Mac Carter & Tony Salmons, $4.99 Image Comics

Taking another hit to my cred, I admit to you all I’ve not read much HP Lovecraft. I dig on a great deal of the stuff that’s been influenced by him, so you might wonder what my problem is. To which I’d say, “Hey, buddy, I don’t have a problem, I just have a lot going on.” Anyway, that’s not germane. Back to the review. THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF HP LOVECRAFT is a terrific debut issue, and I could immediately see why it was optioned for film (by no less than Opie Cunningham himself, Ron Howard) before it was even released. It’s got everything I want from a new issue–clearly defined characters and situations, an air of dread and mystery, and plausible, internally consistent settings (a must for period pieces). I don’t know if I would’ve enjoyed the company of HP Lovecraft–he seems like a bit of a dick, truth be told–but I can’t wait to see how he deals with the reveal that his writer’s block is cured by malevolent shadow beasts the likes of which he creates for pulp novels. Quite a sticky pickle, eh?