'Abe Sapien: The Drowning' and 'Neonomicon'

I didn't have time for a lot of reading yesterday, my youngest daughter's school Harvest Festival only took an hour out of my day but it somehow left me scrabbling to get everything else done on either side... Having said that though, I wouldn't have missed it. It was her last Harvest Festival before she goes to high school next year so definitely a little bittersweet for both of us. But I'm going off on a tangent aren't I...? You're not that bothered and that's ok ;o) You're here for the book talk so let me oblige. 

Once I'd got everything, more or less, done for the day, I didn't have a lot of time left so I settled down with a couple of comic books and had a read. One a new read, the other as unsettling as ever, let me tell you about them.

'Abe Sapien: The Drowning' - Mike Mignola & Jason Shawn Alexander (Dark Horse Books)

A century ago, paranormal investigator Edward Grey fought and destroyed a powerful warlock off the coast of the island of Saint Sebastien. In the early 1980s, the B.P.R.D.'s newest agent was sent, on his first solo mission, to retrieve the warlock's remains. But Abe Sapien is ill prepared for the dark forces that block his way.

I haven't read nearly as much 'Hellboy' as I'd like but I've read even less about his colleague Abe Sapien. Okay, until last night I hadn't read anything at all so 'The Drowning' was an ideal read, long overdue.

There wasn't an awful lot to the mission itself although I enjoyed the way that Mignola toys with your expectations around who is responsible for what. As the story went on though, I couldn't help but feel that it was more 'when' and 'how' Abe would win rather than 'if'. IT wasn't a dealbreaker but that strand of the plot lost a little something for me.

What I really enjoyed though was Mignola's treatment of Abe's first solo mission, really getting inside Abe's head and making him confront all manner of self-doubt. Again, the outcome wasn't in doubt but it was great to see Abe fight through and come out the other side. You get a real feel for just who Abe is and I love that.

And I'm rubbish at talking about artwork (can never find the words...) but I can't leave it without mentioning Jason Shawn Alexander's work which was great to start off with and then proceeded to get even better as the book went on. I don't quite know how to put it, the less structured it was, the better it got? I don't know, all I know is that the opening chapters felt a little forced while the ending scenes just seemed to flow more smoothly.

Either way, I'd be interested in reading more along these lines so 'The Drowning' did its job just fine :o)

'Neonomicon' - Alan Moore & Jacen Burrows (Avatar Press)

Just what happened to top FBI agent Aldo Sax while he was investigating a wave of serial killings (and a possible connection to a certain drug)? All anyone knows is that Sax went on to kill a couple of people himself before being locked up in a maximum security facility? He’ll happily talk but it’s in a language that no-one can understand. The killings have begun again and it’s now the job of two younger agents to not only get to the bottom of Sax’ condition but pick up his case from where it went cold. Who is Johnny Carcosa and just what is he peddling? What lurks beneath the waters of Innsmouth and will it ever let Agent Merrill Brears go? What will be left of her if it does...? Cthulhu is stirring from his dreams and R’lyeh is in the last place you would ever expect to look...

Content Warning: This book contains scenes of rape and sexual assault.

An uncomfortable read then and not one that I'd readily recommend to anyone. I mean, you wouldn't would you...? While I'm not keen on the lengths that it goes to, what I can appreciate 'Neonomicon' for though is its ambition to be the Mythos tale that really leans into everything that Lovecraft shied away from. It definitely succeeds on that score. I'm also a big fan of the ending which I won't give away here but makes a lot of sense while casting everything in a whole new light. And the sheer number of Easter Eggs hidden in plain sight... Now I've read a few more 'Mythos' books, a few more references suddenly make more sense.

But yep, not an easy read at all.