The King in Yellow. Graphic novel

by I.N.J. Culbard (Adapter, Illustrator), Robert W. Chambers

The supernatural stories that make up Robert W. Chambers’s classic piece of weird fiction are tied together by a play that brings madness to all who read it: The King in Yellow. It’s a book that draws readers in with an irresistible yet innocent opening act, then drives them insane with the poisonous words of Act 2. It’s a book that cannot be suppressed, spreading like a disease from city to city, continent to continent. An influence on writers from H. P. Lovecraft to Neil Gaiman, The King in Yellow is one of the most important works of American supernatural fiction. In this dangerously unputdownable graphic-novel adaptation, I. N. J. Culbard brings to life a thrilling tale of horror that will make readers laugh and cry and tremble with fright . . . Read at your own risk.

144 pages, Paperback

Published June 30, 2015

About the author

I.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.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last (that I know of) graphical representations of the world of HP Lovecraft by the publishers Self Made Hero (yes I know its not a Lovecraft as such as its Robert Chambers but it part of the Cthulhu mythos and is often cited in other mythos stories).

As such this I think is the most ambitious and challenging story to depict in this medium since the story revolves around a book which is only fleetingly referred to and which by its very nature has its contents shown. As such it is more in the readers mind (as well as the characters they are reading). So to depict almost a story within a story and which is not directly referred to is a true feat.

Now I know this is all rather vague and my no spoilers rule (which I think I have come the closest to actually breaking for a long time) means that I am being intentionally abstruse about what is going on in this book means that really you have to read the story to understand it. What is more I think that you have to read the original first to really appreciate this version. Now I am not saying it is a good representation (because of course you cannot convert and convey every work in this book in to this graphical novel) it is more you get to appreciate what is not said and what is not show - which ironically is a central theme to the whole story in the first place.

This I will admit is far from my best review but those who know this story know how tricky it is to pin down and having it retold in a different format and my poor attempts at trying not to give the game away make it all the more difficult.

I think this is a true marvel at the creative team who brought this book in to being but I do not think it is my favourite from the series either. However as a series these books have been a real joy to read and I will be keeping a look out for more additions.

[Ed Erwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Culbard here adapts and illustrates the first four stories from the 1895 story collection The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. As part of the adaptation, he makes the four stories more coherent and more interrelated, or so I'm told. Those four stories are already connected by the idea of a play called, you guessed it, "The King in Yellow", which will make you go insane if you read it. (If you think you are strong enough to survive, you can read the play itself which was reconstructed by Thom Ryng as The King In Yellow.)

The stories are OK but not great. The graphic adaptation is pretty good. One character who answers many questions with a silent, pupil-less stare is particularly creepy. One loose thread that bothered me is that at the start of the first story they introduce the idea of a publicly-available suicide room. That idea is introduced, but then doesn't affect the stories in any way.

Apparently HPL and later authors mixed components from this into the Cthulu mythos.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful adaptations of haunting stories. It's a shame they weren't all here.

[Derek Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What Richard Corben is to Edgar Allan Poe comics adaptations, Ian Culbard is to H.P. Lovecraft (and Lovecraftian) comics adaptations. And even though this isn't Lovecraft, it's definitely the kind of narrative that would (and did) resonate with the horror writer. Culbard takes the first four stories in Chambers's 1895 collection and adapts them into comics form. And arguably, he makes those four "King in Yellow" stories more cohesive, doing Chambers a service. What Culbard has done, in essence, is to create a comics short-story cycle -- or what I've called elsewhere a "graphic cycle" -- that can easily stand on its own.

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 5 out of 5]

I.N.J.Culbard відомий циклом своїх графічних романів за мотивами творів Лавкрафта. Але я почав з ним знайомство з графічної адаптації книги Роберта Чемберса "Король у жовтому". Що й логічніше, адже хронологічно першоджерело написано раніше.
Отже, що ми тут маємо? Вдале сюжетне поєднання трьох оповідок з моторошною книгою, яка руйнує їх життя переходячи з рук в руки.
Фінал - "У дворі дракона" чимось навіть перевершує першоджерело і узагальнює всі сюжетні ходи.
Сам стиль Кулбарда для мене дещо простуватий, але все ж спробую якусь його лакрафтівську роботу і буду бачити.

