By: Alan Moore (writer), Jacen Burrows (art), Juanmar (colors)
The Story: Neonomicon wraps up with an ending that indicates more story is yet to come.
What’s Good: It is really a shame that Alan Moore doesn’t write more comics. Neonomicon isn’t his strongest work; and this issue isn’t even the best of this miniseries (issues 2 & 3 were better), but even Moore’s “B-list” is pretty darn good. That’s something that is easy to lose track of while the guy is giving unusual interviews expressing his continued displeasure over Watchmen and the royalties Dave Gibbons has collected; or when he’s saying that he doesn’t think any current comic creators are very good. Personal oddities and hobo beards aside, the guy is a truly gifted writer.
Moore’s gifts hit you right in the face in this very understated issue. There is no awful, weeklong rape scene to distract you in this issue. It’s mostly just a postmortem on the events of the first three issues that features a lot of talking. From a lesser writer, this could be a really tedious issue, but under Moore’s pen, the words just flow like butter. It is almost a shame that Moore is so good at these sorts of issues, because lesser creators continually try to emulate him and they just come off like talentless chumps when they do.
That’s not to say that the issue is devoid of action. The star of this issue is the masterful building of tension as the FBI raids the cult with cuts back-and-forth between Agent Brears getting a partial debrief outside the cult headquarters and the FBI agents storming the facility, shooting it out with the remaining cultists and getting closer and closer to you-know-who. Moore always knows that we really want to be watching the shootout scenes, but he keeps pulling us away at just the key moment to build the tension. Bravo!
Much of the Lovecraft angle is lost on this reviewer, but the concept that Moore is exploring here is still great: What if Lovecraft’s works were not merely stories, but more of him chronicling real world events as he fell deeper into the cult in real life? That is really a trippy thought when you consider it! Not being a Lovecraft fan, I’ve always considered the passionate devotion of his true fans to be a little odd and unsettling. But what if it was really Lovecraft who was inspired by the “fans” and not the other way around? What if they “fans” have always been here and Lovecraft just told their stories? I know ‘they’ say there are no new ideas in fiction, but I really don’t think I’ve ever seen this story before.
The art is fine in this issue. The framing of scenes is masterful. Knowing how much detail regarding the art Moore puts into his scripts, it is unclear who should get credit for this, but the effect is very professional: It tells exactly the story that Moore wants to tell. And, from a pure linework standpoint, it is a perfectly fine and a very clear looking issue. I tend to like my linework a little more experimental, but that probably would have ruined this story.
What’s Not So Good: Well, after 2 issues of freaky and horrifying scenes, this was a little bit of a sedate issue. In lesser hands, it would have been boring, but Moore is never boring.
There is also a TON of Cthulhu-speak in this issue. You can enjoy this issue (and series) perfectly fine even if you’ve never touched Lovecraft, but without that background you feel a little left out. I strongly doubt that what Moore has written in Cthulhu-speak is gibberish, but it is inaccessible for folks like me.
Conclusion: An ending of the chapter, but not the whole story. Hopefully in a few years, Moore comes back to this story because there is more to tell and when he gets there, I’ll have my money out. This was a very good ending to a well done and disturbing series.
Grade: B+
-Dean Stell
Grade
Conclusion