Another excellent manga adaptation of HP Lovecraft! This was apparently the first of these adaptations to be available in English. These also are Lovecraft stories that I don’t know nearly as well, which was exciting.
My favorite of the stories was by far The Temple. In it, a U Boat takes a strange artifact from a dead Brit. Shit ensues. There was so much that worked for this: the setting, on a disabled submarine, is so good for claustrophobic horror and the slow creep as the despotic captain refuses to let his troops be rescued if it means going into captivity. The art and style stand out, capturing the frightening atmosphere as the sub descends to darker and darker depths.
The Hound itself lives in the space closer to Lovecraft’s villains than his stories generally go, with the protagonists being wizards of Cthulhu Cult material. It reminded me of the expansion on Hell’s hierarchy within The Scarlet Gospels, adding depth and complexity to a space that is normally just a faceless and uncaring villain. Not my favorite story because the pacing is unclear and fast, but still good.
The final story is The Nameless City. This is another great expansion I’m unfamiliar with, with a character intentionally seeking out the city that inspired the writing of the dreaded Necronomicon by the Mad Arab, Abdul Alrhazed. Exploring new Lovecraft content in a visual medium is very approachable because you get excellent interpretations of pretty abstract imagery.
This one is a definite recommend. 11/10.