H.P. Lovecraft: Die Farbe aus dem All

Gou Tanabe's Adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft's Masterpieces

by Gou Tanabe

Der Bann des H.P. Lovecraft nimmt weiter seinen Lauf. Wie schon in der ersten Manga-Ausgabe „Der Hund und andere Geschichten“ werden die Leser durch Gou Tanabes klare Schwarzweiß-Zeichnungen in eine geheimnisvolle Story nah dem Horror gezogen: Als ein Landvermesser beim Bau eines Stausees ein mysteriöses Stück Land endeckt, nimmt das Unheil seinen Lauf…

"Dann hörte ich die Geschichte, und während er mit kratziger flüsternder Stimme weitschweifig erzählte, erschauderte ich trotz des sommerlichen Tages wieder und wieder. Nachdem er zu Ende erzählt hatte war mir klar, warum sein Geist sich etwas verwirrt hatte und die Leute in Arkham kaum über die 'verfluchte Heide' zu sprechen wagten." H.P. Lovecraft (1927)

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Lovecraftian, Fantasy, Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2015

About the author

Gou Tanabe is a Japanese creator of Manga.

Also known as 田辺 剛.

(Some prefer the spelling Gō Tanabe, but Gou Tanabe is used on his published books so far.)

Reviews

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Fascinante!

La forma en la que Tanabe logra recrear la incidencia del meteorito en el ecosistema del lugar es una aterradora maravilla. Y como logra diferenciar el color es perfecto.
Lo he disfrutado de principio a fin.

Absolutamente recomendado.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even by Lovecraft's standards, “The Colour Out of Space” is a rather bleak tale. A meteorite crashes to earth on a New England farm. The owner of the land, Nahum Gardner, does everything you or I might do: call in a scientific team to examine it, watch for signs of anything unusual happening, and generally try to make the best of a bad situation. Sure, he doesn't leave when it becomes apparent that something is deeply wrong, but he's dealing with forces he doesn't really understand, and besides, it's his home. Where's he going to go? I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I would have fared any better under the circumstances. Essentially, his home and his entire life decay and wither under the seemingly supernatural corruption that the meteorite brings. There's a framing device, set years after Nahum's tragic tale, in which a surveyor is examining the land with an eye towards turning it into a reservoir. The tale is related to him by a neighbor, and it's left an open question as to whether the reservoir will seal the corruption away, or allow it to spread.

So basically, it's a story about a dude who loses everything just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Cheerful, right? But it's Lovecraft, so there's all sorts of colorful description and creeping dread and a sense of a vast and uncaring cosmos and all. Unless you're new to his work, you know what to expect.

Likewise, unless you're new to Gou Tanabe's work, you know that it's going to be a top notch adaptation. I'm still not sure how he does it, but he manages to capture Lovecraft's essence non-verbally. And since HPL's stories rely so heavily upon his use of language and his ability to merely suggest and let the reader's imagination fill in the details, it's amazing to me that they can come alive in a visual medium like this. I mean, Tanabe gets across the idea of a literal color not of this world using just black and white artwork. Sure there are some color pages at the beginning that set the tone (as it were) for the rest of the book. But that's it. Just B&W for the rest of the book. I don't know how he does it, but he does it.

It's reached the point where I just automatically buy these without pondering further. I've been a fan of Lovecraft for a long time, and Gou Tanabe does better adaptations of his work than I thought possible. If Dark Horse has announced what his next project after Colour will be, I haven't heard. But I'm eagerly looking forward to it nonetheless. Highly recommended!

[Carmine R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

La cosa che venne da un'altra dimensione

"Era solo un colore che veniva dallo spazio, un terribile messaggero proveniente dagli informi reami dell'infinito che si estende oltre la Natura a noi nota"

Quando si parla di genere horror, il nome di Lovecraft è uno dei primi ad emergere.
L'autore di Providence, oltre ad aver rinnovato il genere letterario e ispirato il mezzo cinematografico nonché videoludico, si è contraddistinto per l'oggettiva difficoltà nel poterlo omaggiare senza scadere in pacchiane ricostruzioni degli orrori cosmici; atmosfere surrogate di quelle originali.
Gou Tanabe, mangaka appassionato dei lavori di Lovecraft, traspone l'inesorabile caduta della famiglia Gardner, accentuando le potenzialità del "colore" a livello dei disegni: le soluzioni visive regolari ed esplosive - ossimoro vincente - adottate sono così potenti da catturare l'esercizio d'atmosfera che Lovecraft scrisse nell'oramai lontano 1927.

[Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenía mucha curiosidad por ver cómo enfocaba Tanabe una adaptación de Lovecraft que tuviera como entorno un paisaje natural humanizado. Algo alejado de los exploradores de ruinas y cementerios o los interiores de El sabueso, y, sobre todo, los escenarios inhumanos del polo de Las montañas de la locura. Y hace un poco de agua; la granja previa al surgimiento de la ruina le queda demasiado tétrica y oscura para marcar la transformación de lo que viene después. Afortunadamente su talento para crear atmósfera, anticipar la estupefacción y el miedo previo a mostrar lo que miran sus personajes, el clímax de horror cósmico... son incuestionables junto a su habilidad para plasmar esa naturaleza alterada por el color que cayó del cielo (muy bien resuelto en blanco y negro con esa textura psicodélica). Muchas ganas de seguir leyendo su interpretación de Los Mitos.

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story kind of reminds me of the farm part of East of Eden (but with space monsters). A man recounts a tale of how the "blasted heath", a desolate abandoned farm land, came to be.

A meteorite crashes and slowly poisons the farm. Not just the flora is affected... and the farmer Nahum and his family go through a terrible time. It's pretty damn creepy.

These reviews of mine are repetitive in regards to Gou Tanabe's contributions. He's so consistently great. Fantastic artwork and a very loyal adaptation.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take my words, Gou Tanabe is the messiah for all the Lovecraft fans out there. XD

The Colour Out of Space is one of Lovecraft's most famous, well liked, forward-looking stories. It has also been adapted into a Hollywood movie recently. The theme is unknown and unnamable horror from the outer space, the inability to escape fate and certain doom, the usual Lovecraftian stuff, you know? However, all these same-old elements were played out very nicely and effectively in this tale of 'DOOM comes to a New England village', hahaha!

This manga adaptation is fine, the artwork is as lovely as always and the exquisite, extremely detailed black and white artwork really adds to the sense of dread and uneasiness. The landscapes and the creepy plants! It really looks like Village Life From Hell oh my goodness! However, to be honest, I like the manga adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu better than this one. LOL

My review for The Call of Cthulhu manga adaptation: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My review for the Shadow Out of Time manga adaptation and At the Mountains of Madness by the same author.

[Jona Lectores Constantes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó, Tanabe logró tomar y retratar una gran historia de Lovecraft excelentemente. En sus dibujos juega con las texturas y se puede percibir diferenciación del color, que es lo más importante de la historia… y que dudaba fuera exitoso. No cualquiera logra plasmar un color inexistente e indescriptible jaja.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tanabe Gou's creepy illustrations and picturesque worldbuilding clashes heavily with his rather dull human faces, from which the true horror of a situation hardly comes through. The Colour out of Space is one of my favourite Lovecraft stories, but this is not my favourite adaptation of it, though I liked it fine.

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's the thing - Gou Tanabe gets Lovecraft. He gets the slowly evolving, disaffected dread, and he translates it perfectly into imagery, perfectly paced. He just gets it!

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Die FARBE aus dem All - in einem s/w=Manga? Nun, warum nicht, liest man HPLs Erzählung, sieht man die Farbe ja auch nicht (und überhaupt: wie sollte man sich eine Farbe vorstellen, die, noch nie gesehen, außerhalb des für Menschen sichtbaren Farbspektrums liegen müsste?)
Aber das ist Teil der Prämisse und irgendwie bei aller fehlenden Rationalität mir reizvoll=interessant.
Leider nicht ganz so reizvoll=interessant liest sich Tanabes Manga=Adaption des Klassikers. Die Zeichnungen sind manga=untypisch detailliert und realistisch, aber: die unheilvolle Stimmung ist bei mir leider nicht so richtig aufgekommen und der immer gleiche, leer=ratlose Gesichtsausdruck des Erzählers ging mir zunehmend auf die Nerven.