"I saw the lake of Hali, thin and blank, without a ripple or wind to stir it, and I saw the towers of Carcosa behind the moon. Aldebaran, the Hyades, Alar, Hastur, glided through the cloud-rifts which fluttered and flapped as they passed like the scolloped tatters of the King in Yellow."

[Edward Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful illustrated adaptation of Chambers’ best known works. The rich colours, the dark subject matter and the dreamy dread that is bound to these pages is not something to miss.

Have you found the yellow sign?

[Audrey Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read graphic books, so don't have much to compare this book with. I did recently re-read the original stories by Chambers and found this to be a worthy rendition of the first four King in Yellow tales. Culbard has a single character (Jack Scott) appear in all four of his episodes, tying them together into a single narrative. The pupil-less eyes are disturbing but effective. I didn't care for the prison bar effect of many-paned windows in some of the interior scenes. Wordless sequences showing the passage of time are well done. I suspect those who are already acquainted with the stories by Chambers would get more out of this book than readers previously unacquainted with the Tattered King.

[Corinna Bechko · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been quite a while since I read the original stories this comic adaptation is based upon, but Culbard does a good job of capturing the pure strangeness of those tales in a way that reminded me why they had made such an impression on me in the first place. The cycle is built around mystery, something words can do well but images are sometimes less good at conveying. Here enough is held back for that aspect to be retained, a delicate balance indeed.

And for those who only know about Carcosa and the King in Yellow from the first season of True Detective, you'll soon find that these things have very little in common.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm up in the air on this graphic adaptation of Chambers' classic of supernatural horror. I felt it was well done... enough, and the artwork was disturbing... but... There's nothing specific that I can complain about, but this one didn't do much for me. I'd say 4 stars for quality; 2 stars for enjoyment.

EDIT (1/9/22). I'm still giving it three stars, but a solid three rather than my rather ambivalent score from previously. Having now read Chambers actual book, I know understand Culbard's editorial choices (This version does not include all of the stories in the author's original collection) and appreciate the art better.

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very bizarre story "The King in Yellow" is - this graphic novel is beautifully done, but the story was too confusing to me and so I can't award it very highly. I've got the book somewhere on my shelves but I'm not sure if I'm convinced that I want to pick it up now...Graphics wise it scores full marks though so I've moved my rating to a 4!

[Kenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthy adaptation.
Not as creepy as the book but still shit-inducing scary in its own visual way.

[Sardonyx · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. The artwork is amazing! Dude knows how to draw people on the verge of crazy. Those manic eyes... Now I have to go out and read the original source material!

[Emma Darcy · Rating 3 out of 5]

not what I expected- I could have given it four stars if I had liked the art better.

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

one thing about the king in yellow is that you really don't see enough of the king in yellow

[Skjam! · Rating 3 out of 5]

The King in Yellow was a book containing linked short stories by Robert W. Chambers. Within these stories, “The King in Yellow” is a play bound in book format, the full details of which are never disclosed. It’s said to be brilliantly written, but deeply disturbing; just reading it is enough to send fragile minds over the brink, and actually producing the play is…not recommended. And yet the book keeps popping up on people’s bookshelves, even if they are sure they never purchased it.

The anthology strongly influenced H.P. Lovecraft, especially the idea of books that could influence their readers to madness, and the King in Yellow was absorbed into the Cthulhu Mythos. (Hilariously, this edition makes the error of crediting Lovecraft as the original author on the indicia page, but nowhere else.) This adaptation illustrates four of the stories.

