THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP, PART 1, from Blue Fox comics on Kickstarter is the latest adaptation of Lovecraft’s seminal stories. This time, a pair of lifelong friends grow apart when one follows a path of dark teachings and the occult.
The Details
- Written By: Simon Birks
- Art By: Willi Roberts
- Colors By: Willi Roberts
- Letters By: Rob Jones
- Cover Art By: Willi Roberts
- Cover Price: $3.74 (estimated for digital pdf)
- Release Date: April 2022 (estimated)
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Was It Good?
If you’re a Lovecraft fan, as we are, Blue Fox Comics is turning into THE source for faithful Lovecraft adaptations, and we couldn’t be happier when we heard Blue Fox announced they were working on The Thing On The Doorstep. Blue Fox’s adaptations are notable for staying as faithful as possible to the original source material. You won’t find “corrections” or a modern take with a twist here. This is a near-exact reproduction of the material in horrifying (in a good way) detail.
Critiquing this comic wouldn’t be completely fair since this is a Lovecraft story, so we’ll take a look at the quality of the adaptation and the art.
The key to making this comic work is the distillation. It would be impracticable to reproduce every word and paragraph, so it’s up to Birks to whittle down the prose to the moments that matter, and matter they do. Faithful to the original, Birks begins with a murderous prologue and then jumps back in time decades to show the reader how fate led up to that horrific moment.
The pacing is excellent, and despite the plethora of time jumps, the progression is clear and delivers a growing sense of momentum as each group of years passes. When the issue reaches its last moments (heading into the forthcoming Part 2), the creeping horror entering Edward Derby’s life is unmistakable.
Willi Roberts’s art is outstanding in this issue and quite possibly the cleanest we’ve seen from Roberts in all the Blue Fox books we’ve reviewed. The linework is refined. The coloring and shading add a layer of depth to each panel. And the overall look of the comic is cinematic.
Keep scrolling for a closer look at the covers, or Click Here to jump right to the story description with some spoilers.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
This comic is a near-exact interpretation of H.P. Lovecraft’s story of the same name, first published in Weird Tales in January 1937. Rather than reproduce the synopsis here, you can read the more thorough explanation via this link: The Thing on the Doorstep
Keep scrolling for a closer look at preview images of the internal pages, or Click Here to jump right to the score.
Final Thoughts
THE THING ON THE DOORSTEP, PART 1 is a practically perfect adaptation of Lovecraft’s short story. The cadence of the plot retains the essence of the story while honing it down to make it palatable as a comic. Roberts turns in a career-best art display with crisp lines and multi-layered coloring to project a cinematic feel.
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