Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom

by Bruce Brown, Dwight L. MacPherson, and Renzo Podesta

Arcana Studio

96 pages

From the solicitation: “After visiting his father in Arkham Sanitarium, young Howard Lovecraft ignores his father's warning and uses the legendary Necronomicon to open a portal to a strange, frozen world filled with horrifying creatures and grave danger. Alone and scared, Howard befriends a hideous creature he names Spot who takes him to the castle of the king where he is captured and sentenced to death.”

At first glance this graphic novel seems to be targeting a very young audience; after all, the characters are drawn very cartoonishly, there is a monster named “Spot”, the dialogue is very basic, and there was an animated feature made based on this book. A closer look, however, reveals that the work is more for middle-grade to young adult readers; the color palette is dark and moody, and some of the themes and phrases are beyond what a grade-school child would be able to comprehend.

The story opens up on Christmas Eve with Howard Lovecraft, a young boy, and his mother arriving at Arkham Sanitarium to visit Howard’s father. There, Winfield Lovecraft spouts warnings to his son through a steel door, and grabs him with his clawed hand in desperation, warning his son to destroy “the book”. Orderlies are called in to restrain Winfield, and the boy and his mother leave. Later that night, Howard receives an early Christmas present: his father’s book, which, it is implied, is the dreaded Necronomicon. Upon reading through most of the text, Howard inadvertently opens a portal to another world: a frozen tundra called R’yleh.

Almost immediately the boy is faced with a monstrous being who threatens to destroy him, but after some dialogue, the two become friends. After introductions, Howard decides that, because he can’t pronounce the creature’s name, he will call him “Spot”, having always wanted a pet dog (ironically, the real Howard was more akin to cats).

The two venture to meet the king of the land, and after facing characters that include one who looks eerily like Marvel’s Moon Knight - complete with moon-shaped blades - the two are set off on an adventure to retrieve yet another book from a dastardly creature.

Overall the story was decent; it was an adventure like we see in many young adult books like “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”, “The Phantom Tollbooth”, and the “Percy” adventure books. However, the dialogue is too simple to appeal to middle-aged readers, and the artwork and themes too dark and advanced to appeal to early readers. The book just couldn’t find that middle ground.

 The artwork is decent [some reviews have mentioned that each chapter has a different artist, which is not true - only the covers were done by different artists], but the color palette is too dark for the target age group. Additionally, a young child would not realize the horror of the final panel, which is what truly makes the story interesting to the end. I have not seen the film, but based on some screenshots I’ve seen, the film is definitely targeted at a very young audience. The colors in that version are bright and splendorous.

 In considering whether to allow my 7-year old son to read this [he absolutely loves comic books and graphic novels], I decided he just wouldn’t enjoy it because he wouldn’t understand it, and would probably get bored with the art for the colors. In deciding whether to present it to my wife, who is a middle-school teacher, to show to her students, I again hesitate, because the dialogue would bring about laughs from her students for a book that’s not supposed to be funny at all. I did enjoy it, but it just doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Appropriate for all ages. Available on Amazon, eBay, and Comixology.