which made some scenes hard to "read". But that said, it slims down a very wordy if interesting story to make it more accessible to, well, eveyone.
The story itself? Well, this is one of those stories that I think of as not being completely enchanting but an important influence on things that were written after it. Not that it's a boring story, and it has a very dream like feel to it. It's just smacks a lot of "white middle aged men are special and/or the default human". That should not come as a surprise to anyone who's ever read Lovecraft though.
I recommend this book to people who like stories about dreams and most general Fantasy themes. It's not a horror story, at least not for people nowadays, I think.
Also, what was up with that last page? Interesting.
December 2, 2018
I. N. J. Culbard may well be the ultimate Lovecraft adapter into the comics medium for me. I have previously enjoyed his take on
The Shadow Out of Time
and
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
respectively, so checking this out from the library was an absolute no-brainer.
Now, the story of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a slightly different one from the types of tales told in The Shadow Out of Time and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in that it deals more with a phantasmagoria beyond Earth and in a wider cosmic aspect, moving through other realms, but Culbard handles this eminently, and I find myself joyously tagging along for the ride as it were.
Now, the story of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a slightly different one from the types of tales told in The Shadow Out of Time and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward in that it deals more with a phantasmagoria beyond Earth and in a wider cosmic aspect, moving through other realms, but Culbard handles this eminently, and I find myself joyously tagging along for the ride as it were.
December 10, 2021
I just finished the HPL novella before this and they were both pretty solid but had their pluses and minuses. In this one, I loved the representation of the cat general, and really loved the dark panels with the watcher in the dark - I felt that aspect was clearer to visualize in graphical form than in the story where that main thrumming undercurrent gets a bit lost.
Though this graphic novel has some lovely fantasy realm, I wanted more of that! More fantastical landscapes and more weird creatures.
Also, if I were illustrating a Lovecraft story today (not that I draw, but still), I would avoid drawing anything that smacks of his racism - and there are some human-esque creatures (or are they actually people?) that have some racial caricatures (all as described in the original but... you don't actually have to go there).
Overall, this was a solid addition to the read.
Though this graphic novel has some lovely fantasy realm, I wanted more of that! More fantastical landscapes and more weird creatures.
Also, if I were illustrating a Lovecraft story today (not that I draw, but still), I would avoid drawing anything that smacks of his racism - and there are some human-esque creatures (or are they actually people?) that have some racial caricatures (all as described in the original but... you don't actually have to go there).
Overall, this was a solid addition to the read.
January 9, 2016
I recall being completely enchanted by the original Lovecraft novel when I read it in high school. I must have mixed up some of my memories of it with other stories, though, and my memories of the actual plot faded, because this wasn't quite what I expected. I did really enjoy his adaptation - the art is beautiful and it really captured the mood of the book well in parts - it is dreamlike, hypnotic, and spooky, though seldom quite as much so as I remember the original being. I felt the pacing was a bit rushed, leaving out bits of the story, jumping ahead - though the book itself does a fair amount of that, so I can't be too sure - and possibly leaving the reader unfamiliar with the original the feeling that they're missing something. Still, it's quite lovely.
December 19, 2017
I.N.J. Culbard’s graphic novel of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” is ambitious, to say the least. The original 1926-27 novella, a dense, Lord Dunsany-influenced near-psychedelic dream travelogue, offers unique challenges: baroque descriptions that somehow defy precise visuals, a rambling story-line, and narrative logic more appropriate to dream-life than the printed page. At its best, it’s fantasy in its purest sense, with many sustained sequences of surreal wonder. Culbard tackles this seemingly impossible project by grounding the tale in compelling artwork and earthbound dialogue, often telling the story through wordless, evocative panels. Recommended for Lovecraft fans and graphic novel enthusiasts alike.
October 28, 2014
I.N.J. Culbard's adaptation, and illustration, of this Lovecraft narrative is definitely intriguing. However, I wish I had read and was familiar with the original, since that'd give me something more to go on. Reading through Culbard's version, I kept feeling that I was missing something, that there were parts of this story just out of my grasp. But perhaps that's what Lovecraft (and Culbard) intended with this narrative about the dreamworld and its links to the waking life. And as a stand-alone text, without any context to Lovecraft, the story works fairly well.
December 20, 2018
Turns out I haven't read H.P.'s unfinished original which would explain why this took me so off-guard. Talking cats?! Zoogs?! Gugs?!! What is this shenaniganery?! The art was wonderful, as usual, if not as remarkable to me as this story adapts really easily to comics (it's a quest!). Gorgeous colors, though, equally lovely and frightful; I'm going to try and get through more of the original before the year's out, though I read for what felt like hours last night and managed all of 8 H.P. pages.
December 27, 2019
Weird. Weirrrrd.