[Xfi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adaptación de las obras de Lovecraft al cómic. En este caso un relato poco conocido pero terrorífico, como siempre.
Un meteorito cae en una aislada granja de Nueva Inglaterra, a partir de ahí el terror bajo formas sobrenaturales irá envolviéndolo todo.

Me ha gustado la plasmación en dibujos de ese ambiente Lovecraft. Gou Tanabe consigue aumentar la tensión mostrándonos la cara de los protagonistas antes de enseñarnos lo que están viendo. El manejo de las elipsis y los silencios también es muy bueno.
Una buena adaptación para pasar un poquito de miedo

[Devero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mi meraviglio sempre di come autori di culture lontane da quella occidentale possano interpretare, in altri media, opere abbastanza particolari come quelle di HPL.
Gou Tanabe nel complesso se la cava bene, è fedele allo scritto originale quanto basta e la sua interpretazione grafica, seppure non tra le migliori che siano state eseguite de "il colore venuto dallo spazio" regge.

[Mizuki · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Doom that came to the farmland and I like the recent movie adaptation too!!!!

[Pitichi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un meteorite precipita vicino alla casa di un umile e onesto contadino, Nahum Gardener. Porta con sé un colore mai visto prima e una composizione chimica insolita, che nessuno scienziato è in grado di comprendere.
Gou Tanabe presta la sua arte per dare forma all'"horror cosmico" di H.P. Lovecraft: alberi fosforescenti, bestiame impazzito, vegetali che marciscono e acqua che prende vita. Il bianco e nero, stranamente, si rivela ideale per raffigurare il "colore venuto dallo spazio" e le sue trasformazioni.

[Jim Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little magna adaptation of one of HP Lovecraft's short stories. It is a decent little story of his and the art is just perfect for this book. happy to have found it at the book store and got it for the Halloween season. Now to go on my shelves with my other Lovecraft collections.

[Zai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me estoy aficionando a las adaptaciones al manga que hace Tanabe Go de los relatos escritos por H. P. Lovecraft. Este también me ha gustado mucho, aunque de momento mi favorito es Las montañas de la locura.

Este comienza cuando un joven viaja a Arkham para hacer una encuesta sobre la construcción de un nuevo embalse, que inundará lo que sus habitantes conocen como el "yermo maldito", y solo hay un hombre dispuesto a contarle esa historia, uno que vive aislado y le cuenta la historia de su amigo Nahud Gardner y su familia.

Comienza la historia contándole que Nahud Gardner era un granjero, que vivía con su esposa y sus tres hijos, y todo lo que le acontece a esta familia a raiz de que un meteorito caiga en sus tierras y los expertos de la universidad de Miskatonic, empiecen a analizarlo e investigarlo porque tiene propiedades que nunca han visto....

Las ilustraciones son en blanco y negro pero totalmente magníficas.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Tanabe Gou’s adaptation of The Colour Out of Space captures the creeping dread and slow-burn horror of Lovecraft’s original story beautifully. The rural setting, with its decaying farms and ominous skies, is rendered with haunting detail, and the grotesque imagery feels both terrifying and strangely mesmerizing. What I especially liked was how the manga format amplified the “unknowable”—the panels often cut away at just the right moment, letting your imagination fill the gaps.

That said, the pacing might feel a bit drawn out at times, and the story’s very ambiguity—while faithful to Lovecraft—can leave you craving more concrete answers. Still, it’s a chilling, atmospheric read that proves Tanabe Gou is one of the best at visualizing cosmic horror.

Would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys eerie, unsettling tales where the fear lies not just in monsters, but in the sheer incomprehensibility of the universe.

[mrzokonimow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Niezwykły klimat opowiadania Lovecrafta podkreślony przepięknymi ilustracjami. A tytułowy kolor z innego wszechświata, choć oddany w surowej czerni i bieli, hipnotyzuje i przeraża.

