Alan Moore's The Courtyard (Color Edition) [Paperback]

This is an Alan Moore Chtuhlu myths short story, beautifully adapted for comics by writer Anthony Johnston and artist Jacen Burrows. FBI agent Aldo Sax is investigating a number of unconnnected but identical murders committed by the most unlikely of suspects. All of them candidly confessed to the murders they committed, but no more. All of them were spotted speaking similar gibberish and were probably buying and using drug from the same Courtyard... Follow agent Sax as he uncovers what is behind the murders and stumbles upon much, much more than he expected. This book is downright scary and, in typical Moore fashion, touches upon many themes at once, adapting them to his sensibilities and making them relevant and poignant. At some level, this is a story of urban decay and harsh social commentary. The neighbourhood Sax is conducting his investigation in is squallid and drugs seem the only real escape from its murdering depression. On some other level, this is a Lovecraftian horror tale, but it is brilliantly executed and would make Lovecraft proud: The Boston writer and his literary peers often visited each other's fantastic worlds, and Moore does nothing less here, paying homage and at the same time bringing his ample palette to the picture. Lastly, this is typical Moore because it is another hymn to the power of language, another look into its many facets and recesses, this time boldly going into almost non-human territory (again, Swamp Thing readers would say :-). A lot of merit also goes to Anthony Johnston for choosing this stunning format based on a grid of two vertical panels per page, which really gives Jacen Burrows' artwork the deserved room to breathe, while avoiding to turn this into a spalsh page slugfest or a simple illustrated prose story. So Burrows' considerable illustration talents are once again put to great use and turned into storytelling brilliance. My favourite pages are the last ones, as Sax receives three hits of the mysterious aklo drug and the artwork becomes incision-like when he takes the drug. Then the art breaks the basic panels pattern to delve into two 3-panels double page spreads and a full 2-page spread for the drug induced vision, before going full circle and showing the first panels of the story again, but with a decisive, perverse twist. This book comes with my highest recommendation: first to all fans of the crime and horror genres this book mainly belongs to, second to all fans of poignant social commentary, and third to all fans of the authors.

This is a short but potent story, the sort that you will read fairly quickly but certainly remember. The underlying concept, which I won't relate here, is intriguingly horrible, all the more so for being a little abstract and cerebral; the artwork is effective: I'd say although this is quite slight in itself, you get a decent bit of reality-twisting bang for your anyway-ephemeral buck.

The Courtyard was a short story written by Alan Moore back in the 90's based within the fictional universe of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos; a rich literary vein which Moore and many others have mined successfully. This 2-issue comic, collected here in full colour, is a sequential adaption of Moore's short story. Now, you may be worried that this isn't a true Alan Moore comic, but in all honesty it feels like Moore from cover to cover, perhaps the fact that it's adapted word-for-word from the novel has something to do with it. I am also convinced that Moore had something to do with the planning of the comic too.

There are things in this comic that will likely confuse the casual reader and for that reason I give it 4 out of a potential 5 stars. A fairly deep knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos is probably neccessary to fully understand the many references and abstractions presented throghout the book. A fan of Arthur Machen, RW Chambers, Clark Ashton Smyth, Robert Bloch, and the man himself HP Lovecraft will delight in the many allusions to characters and places within that world. So if you're hoping to understand this book, you ought to know your weird fiction.

The story centres around a rather unlikeable FBI agent called Aldo Sax. A genius but also a bigot (modelled on HP Lovecraft himself from what I can see) Sax has invented a method of deduction called 'anomaly theory' whereby he can find a connection in seemingly unrelated events using process of elimination and deep intuition. A string of horrific murders occur in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn and Sax is sent in to investigate. Sax's investigation ends up leading him to Club Zothique (see Clark Ashton Smith), haunt of local drug dealer Johnnny Carcossa (Carcossa as referenced by Ambrose Bierce and Robert Chambers amongst others), where he unravels more than just the case.. Without spoiling too much; I must implore that you pay attention to what's going on in every panel, especially towards the end of the book when Sax 'comes down' from his experience with the Aklo and White Powder. There are panels within panels as time and the fabric of reality seems to become non-linear in the mind of our protagonist.

At the end of the book you do get somewhat of a conclusion but it's evident that this is the foundation of a new fictional universe that Alan Moore intends to visit more. And there is a sequel. Issue one of Neonomicon was released last month (July 2010) and will no doubt be collected in a TPB over the next couple of years. It's a 4 issue monthly comic-book that picks up right where The Courtyard leaves off, it's also fully written by Alan Moore (not just an adaption) and Jacen Burrows also returns to delve more into the dark and frightening world of The Courtyard..

On a final note, this is a great book but it's not a good starting place for those interested in Alan Moore or HP Lovecraft. For a 64 page book it demands quite a lot from the reader but the pay-off is worth it. I have re-read it at least three times and I have gotten something new out of it each time, it also seems to get more disturbing with every read.