Culbard's art is good, with the most stunning pages right near the end. His art is somewhat...I guess minimalist isn't the right word, but I'm not sure what is, and I think it suits Lovecraft's work. It leaves a bit to the imagination.
I love graphic novels and comic books but I'm such a word person that sometimes I wonder what I'm missing from a story when I don't have all of the author's words. I wonder if I would have understood this more or less if I'd read the actual story—maybe I'll do that someday to find out.
Culbard's art is good, with the most stunning pages right near the end. His art is somewhat...I guess minimalist isn't the right word, but I'm not sure what is, and I think it suits Lovecraft's work. It leaves a bit to the imagination.
I love graphic novels and comic books but I'm such a word person that sometimes I wonder what I'm missing from a story when I don't have all of the author's words. I wonder if I would have understood this more or less if I'd read the actual story—maybe I'll do that someday to find out.
July 10, 2017
Randolph Carter visits the Dream World in his dreams, where he tries to find the sunset city. This quest brings him on journeys around the Dream World and he makes both enemies and allies. Cats of Ulthar are by far the coolest allies he's got. In the end he finds that the sunset city of his dreams was much closer than he thought.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 28, 2020
I had never read, or at least I don't remember reading, this story of Lovecraft, so it's harder to judge the adaptation, but it felt a bit confusing at time, maybe too many things were cut, to make it shorter, I like the art and the weird exploration of dream and strange place, so we're not sure if that a dream or reality, but it just felt like something was missing to make it whole.
September 21, 2021
The weakest Culbard Lovecraft adaptation, because there’s only so much you can do with a hoary old pile of nonsense like Dream Quest. The art is startling but the plot is no clearer and not even Culbard can fully escape the Lovecraftian bigotry with some slightly iffy looking swarthy foreigns who are almost certainly far better than their original forms but still are decidedly dubious
Read
November 20, 2025A Lovecraftian oddessey.
When I ordered this, I did so for the cover without realising that it was an illustrated adaptation. I had listened to The Dream-Quest years ago and from what I remember this is a faithful adaptation in the spirit of a fantasy in regards to the fantastical dream-like elements in the text.
When I ordered this, I did so for the cover without realising that it was an illustrated adaptation. I had listened to The Dream-Quest years ago and from what I remember this is a faithful adaptation in the spirit of a fantasy in regards to the fantastical dream-like elements in the text.
September 20, 2017
The story was more fanciful than horrifying, although the images were strong, and sometimes scarily so. Those unfamiliar with Lovecraft's work will likely be confused by this sparse retelling. Fans will enjoy the imagery as their minds "fill in" the gaps.
March 23, 2017
Another grand graphic novel "team-up" with the talents of Culbard and Lovecraft.
July 12, 2018
I think I need to read to book version and then re-read this. The art was great though.
December 30, 2019
Masterfully and humourously illustrated and formatted version of Lovecraft's fantastical work.
September 2, 2021
The art was cool, the story tedious and pompous (and the guy was racist anyway).
December 29, 2025
didn’t understand anything
November 5, 2025
Read in... well, October, sometime. This story is so much longer and more varied than I thought it would be! The dreamlands seem like, basically, the incubus for The Dreaming of Sandman, only way more complicated and interesting, actually (if less prescribed into a followable mythology).
Frustratingly, I'm trying to record here that I read the ORIGINAL SHORT STORY and it keeps showing me the INJ Culbard comics version, but only AFTER I click in to say "Yes I have read this" - but I actually read BOTH in October - the whole written prose short story, and then the comics adaptation after. I don't know how to separate these reviews and it's super annoying >> GOODREADS.
Frustratingly, I'm trying to record here that I read the ORIGINAL SHORT STORY and it keeps showing me the INJ Culbard comics version, but only AFTER I click in to say "Yes I have read this" - but I actually read BOTH in October - the whole written prose short story, and then the comics adaptation after. I don't know how to separate these reviews and it's super annoying >> GOODREADS.
October 30, 2025
The writing was fine, the illustrations lacked the dream feeling I was hoping for
June 22, 2020
Artist I.N.J. Culbard has adapted another H.P. Lovecraft story after winning an award for ‘At The Mountains Of Madness’. ‘The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath’, a quirky work even by Lovecraft’s standards, was not published in his lifetime. Posthumously, of course, every word he ever penned in now available in one form or another. This story brings together several elements from other tales in Lovecraft’s so-called ‘Dream Cycle’. These include ‘The Cat’s Of Ulthar’, ‘The Doom That Came To Sarnath’, ‘Celephais’ and ‘Nyarlathotep’, amongst others. A few of them were written very early in his career for his own pleasure. In fact, Lovecraft always wrote to please himself and the fact that someone actually wanted to print the stuff was a bonus. He never wrote with the market in mind, which is why he’s so original and deservedly has gained a literary reputation.