“The Repairer of Reputations” begins in the near-future year of 1920, and things are looking up. The Winthrop administration led America to victory over Germany in the Samoan War, Chicago has been fully rebuilt after the second Great Fire, efficient, clean subways have replaced noisy, ugly elevated trains, and suicide has been made legal, with Lethal Chambers in every town and city. (Wait, what?) But not everyone is happy.

Hildred Castaigne has discovered that he is, in fact, the rightful ruler of the Americas, with only his cousin Louis as a possible contender. His secret campaign to take over is supported by the title character, a Mr. Wilde. Mr. Wilde’s day job is fixing people’s reputations so that they can then return to polite society; he accomplishes this by having a network of agents he has blackmail material on, who then get him more blackmail material on more people who then fall under his power. With leverage on the right people, he can get the media and rumor mills to exonerate or destroy anyone he pleases.

However, a certain amount of what Hildred Castaigne tells us may not be strictly fact. It seems that he suffered a head injury some years back and was confined for a while, and also he’s read “The King in Yellow” and thinks it has coded messages just for him. His imperial crown, kept in a safe, might be a crude art project kept in a cardboard box.

Also, the entire takeover plot hinges on Mr. Wilde’s network, and when his abused cat decides it’s had quite enough….

“The Mask” takes place in Paris. A painter named Boris has developed a fluid that transforms any living object dunked in it into marble. His friend Alec is simultaneously fascinated and terrified by this. Alec’s also got a love triangle thing going on with Boris’ wife Genevieve. To the reader’s utter lack of surprise, there’s a horrific OSHA violation, but maybe it’s not a complete tragedy?

“The Yellow Sign” takes us back to New York, where painter Mr. Scott and his model/love interest have nightmares about the night watchman at the church next door. In the dreams, he drives a hearse, and one of them is inside the coffin. The night watchman might not be, strictly speaking, human based on testimony from a man who assaulted the creepy fellow.

“In the Court of the Dragon” is presented here as possibly a nightmare; Mr. Scott finds himself living in Paris, where he attends a church service. Only he notices that the organist is not a normal human being and that the music has unsettling undertones. When he leaves the church, the protagonist finds himself repeatedly coming across the organist, and in a perhaps hallucinatory finale, meets the King in Yellow itself.

The art is well-suited to the weird, somewhat dated material. I want to especially commend the coloring, as especially shades of yellow are an important theme in the stories.

Where this adaptation falls down a bit is that some of the exposition has been omitted, making what’s going on even harder to figure out than in the original.

Content note: suicide, animal abuse, female nudity. The treatment of insanity is period, and may be uncomfortable for modern readers.

I do recommend this to fans of weird fiction, particularly in the Lovecraftian vein, but for best effect you should also read the original book.

[Zare · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is adaptation of famous horror stories centered around mysterious play "The King in Yellow". This play (book) is a center piece around which we follow the megalomaniac aiming for control of America, obsessed sculptor that goes crazy and young artist that seems to be constantly pushed to that final step toward the final mystery of this King in Yellow. While at the same time something weird is happening with the society at large as very disturbing lethal chambers are popping out across cites and depression and suicide seem to be rampant.

I have to admit I did not read the original novel and came across character's name in W40K novel and a story arc called Providence based on Lovecraft's works. While former is set to the far future where terrors unlike those from Lovecraft mythos roam the space and prey on Humanity, latter aimed only at the pure shock, nothing else, they had this mysterious creature as a common element - King in Yellow, destroying the minds of man and condemning them to terror and lunacy. So imagine my surprise when I found out that King in Yellow was a book on itself.

Art is excellent (as seems to be the trademark of Cullbard's books) and it depicts in very interesting way psychological state of the characters and ever present, almost palpable, doom and mystery of this horrific book that destroys the mind of anyone who reads it.

