I. The DC Comics Company

Since Julius Schwartz, founder and longtime head of DC was once Lovecraft's agent, it should come as no surprise that they were the first comic company to bring HPL's Cthulhu Mythos into their superhero fold. We've seen SOMEWHERE that there is a Superman comic in which the Kryptonian hero utters the phrase "Great Cthulhu!" in lieu of his usual "Great Scott!" tagline -- and this mention may well predate our first subject of discussion -- but since we don't have even an approximate date for same we merely mention it here as a curiosity. So, the first documented case of the lore of those fantastic Elder Gods appears in JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA issues 10 and 11, in a two-part story, "The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust" and "One Hour to Doomsday," which documents the rogue sorcerer Felix Faust's battles with that illustrious super-team (whose ranks include the likes of Superman, Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, etc.). Faust uses the Necronomicon to conjure up three demons (unfortunately, rather laughable caricatures instead of the tentacled behemoths one would come expect!) to stand in as his champions in the battle with the superheroes. These two issues were written by Gardner Fox, and, in fact, this battle would be revisited again and yet again, in two sequels penned by Gerry Conway, "Reprise" and "The Secret That Time Forgot." And there is yet one more incidental Lovecraftian mention in JLA: in issue 115's "The Last Angry God" the super-team comes up against a slumbering god called Korge on an unnamed planet. On musing upon just what kind of god Korge might be, the Atom suggests: "(Maybe) one of those 'Elder Gods' the Lovecraft Cult fantasizes about!"

The next instance of Cthulhuvian worship occurs in BATMAN 241 and 242, in a two-part back-up strip written by Mike Friedrich. "The Secret of the Psychic Siren" and "Death-Point" starred Batman's sidekick Robin in a duel against Cthulhu Cultists! But, regrettably, Friedrich copped out and made his manifestation of the demonic force merely the result of a psychic backlash of one of his friends, the telepath Lilith, who would later come into her own as part of the Teen Titans team. But the stores do invoke the hallowed names "Lovecraft," "Cthulhu," and even the "Necronomicon" once again.

And the three-part "Major Arcana" storyline in BATMAN 544, 545 and 546 again contained Cthulhoid elements -- this time the Joker using the Necronomicon to summon up the anti-hero Jason Blood, else known as the Demon! And turning over the Joker's now-abandoned cell in Arkham Asylum the Gotham Police find a copy of De Vermis Mysteriis and kindred tomes! Once again, the Mythos is revealed here as a mere red herring, but on the Joker's magic circle the names "Cthulhu" and "Maraloth" can be made out!

The following instance of DC utilizing the Mythos was much more satisfying as a whole, and occurred in a much more fitting place: a monster-hero comic! SWAMP THING # 8 featured "The Lurker in Tunnel 13!", written by Len Wein and drawn by the incomparable Bernie Wrightson, and introducing the very Lovecraftian Old One, M'nagalah. You may recognize the name, for no less an author than Ramsey Campbell picked up the tentacled amorphous monster for inclusion in his intriguing Revelations of Glaaki, as evidenced by a passage in his story, "The Tugging"! And the team of Wein and Wrightson must be congratulated on this story, for "Lurker" manages to convey a mood and careful attention to detail seldom exhibited in such four-color efforts at Mythos story-telling!

Gerry Conway, ever the Mythos sequel scribe, wrote a two-part follow-up to "Lurker" utilizing M'nagalah yet again (but Conway dropped the 'h'), this time featuring Swamp Thing in cohort with a super-team. In CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN 82 and 83 Conway introduces a new Mythos tome, dedicated to the worship of M'nagala -- Malcolm Monroe's Visions of a Dead Priest -- and also names two of the Old One's brethren: Rh'Thulla of the wind and Kag'Naru of the air.

All of the M'nagalah tales are definitely worth seeking out, and, in fact, the classic "The Lurker in Tunnel 13!" can be found rather cheaply in the reprint title ROOTS OF THE SWAMP THING # 8, from October 1986.