[A_Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read that didn’t trouble my mind to follow along. The illustrations were well done, as well. Was strange and a little creepy. Perfect read for October.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gou Tanabe's graphic adaptation of the 1927 H.P. Lovecraft story, The Colour Out of Space, is pretty much inline with every other one of Tanabe's adaptations of Lovecraft works. It's almost directly done 1:1, features stunning artwork, and most importantly, captures the same dread and unease one gets from reading a Lovecraft story. The Colour Out of Space is a personal favorite Lovecraft short story of mine, fulfilling almost the entire "checklist" of necessary components to cosmic horror. The story follows a land surveyor who visits a shunned location in rural Massachusetts which was the site of a meteor collision some fifty years earlier. Learning about the people who lived there during the direct aftermath of the meteorite, the horror of what was found on it unfolds with gripping detail. Tanabe renders the story with complete reverence towards the original, changing almost nothing and maintaining almost every single detail.

What works especially well here is the central premise of the story that other adaptations can struggle with - the visualization of the "color" itself. A recent film adaptation of this story exists - the 2019 film of the same name starring Nic Cage - which executed many of the core elements well but naturally struggled with aesthetics from time to time. Lovecraft's power was in titillating the reader's imagination to fill in the gaps, something that visual adaptations like comics, games, movies, etc. will always be up against. Tanabe, thankfully, is still restrained in the visual front given that manga is generally conducted in black-and-white artwork, and as such, can still exude a similar level of enigma that Lovecraft so capably utilized. On a side note, my favorite visualization of what I imagine the "color" would be like comes from the 2018 film, Annihilation. Though that film was an adaptation of a Jeff VanderMeer novel, I'll maintain that both book and film use Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space as a bit of an inspiration.

You know what you're getting with any Gou Tanabe adaptation of Lovecraft stories, and this one is just as effective and gripping as the ones prior.

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 5 out of 5]

"H.P. Lovecraft's The Colour out of Space"
Gou Tanabe

"in caverns deep i desperately seek atonement and clarity, but found there only Aloft Vernacularity"

Найголовнішим аргументом на користь геніальності Танабе в цьому коміксі є один незаперечний факт: цей візонер спромігся зобразити надприродний космічний КОЛІР в чорно-білій манзі! Ну і в принципі на цьому можна було б просто закінчити мій відгук і опублікувати окремі сторінки.
Але хочеться все ж додати трішки необов'язкових деталей.
Деталь перша - паттерн космічного кольору Танабе взяв із барвистих бензинових плям, їх в можна побачити на вклейках манги.
Деталь друга - Лавкрафт не описав якість самого метеориту і тут Танабе його перевершив зобразивши у вигляді велетенської щільно-драглистої кулі.
Деталь третя, фінальна - Танабе маніяк деталей, наприклад в романі згадується мутована Заяча капуста, окремішні види метеликів та звірів і всіх їх, художник скрупульозно переніс в манґу!
Я впевнений, що Лавкрафт читав би ці адаптації з відкритим ротом і весь аж тремкотів би від страшного задоволення.
So am I, my fellow man, so am I...

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otra versión de Gou Tanabe de los relatos de Lovecraft, y después de esa maravillosa adaptación que ha sido La Llamada de Cthulhu, llega, no menos trabajada, la versión manga de El color que cayó del cielo, una historia que, desde un principio, me pareció complicadísimo de adaptar a una narración como esta, en blanco y negro, cuando uno de los puntos más relevantes de esta historia es precisamente el color.

El color que cayó del cielo es, desde mi perspectiva, la más cósmica de las historias de horror de Lovecraft, la que mejor representa el aspecto alienígena de su obra, y lo hace a través del recurso del meteorito que llega a la Tierra y que trae un "visitante inesperado", que en este caso, se define precisamente por un color extraño y alienígena que comienza a impregnar la zona en la que ha caído, las posesiones del granjero Nahum Gardner y su familia. Así, primero las plantas, luego los animales y luego incluso las personas, comenzarán a verse afectados por "el color", trazando una historia de tensión y horror corporal, que nos es narrada muchos años después de que haya tenido lugar por un ingeniero que va a estudiar la región para la construcción de una presa. Como era habitual en su obra, Lovecraft sitúa la acción en la imaginaria ciudad de Arkham, esa ficticia población que junto a Innsmouth y Kingsport forman su triángulo del horror en Nueva Inglaterra, y que se han convertido en iconos del terror con peso propio.