Highly recommended to all fans of horror.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very good at instilling dread. The stories are a slow burn, and the art is serviceable but almost minimalistic (though it does make good use of spot color for mood), as people who read the titular book are slowly destroyed. There are three stories, loosely connected - my favorite is the second, with the artists exploring a new way of capturing the essence of life in their art, until things go horribly awry. The ending makes it feel like a Saki short story. The first story is the weakest, but that's mainly by virtue of it having to set up the concepts that follow through the book, and even then it strongly evokes a sense of creepiness, of something being off. I had originally thought this was a Lovecraft story, and it does share a similar tone and mood, but the King in Yellow stands on its own as well.
I reread this after having gone through the source material, and my impressions changed a little. The graphic representation of the stories doesn't actually add anything to them, even in the occasions when it felt like it should (the suicide building, the soft man); Culbard's style is too minimalistic to bring the stories to the disturbing life I expected. With the possible exception of the last few pages, which do rise to the quality of the source material.

[Marcelo Soares · Rating 3 out of 5]

É uma história estranha, mas isso é o que se espera, afinal é o Rei em Amarelo, uma das histórias fundadoras do Weird Fiction e que acabou fazendo parte da mitologia cthulhiana, mas a questão é: é uma história bem contada?
Eu acho que sim, Culbard consegue criar uma atmosfera de loucura e insanidade, especialmente nos olhos esbugalhados dos personagens e na bizarrice de um livro que segue enlouquecendo quem o lê, contudo, ali pelo meio, tem uma passagem - "No mask, I wear no mask." - que me fez parar um minuto e pensar.
Talvez a loucura que parece chegar com a revelação de que o Estranho (ou o Estrangeiro) não usa máscara seja apenas a realização de que o louco é apenas alguém que prefere não se esconder atrás das máscaras sociais impostas pela nossa sociedade pseudo-moderna, talvez a loucura seja a sincera no seu último e fatal minuto. Como eu falei, uma história estranha.
Mas ainda mais estranho é Carcosa Perdida.

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Further we wander along the dark and winding road in a quest to find all the beautiful, beautiful, weird fiction gems out there.

Mr Culbard illustrates these gems ever so well.

More comic (sorry I’m not on board with the term ‘graphic novel’, it’s a fucking comic) retellings of classic cosmic horror as I like to be able to see my cosmic horror in it’s full cosmicly horrory glory. Which I know if kind of against the point but I regret nothing. I enjoyed this interpretation as it linked all the stories together in a thread that made it all make a lot more sense, was this in the original story, no, do I still like it, yes.

It did take some liberties with the source material but not, in my opinion, to the detriment of it... it still read as the original stories as much as turning them into a comic can do.

Splendid cosmic horror fun. Now I’m off to track down a copy of the play so I can go insane and kill myself. #goals

[Cat_Swindler · Rating 5 out of 5]

In terms of a graphic novel adaptation of Chambers' original stories, I'm rating this five stars. If you are a fan of Chambers' work, you will enjoy this graphic novel. The author has done a wonderful job in figuring out how to adapt the stories to a visual format, including changing the order of the stories, tying the stories together a little more tightly, trimming a few pieces, and using the visual medium as an opportunity to expand on or retell key scenes in a new light.

This is an excellent example of how to adapt to work to a new medium, and I would recommend this to any fans of Chambers' original King in Yellow.

If you have not read Chambers' original work, I would recommend doing so before picking up this piece - his short stories are rather odd, and reflect the time in which they were written, 1895. I would consider this more of a collector's item than a standalone piece.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was... odd. Given that The King in Yellow is an important part of weird fiction, I should have expected that. I can't speak to how good the adaptation is as I have never read the original. I do feel like I was missing something though, throughout the piece. The connections between the stories felt tenuous, and the narrative didn't seem to hang together, even in the individual stories. Perhaps this was a cause of the graphic format. It don't really think this story was particularly suited to being portrayed in images. I feel like it probably relied heavily on prose. Well, at least I feel inspired to read the original!