The SWAMP THING title again returned to Mythos themes under the very competent hands of Nancy A. Collins, who's also had some very fine Mythos fiction published here and there, as well as the Sonja Blue novels, which contain a few Lovecratian mentions themselves. But to return to the subject of her SWAMP THING work, "Zydeco Ya-Ya," "Pirate's Alley" and "Rum, Necromancy, and the Lash" from issues 111, 114 and 115, feature the saga of a resurrected pirate called Dark Conrad, who gave himself mind, body and soul, over to the worship of the Old Ones -- and lost his remaining vestiges of humanity in the bargain! His "crew" consists of tentacled and clawed and fang-mawed fish and frog, shark and squid things. These tales, like much of the author's much-lauded work, are dark, gruesome things, well worth a peek at.

In 1995 DC returned to its Lovecraftian roots in the 5-part mini-series JONAH HEX: RIDERS OF THE WORM AND SUCH, written by Joe Lansdale and drawn by Tim Truman. Jonah Hex is a weird western hero, no stranger to the supernatural, and this tale of man-worm hybrids and giant worm-creatures run amok owes just as much to Robert E. Howard and his "Worms of the Earth" concepts as to Brian Lumley's The Burrowers Beneath and the movie Tremors! It was very obviously intended as a Mythos-type story, and one wishes Lansdale had seen fit to stick in a few explicit references, such as a quote from the Necronomicon, or perhaps more fittingly, Unaussprechlichen Kulten!

II. The Marvel Comics Group

DC's main competitor, Marvel, has had its share of Lovecraft fans writing its titles as well, especially the quality work of Roy Thomas. Thomas, of course, is probably most famous for his work on the various titles featuring Conan the Barbarian and his sword-swinging ilk, and it is not uncommon to find his Hyborian Age wizards crying out in supplication eldritch chants containing names like "Yog-Sothoth," "Gol-Goroth," "Dagon," and "Yig" and so on. His adaptation of Lin Carter and L. Sprague de Camp's Conan the Buccaneer did indeed feature Clark Ashton Smith's Tsathoggua, as did the novel it was based upon.

And Thomas did do at least one superhero story with Mythos elements: he adapted a script by Harlan Ellison for an AVENGERS and INCREDIBLE HULK crossover which had a rather Lovecraftian plot background with its inhuman villain sacrificing victims to the Old Ones, and even included a quote by Lovecraft in its opening page, that famous "correlated contents" quote from "The Call of Cthulhu." Also worthy of mention is Thomas' story in AVENGERS # 83, "Come on in . . . the Revolution's Fine." This tale of the super-team saved from a team of super-villains by the Lady Liberators is not only severely dated, but also not very Lovecraftian in plot. However, the scientist the Masters of Evil kidnaps is said to be "bringing fame to nearby Miskatonic University with his theories and research on parallel time." And on a clubhouse wall you can see a poster which reads "Cthulhu Lives!" This issue is merely of interest only as an odd curiosity, I'm afraid.

In the Conan titles, other authors besides Roy Thomas had Mythos-oriented stories: The black and white magazine, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 125's "At The Altar of the Goat God" by Jim Owsley, featured Shub-Niggurath (with a slight name change; but the god DOES retain its epithet Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!) and Chuck Dixon's "Valley Beyond the Stars" in SAVAGE SWORD 152 had Conan run up against sense-shattering Yog-Sothoth!

And after Thomas' long hiatus from the Conan titles he returned with a Lovecraftian vengeance! CONAN THE BARBARIAN 252-260 featured "The Second Coming of Shuma-Gorath" (more on S-G a little later), and in the 14 issues of CONAN THE ADVENTURER he had taken to Clark Ashton Smith-inspired themes, and began loosely-adapting some of that author's fine works: "The Abominations of Yondo" and "The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan" -- as well as having an on-going back-up strip called "The Tolometh Talisman," from Smith's Zothiquean god of the same name.

After CONAN THE ADVENTURER folded, a new black and white magazine was born, CONAN THE SAVAGE, but this one showcased tales set anywhere and anywhen throughout the Cimmerian's long and checkered career! Issues 2-4 had the 3-part Roy Thomas-written "Stalker of the Snows," a sort of prequel to HPL's "At The Mountains of Madness," right down to its star-headed old ones and Shoggoths! And issue 10, the magazine's last, featured an adaptation of Clark Ashton Smith's "Necromancy in Naat," in the last panel of which Thomas ruminated upon the Cimmerian's continuing journeys into Smith's mileu and asked the question: "Would Conan of Cimmeria one day also be known as Conan of Zothique?"

