H.P. Lovecraft has not only been one of America’s most revered horror writers, he has virtually created a genre within fantastical horror. There have been numerous adaptations of his work but Swiss writer and artist, Michael Zigerlig, wanted to take a different approach. He narrates his graphic novel with the original prose of Lovecraft.
Transfuzion Publishing will release the original graphic novel in March, 2010. Transfuzion has shifted towards presenting all new material in graphic novel form after their first two years of doing collections of previously published material.
Generally regarded as Lovecraft’s masterpiece, the Call of Cthulhu, along with many of Lovecraft’s works, have influenced generations of readers and creators. H.R. Giger, famed biomechanical artist and creator of the look of Alien, was so influenced by Lovecraft that he provides the introduction to this graphic novel.
Zigerlig, who attended art school in Switerzland, felt that it was important to remain as true as possible to the tale with the original prose of three points of view describing the horror of Cthullu. “Lovecraft`s Cthulhu is one of my very favorite stories and it was quite a challenge for it is very well known and everyone has expectations regarding a visual conversion. It was important to me to use Lovecraft`s own text passages to keep it authentic and to mediate Lovecraft`s unique writing style. The fact that H.R. Giger—his books Necronomicon 1 and 2 were my first steps into Lovecraft`s world—wrote the introduction for me.“ Zigerlig added that Giger’s participation “was also a responsibility to handle the story with deep respect.