Y para esta nueva narración, Gou Tanabe realiza un auténtico esfuerzo para mostrarnos, en blanco y negro, el horror alienígena de ese color, con viñetas y acabados muy impactantes y en perfecta consonancia con esta historia.

Puntazo, de verdad.

[Sarah B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! This was utterly amazing!! And the story was totally mesmerizing! I have never read Lovecraft before but this version of the story had me hooked. Read this entire thing in one sitting too (but it's not very long). If all of Lovecraft is this way I will definitely have to read more.

So this was like a bizarre ecological disaster - except the cause came from outer space. And it's far from your "big bug from outer space" that was so popular in the 1950s - in fact there's no big bugs in here. There is lots of disaster and other problems. I was amazed at how gripping this simple story was. I think the images in here play a part of that too, because then you can see the horrified expressions on people's faces. So the visual part in here has a big impact even if the entire book is in black and white.

The only thing I found a tad confusing about this book was the very first line:

"But even all this was not so bad as the blasted heath."

That sentence - it's a very bizarre first sentence, as it seems to suggest that there should be some other sentences before it? And what is "this" that it was referring to??

Being manga, you of course read the book "backwards". If you get confused, just follow the page numbers...

I think I will be thinking about this story for awhile!

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

Reading a new Tanabe adaptation is always exciting for me. I'm always eager to know what new and possibly different emotions will be evoked when experiencing a Lovecraft story through a visual medium.
While retaining the impending dread of the original I found myself feeling more melancholic. As much as this is a tale of an esoteric force disrupting the ignorance and placidity of human life it is also the story of a family being torn apart. We slowly see them cast off by their community and left to hopelessly fend for themselves against an unrelenting and faceless entity. The human frailty and cosmic indifference is heightened by Tanabe's art which made The Colour Out of Space not only an unnerving reading experience but a sad one as well.
Tanabe does justice to one of my favorite Lovecraft stories and reminds us once again that Lovecraft lives on beyond the written word.

"But this thing had no message for us...it was just a colour out of space."

[miss_mandrake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dann hörte ich die Geschichte und während er mit kratziger flüsternder Stimme weitschweifig erzählte, erschauderte ich trotz des sommerlichen Tages wieder und wieder. Nachdem er zu Ende erzählt hatte war mir klar, warum sein Geist sich etwas verwirrt hatte und die Leute in Arkham kaum über die "verfluchte Heide" zu sprechen wagten.

Eine meiner liebsten Lovecraft Geschichten, wenn nicht die beste überhaupt.
Die Umsetzung fand ich grandios, die Zeichnungen perfekt zur Atmosphäre passend!
Ich bin verliebt in diesen Manga und hoffe auf Nachschub!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die Geschichte ist so episch wie immer. Irgendwie fängt die Darstellung den Horror für mich aber nicht so richtig ein.

Ich frage mich nach der Lektüre auch, ob es wohl schwieriger war, diese Geschichte rund um eine nicht existierende Farbe in schwarz-weiß zu gestalten oder ob es noch schwerer gewesen wäre, sie zu kolorieren.

[Sergi Oset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nova brillant adaptació de l'obra de Lovecraft a mans de Gou Tanabe (tan intensa i inquietant com els dos volums de "A les muntanyes de la follia"). Impecable. Potser l'artista gràfic que millor sap captar la follia i l'horror còsmic que traspuen les lletres del mestre de Providence.

[Camille · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Ruben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Llegit el text de Lovecraft, llegit el manga de Tanabe, poc més a dir que grandíssima adaptació. Segurament, el més complicat de transmetre en una obra en blanc i negre és "el color de l'espai", i trobo que està perfectament resolt.

[CharlieSadNerd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tak jak opowiadania lovecrafta zazwyczaj mnie nudzą, tak w wersji mangowej sprawdza się o wiele lepiej.
Chociaż z pozycji czytelnika trochę bawi że zachwycają się niewiadomo jak kolorem a potem patrzy się na kartkę i jest to trochę szarego z białym(co jest genialne i gdyby próbowano odwzorować kolor w kolorowym komiksie to bym miał mocne XD)