The Dunwich Horror

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The Dunwich Horror is my fave Halloween story, and one of my favorite stories period.  I first read it in one of those books we used to order in grade school, by Scholastic or Dell or some other entity.  I loved it then and now.  The tale of a family that is up to no good whatsoever in the boondocks outside of the village of Dunwich, roadsigns since removed, is extremely gripping and very well written.  It is Lovecraft's masterpiece, and one of the few pulp stories to survive with all it's power untouched by 21st century movie conditioned taste.  It is curious that it has never been filmed the way it was written.  With CGI it can now be done right, and can now be done in such a way as to unleash the impact of Lovecraft's story and prose.  
I don't participate in Inktober, I could care less as I have nothing to do with other artists, or ink.  But this month I am going to do a Halloween post, and I believe Wilbur Whateley will be my subject.  I have searched the net and found nothing, yet, but I will keep trying.  Nothing I think worthy of the subject, anyways.  Let me clarify that last.  In 1979 Heavy Metal put out an all Lovecraft issue that completely missed the mark except for Alberto's Breccia's and and Alberto Buscaglia's adaption of The Dunwich Horror.  This is one of the finest thing that rag ever published.  Heavy Metal started off strong and went south real quick.  This adaption, which I read while I was on the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, is dead on in it's interpretation of this great story.  Being on the Silent Drill "Team" meant nothing but being stationed in D.C. did.  I found the mall and many of the sights to be quite fantastic, a dreamscape as it were.  I remember tripping my ass off on some particularly good windowpane outside this really wild cemetery along with my best friend and just being blown away with how horror movie the place was.  I later found out that we were outside Dumbarton Oaks.  Not that it was scary, oh no.  It was just so, er, goth!  The Hell with D.C., it was no place for a young, imaginative person who wanted adventure and challenge.  Personally I think the town ripe for an Old Ones takeover with all that entails!  But that would give a springboard to the unbeatable agents of chaos and who needs the aggravation.  We should just move the seat of government to the midwest and let Washington sink back into the swamp it is, and always will be.  Lovecraft never dreamed of a town built on nothing, supported by the coerced taxes of deluded citizens who trusted that the word "government" meant "responsible".  Both prohibition and the Vietnam war were brought to us by the people we elected to run this country with foresight and wisdom.  Ha Ha!  Anyone who seeks elective office in the United States is ipso facto disqualified for the job.

"I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men - men, I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a rapacious and pitiless folly".

This wonderful quote is from Heart of Darkness, and was used by Robert Stone for the epigraph of Dog Soldiers.  There is no better description of power granted by popularity contests.  None.  Whatever one has to say about Cesare Borgia or Hernan Cortez it cannot be said they got where they were by popular acclaim and lies.
But I am talking about fun horror and not the real thing.  I tend to waver towards irrelevance at times and this is one of them.  Below is the best adaption so far of Lovecraft's artistic apogee.

















All honor to them for making this superlative comic available to read after all these years.

I am surprised not to find a Mike Mignola version of Wilbur.  After all, Mr. Mignola is very obviously influenced by Lovecraft.  Hmmmm... Let me try again-





Mike Mignola, H. P. Lovecraft
Close enough.  Here is a demon I drew on the day of the Harmonic Convergence in 1987 to mock the new age bullshit way of thinking.  This is titiled "Old Wine, New Bottle".  Notice the goatish face.  There is my Lovecraft influence on display!





And then I gave up drawing for 25 years.  My fondest dream was being a comic artist and I quit because I thought I couldn't compete.  Fool is the nicest word I can use for that silly young man.
I have been extremely and unavoidably busy since Monday but I am going to do a Halloween post, specific to this year.  But this will have to do for right now.





This awesome interpretation is by -




Joseph DiazPRO Freelance email: joseph@j21studio.com





Happy Halloween.

Image from Vampyre, 1932. d) Carl Dreyer


https://youtu.be/--IBwKXbRQ4





Sleep tight.

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