I've rarely ever felt the urge to burn a book, but this one, Lovecraft (2003), makes me feel like burning it. Ostensibly it is a comic book-styled biography of H.P. Lovecraft--a fictionalized one. That doesn't bother me. It treats Lovecraft's stories as real aspects of his life (i.e., young Lovecraft finds his mad father's copy of The Necronomicon). That doesn't bother me. It trivializes real issues of Lovecraft's life and makes them into one-dimensional cliches (prissy young Howard is queer-bashed by other children; insensitive mother tells Howard to stop talking nonsense when she's aware of the reality of his nightmares; and that's just for starters). This bothers me. The writers of this crap should be embarrassed. The illustrations aren't much better. What a botched and mistaken enterprise.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
Lovecraft Caricatured
I've rarely ever felt the urge to burn a book, but this one, Lovecraft (2003), makes me feel like burning it. Ostensibly it is a comic book-styled biography of H.P. Lovecraft--a fictionalized one. That doesn't bother me. It treats Lovecraft's stories as real aspects of his life (i.e., young Lovecraft finds his mad father's copy of The Necronomicon). That doesn't bother me. It trivializes real issues of Lovecraft's life and makes them into one-dimensional cliches (prissy young Howard is queer-bashed by other children; insensitive mother tells Howard to stop talking nonsense when she's aware of the reality of his nightmares; and that's just for starters). This bothers me. The writers of this crap should be embarrassed. The illustrations aren't much better. What a botched and mistaken enterprise.
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