In this story, Randolph Carter, Lovecraft’s alter ego, has dreamed three times of a marvellous city named Celephais, ‘in the valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian hills’. He wants to go and live there in the dreamworlds, leaving the real one behind. So he prays to the hidden gods of dream and goes on a quest, which takes him across several different landscapes, where he encounters a variety of strange creatures. Nasty zoogs and gugs are out to get him but the cats of Ulthar are his friends.
It’s weird fantasy set in imaginative realms with almost no connection to the mundane world. Quests are not my favourite type of yarn as they can easily become a mere parade of ‘wonders’ that become boring after a while. Happily, this one doesn’t go on long enough for that to happen as the original work was a novella, not the three thick volumes of modern fantasy. The ending, I should add, is excellent and quite unexpected.
Lovecraft’s writing is an acquired taste but one I have acquired. The art of I.N.J. Culbard is also an acquired taste and one I’m working on, not always successfully. The first issue of ‘Brass Sun’ was pretty good but the pictures were not so great thereafter. At his best, he has a gift for good storytelling with panels and a very simple linear design technique that can be pleasing. At his worst, the page looks like it was drawn by a child. This adaptation does not contain his best all the way through but there are some good panels, particularly a double page spread near the end. I recommend sneaking a peek at the pages before you buy to see if the pictures appeal for, in my view, a graphic novel is not worth having if you actively dislike the art. At the moment, I’m ambivalent about Culbard. I will say that he seems to have converted much of the prose into pictures as the work is not heavy on captions. Art and dialogue carry the story along and it’s a quick, easy read. Lovecraft isn’t. Ever! But he’s worth the effort.
It’s a nice edition physically, on good quality paper and with plenty of pages for your pounds. It’s a moot point whether Lovecraft should be adapted to visual form as all those indescribable horrors may be best left to the readers’ imagination. Culbard is trying though and he deserves an ‘A’ for effort.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
In this story, Randolph Carter, Lovecraft’s alter ego, has dreamed three times of a marvellous city named Celephais, ‘in the valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian hills’. He wants to go and live there in the dreamworlds, leaving the real one behind. So he prays to the hidden gods of dream and goes on a quest, which takes him across several different landscapes, where he encounters a variety of strange creatures. Nasty zoogs and gugs are out to get him but the cats of Ulthar are his friends.
It’s weird fantasy set in imaginative realms with almost no connection to the mundane world. Quests are not my favourite type of yarn as they can easily become a mere parade of ‘wonders’ that become boring after a while. Happily, this one doesn’t go on long enough for that to happen as the original work was a novella, not the three thick volumes of modern fantasy. The ending, I should add, is excellent and quite unexpected.
Lovecraft’s writing is an acquired taste but one I have acquired. The art of I.N.J. Culbard is also an acquired taste and one I’m working on, not always successfully. The first issue of ‘Brass Sun’ was pretty good but the pictures were not so great thereafter. At his best, he has a gift for good storytelling with panels and a very simple linear design technique that can be pleasing. At his worst, the page looks like it was drawn by a child. This adaptation does not contain his best all the way through but there are some good panels, particularly a double page spread near the end. I recommend sneaking a peek at the pages before you buy to see if the pictures appeal for, in my view, a graphic novel is not worth having if you actively dislike the art. At the moment, I’m ambivalent about Culbard. I will say that he seems to have converted much of the prose into pictures as the work is not heavy on captions. Art and dialogue carry the story along and it’s a quick, easy read. Lovecraft isn’t. Ever! But he’s worth the effort.
It’s a nice edition physically, on good quality paper and with plenty of pages for your pounds. It’s a moot point whether Lovecraft should be adapted to visual form as all those indescribable horrors may be best left to the readers’ imagination. Culbard is trying though and he deserves an ‘A’ for effort.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
August 9, 2022
Randolph Carter é um homem que vive em eterna nostalgia: ele se lembra de um lugar desconhecido e talvez inexistente, Kadath, onde, em sua juventude, ele viveu em plena paz nessa cidade dourada...
Decidido a encontrar Kadath, ele parte em uma jornada pelo mundo dos sonhos, percorrendo as Dreamlands e tentando voltar ao seu lugar de origem. Mas, para isso, ele enfrentará terríveis criaturas perigosas e mortais como o Zoogs, as Bestas da Lua, os Homens de Leng, os pássaros monstruosos e o próprio Caos Rastejante, o maléfico Nyarlathotep.
Randolph também fará amizades imprevisíveis com os gatos de Ulthar e os ghouls liderados pelo seu antigo (e desaparecido) amigo, o artista Richard Pickman. E além de cruzar lugares como a indescritível Inganok, o ameaçador Planalto de Leng e Ulthar, a cidade tomada por gatos, ele também chegará em Celephaïs, uma terra linda sonhada completamente por seu monarca, o rei Kuranes...
