REVIEW: Fall of Cthulhu: Nemesis #4
Release Date: 15 July 2009
Writer(s): Michael Alan Nelson
Artist(s): Todd Herman
Cover(s): John Nofsinger with Digikore Studios, Chuck BB
Colours: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
As the copy promised way back in issue 1, with the end of this miniseries we get to find out who Nemesis is/was before becoming Nyarlathotep’s “favourite companion.” The ending happens fast and the Nemesis reveal should have been obvious from issue 1. I didn’t guess it back then, but even that didn’t make the reveal a shocker for me.
We pick back up with Atlantis on that fateful day when she gets obliterated, nothing but stories and myths left in the wake of her destruction. Levin, by this time, has gone off his rocker. Completely. You can tell because he has Crazy Eyes the entire issue. They really bug out of his head after the Oracle has a visit with him. Much like his brother, the King only hears the part of the prophecy he wants to hear (that his brother is going to betray him) and not the part that counts (uh, he dies). He sends his guards to arrest Hadron, which backfires because just about everyone on the entire island has been turned into an acolyte by Apocrates (how he’s still able to talk after having a red hot metal clamp on his lower jaw is amazing).
Of course, this isn’t the turn of events Hadron thinks it is. While the newly converted acolytes and Apocrates do save Hadron from being killed by Levin, and in turn help kill Levin, they aren’t doing it so he can become king. Apocrates is Nyarlathotep (that explains not being affected by the whole hanging by your lower jaw attached to a heated metal clamp deal), and he has created a whole mess of chaos in Atlantis making it ripe for the picking of the God of the Old Ones. He also turns Hadron into the cat-lynx, Nemesis, his seemingly eternal pet. Also, tentacles! Finally!
I have to be perfectly honest, I’m not up on my Cthulhu lore. I haven’t read Lovecraft in a long while, and despite carving a Cthulhu face into my pumpkin for the office Halloween contest, I don’t remember enough about the source material to say whether or not this series is the appropriate level of Lovecraftian horror. What I do remember about Lovecraft’s flavor of horror was that it was psychological and not splatter, and that when listening to the audiobook version of “The Shadow Over Innsmouth and Dagon” I have on my iPod really tends to unnerve the living Hell out of me.
This series didn’t do that for me. I think it had to do with the fact that this is basically a chapter in a larger story, and being introduced to the Cthulhu line from BOOM! right in the middle of everything probably wasn’t the best way to get a good handle on the whole story. That being said, this miniseries did make me curious about the rest of the titles to see what is being built up here (look for my review of the Apocalypse TPB soon), as well as renew my interest in Lovecraft’s work itself.
The writing was solid throughout the series, steady with its slow burn build up to the end. In the end, I’d recommend this for people who are already fans of the Cthulhu mythos and who are interested in reading new material within that world.
Yeah, think about that next time you look at your pets. They totally have us whipped.
