The latest installment of Boom! Studios’ Fall of Cthulhu series illustrates the events leading up to the final conflict between the Elder Gods, Cthulhu and Noden—a battle that threatens to bring about the end of all humanity as it unfolds. Written by Michael Alan Nelson (author of Boom!’s popular series, Dominion), the story arc contained in the four issues compiled in Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar provides new readers, such as myself, with enough information about each of the characters involved and the events that are unfolding to allow them to read Godwar as though it stands alone. Similarly, Godwar provides new readers enough information about the characters and story to entice them to go looking for more.
Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar opens on the psychiatric wing of Arkham Hospital where Cy, a young man who has just recently awoken from a year-long catatonic stupor, is being held for “treatment”. The doctors at Arkham find Cy’s mysterious and sudden recovery, as well as his subsequent ramblings about what the doctors call “monsters”, reason to extend his stay, but larger forces have alternative plans for Cy. The stupor, it turns out, is not the result of emotional shock following the deaths of four of Cy’s closest family members and friends, as his psychiatrist believes, but rather a nasty side effect of having his soul trapped in a box in a place called Dreamland by a green-skinned hag known as The Harlot.
Imagine my delight to discover, upon entering Dreamland, that The Harlot is recruiting none other than our new favorite “sort of supernatural bounty hunter” Luci Jenifer “Lucifer” Inacia Das Neves, to rescue Cy from Arkham Hospital. The Hexed heroine must join forces with Arkham Sheriff Raymond Dirk and the psychologically unstable Cy in an effort to prevent the seemingly inevitable “Godwar” between Cthulhu and Noden that has already begun to unleash chaos and destruction upon the world, turning average people into crazed, maniacal animals.
The inclusion of Hexed heroine Luci Jenifer “Lucifer” Inacia Das Neves in the Cthulhu story provides an interesting opportunity for comparison between the illustration styles of Fall of Cthulhu and Hexed. Mat Santolouco and Mark Dos Santos’ illustrations are characterized by strong, clear lines that bring Lucifer and the other characters—both human and, ah, not—to life in a much more solid, bold, tangible world than the one in which she usually traverses (for further explanation, see our Hexed #2 review). The interconnected nature of some of Boom!’s comic series seen in Fall of Cthulhu is an added bonus in an already outstanding and compelling story. As a first time reader of the series, I will certainly be following up with previous issues and looking forward to reading the current chapter in the Fall of Cthulhu series, Fall of Cthulhu: Apocalypse. Fall of Cthulhu earns a solid 4/5 for both story and illustration.
You may like Fall of Cthulhu: Godwar if you are a fan of: The Walking Dead, H. P. Lovecraft