Se Randolph consegue encontrar Kadath depois de tudo isso? Só lendo para descobrir!
"A Busca Onírica Por Kadath" é uma novela que H. P. Lovecraft escreveu entre 1926 e 1927, mas foi publicada postumamente. A graphic novel de Culbard adapta bem a história original sem deixar de nos surpreender ao trazer mais personagens importantes da mitologia lovecraftiana e transmitir perfeitamente toda a melancolia e beleza ao fim dessa louca jornada.
Culbard faz um ótimo trabalho: as ilustrações possuem um traço mais quadrado e cartunesco, o que funciona num tema tão etéreo e surreal. Ele também é capaz de traduzir uma das histórias mais longas de Lovecraft em 144 páginas - muitas delas até sem diálogos, mas com artes que facilitam a compreensão do que Randolph está vivendo, pensando e sentindo.
É preciso avisar, porém, que esse quadrinho não é recomendado para quem não leu "A Busca Onírica Por Kadath" anteriormente; mesmo que o artista tenha adaptado bem o texto original, pode ser que a trama não cause o mesmo impacto se você não a conhece, sem contar que pode ser confuso por ter tantos lugares, pessoas e criaturas diversas.
Além disso, também é recomendada a leitura de outros contos antes de embarcar nessa jornada, como "Os Gatos de Ulthar", "Celephaïs", "Nyarlatothep", "Azathoth", "O Modelo de Pickman", "Nas Montanhas da Loucura", e tantos outros referenciados aqui, que fazem parte tanto dos Mitos de Cthulhu quanto do Ciclo dos Sonhos.
No meu caso, que adoro horror cósmico e entidades lovecraftianas, fiquei muito interessada em ler os outros quadrinhos que Culbard adaptou de H. P. Lovecraft.
Mais resenhas no instagram literário @livre_em_livros e no canal do Youtube "Livre em Livros"!
Decidido a encontrar Kadath, ele parte em uma jornada pelo mundo dos sonhos, percorrendo as Dreamlands e tentando voltar ao seu lugar de origem. Mas, para isso, ele enfrentará terríveis criaturas perigosas e mortais como o Zoogs, as Bestas da Lua, os Homens de Leng, os pássaros monstruosos e o próprio Caos Rastejante, o maléfico Nyarlathotep.
Randolph também fará amizades imprevisíveis com os gatos de Ulthar e os ghouls liderados pelo seu antigo (e desaparecido) amigo, o artista Richard Pickman. E além de cruzar lugares como a indescritível Inganok, o ameaçador Planalto de Leng e Ulthar, a cidade tomada por gatos, ele também chegará em Celephaïs, uma terra linda sonhada completamente por seu monarca, o rei Kuranes...
Se Randolph consegue encontrar Kadath depois de tudo isso? Só lendo para descobrir!
"A Busca Onírica Por Kadath" é uma novela que H. P. Lovecraft escreveu entre 1926 e 1927, mas foi publicada postumamente. A graphic novel de Culbard adapta bem a história original sem deixar de nos surpreender ao trazer mais personagens importantes da mitologia lovecraftiana e transmitir perfeitamente toda a melancolia e beleza ao fim dessa louca jornada.
Culbard faz um ótimo trabalho: as ilustrações possuem um traço mais quadrado e cartunesco, o que funciona num tema tão etéreo e surreal. Ele também é capaz de traduzir uma das histórias mais longas de Lovecraft em 144 páginas - muitas delas até sem diálogos, mas com artes que facilitam a compreensão do que Randolph está vivendo, pensando e sentindo.
É preciso avisar, porém, que esse quadrinho não é recomendado para quem não leu "A Busca Onírica Por Kadath" anteriormente; mesmo que o artista tenha adaptado bem o texto original, pode ser que a trama não cause o mesmo impacto se você não a conhece, sem contar que pode ser confuso por ter tantos lugares, pessoas e criaturas diversas.
Além disso, também é recomendada a leitura de outros contos antes de embarcar nessa jornada, como "Os Gatos de Ulthar", "Celephaïs", "Nyarlatothep", "Azathoth", "O Modelo de Pickman", "Nas Montanhas da Loucura", e tantos outros referenciados aqui, que fazem parte tanto dos Mitos de Cthulhu quanto do Ciclo dos Sonhos.
No meu caso, que adoro horror cósmico e entidades lovecraftianas, fiquei muito interessada em ler os outros quadrinhos que Culbard adaptou de H. P. Lovecraft.
Mais resenhas no instagram literário @livre_em_livros e no canal do Youtube "Livre em Livros"!
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