[Matthew Bieniek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting adaptation of the classic horror story, actually a series of connected short stories. I started reading this, then stopped and sought out the original stories before finishing the graphic novel, and I think I liked this better. The artwork did a good job of conveying the weird nature of the stories that were a little challenging to read due to the late-19th century style it was written in, and it tied the stories together in a way that I didn't get when reading the original prose.
The fact that he omitted the second set of stories of the original book, which didn't really have anything to do with the King In Yellow anyway, was a bonus in my mind.

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A graphic novel version of the first four stories from The King In Yellow.
The Repairer of Reputations,
The mask,
The yellow sign,
In the Court of the dragon,

Kid 1 volunteers at the library and told me it was there. “What? You didn’t borrow it?!”
Guess where I went the next day?
It’s pretty hard to make something so lyrically beautiful into something graphically beautiful, but they’ve done it.
There are also some small changes made, the same people appearing in later stories, to tie it together a little better. The original is a mind warping mishmash of ideas and images.
I read it before I went to sleep, and sadly did not dream of the towers of Carcosa.
4 stars

[Sammy Tiranno · Rating 3 out of 5]

The full stories in Robert Chambers' book of the same name are worth the read, but this is an abbreviated, visual medium that's just as entertaining. My interest was piqued when the "King in Yellow" and associated references surfaced in season 1 of HBO's "True Detective". The show was so engrossing and superbly done that I had to track down the strange literary references. These late 19th century stories offer a haunting experience for anyone interested in a bit of macabre horror. But reader be weary, lest the king in yellow affect you as negatively as it does the characters herein!

[Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel is based on the first four stories in the King in Yellow, written by Robert W. Chambers in 1895. In each of those tales, there is mention of a play by the same name that drives those who read it mad. The art by Culbard is well suited to the subject and the stories are tied together nicely but the last few pages left me feeling disappointed -- which I suspect would be my same reaction to the original story collection. Chambers' writing influenced H.P. Lovecraft, and you can very clearly see that influence here.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This adaptation actually manages to elevate the source material by creating stronger ties between the stories then the loose connection of The King in Yellow book that Chambers uses. Keep in mind this is not a complete adaptation of all the stories in the original, just a handful that have to do with the Yellow King/Sign mythos. As usual, Culbard creates manages to illustrate the written word with simple yet carefully framed images that are usually spot on, proving a great grasp of not just the direct source but its peripheral mythology.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the graphic novel version of The King in Yellow, a series of short horror stories about a fictional play that if you read it you become insane. It was basically the first to introduce the idea of the off-screen horror, implied but unseen, and was a huge influence on Lovecraft among others. This graphic novel version is a good way to get the gist of this important work without wading through the old-timey prose.

The first season of True Detective had a number of references to The King in Yellow - it shows up in a lot of places and was an important work.

[Ben Woodhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Firstly, the book on which this is based is great. It's the clear (and perhaps better written?) predecessor to Lovecraft's eldritch horror. And this graphic novel does capture some of that feeling - the unknowable things which lurk in the shadows, twisting and turning man to madness. But it loses something along the way, maybe by the very nature of being visual? Removing the imagination aspect of the fear? The imagery of the artists didn't quite match the terrifying or twisted version I had in my head. Solid enough, yeah I guess so, but nothing amazing.

[Kevin smlevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to be an insane person chanting the lines of a play when I grow up.
Like most Victorian horror, it isn't really scary, it moves quietly through your senses with sharp implications. I found my way here through True Detective Season One and Lovecraft.
Unfortunately, only a personal experience with a haunted painting will fulfill the feelings this work brought to the original audiences. Supernatural spook fest, worth a relaxing read, and better than Frankenstein. Victorians really take the most formal route to writing, "and then he killed himself"

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still haven't read the source material but I love this adaptation. By the time I got to this I'd seen much of Culbard's illustration style in a number of other Lovecraft graphic novels that he worked on, and I like it quite a bit. It's good here as well, but for some reason I like it slightly less for this story, though I can't put my finger on why. The story itself is excellent. Very disturbing and strange. It will take a few reads to get a grasp on things, and this is certainly worth rereading.