And even Marvel's most popular superheroes by far, the uncanny X-Men, have met up with the Cthulhu Mythos! THE ADVENTURES OF THE X-MEN # 4 featured a tale called "When The Dweller Awakes," in which Cyclops, longtime leader of the team, joins forces with Erich Zann, and with the aid of the R'lyeh Text they banish the demonic hordes knows the N'Garai -- who are themselves bent on freeing a montrous tentacled Old One slumbering beneath the city of New Salem. The giant tentacle which emerges from the earth's depths is truly awe-inspiring!

And in a truly Cthulhoid fashion, Marvel even ressurrected good ole M'nagalah, this time in prose form in an Incredible Hulk novel, STALKER FROM THE STARS, written by Len Wein, with Marv Wolfman and Joseph Silva. The Great Old One had undergone a name-change (as is customary when characters cross over from one company to another), but the description of amorphous, tentacled Sh'mballah and the basic story plot all added up to one thing: M'nagalah!

One last very Lovecraftian tale of note from Marvel is "The Night The Moon Dripped Blood" by Doug Moench in GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF # 4, which featured the werewolf hero of the title battling for his immortality-cursed soul against a cult of humanoid beings with tentacles sprouting forth from their chests. At the climax of the tale the god-thing bursts forth from its underground lair, and manifests itself in the form of gigantic crushing tentacles identical in detail (yet magnified a thousandfold!) to those possessed by its worshipping throng of "Children"! What sets this tale apart, however, is not so much the storyline as the Lovecraft-like writing style the tale is imbued with:

" ... to nourish the father of all life and evil -- the ancient god who has stalked the stars before Earth existed -- and who shall grant us the power to rule at his side ..."

and:

"The father has changed us -- has reshaped us in his image and granted us power over the lesser creatures of this Earth."

and from an unnamed text in the story:

"When the moon drips blood, the demons of darkness and death shall rule the Earth. We need fear nothing save ourselves, for only when evil devours evil will the Earth tremble and devour us all."

One wishes that Moench had named this Old One, however; perhaps it is even Maraloth, mentioned in his 3-part BATMAN story, detailed above?

III. The Independent Comic Books

Dark Horse'S ALIENS SPECIAL, based on the movie series of the same name, contains a tale called "Elder Gods" by Nancy A. Collins. It tells of a mining colony populated by, among other strange cults, the "Brotherhood of Tulitu," a mystic sect that claimed the mid-twentieth century horror writer Horace Payne Loveless as their prophet. The cultists, whose ranks include Father Lumley and Brothers Ramsey, Ashton, Colin and the like, find alien egg-cases and believe them to be the sign of their god, the Great Old One Tulitu. A very fun and satisfying tale well worth searching out!

Another Dark Horse project is the very suggestively Lovecraftian, if not an actual intrusion of the Mythos by name, mini-series HELLBOY: SEED OF DESTRUCTION by Mike Mignola, with John Byrne. A shrouded mix of historical fiction and fact, it blends Nazi Germany's quest for occult power with the legend of Rasputin's mystical powers and crosses science with sorcery to create a perfect demonic weapon to use against the Allies in the last years of WWII. That weapon was Hellboy, a great red demon who, once born into our world, instead became a fighter against monsters of his own ilk. During his journey into supernatural monster-fighting he crosses into Lovecraft territory with the entrance of the Cavendish family: a group of explorer-brothers who, whilst in the Arctic stumble upon ruins housing an eldritch statue of a tentacled monster which possibly comes to life and rends the team to bits -- but in a truly Lovecraftian touch we are left wondering what really happens as the action fades from the memory of the aged sole-surviving narrator. Years later, at the home of the Cavendishes, Hellboy is harassed by lurking creatures who would be best described as puffed up Deep Ones! And the appearance of these large icthyic creatures is always preceded by a plague of frogs. And that's not all: the Deep Ones-on-steroids do the bidding of a darker, hidden power. While in the house battling Deep Ones, Hellboy is confronted by Rasputin, who thrusts him into a subterranean lake beneath the house, from which great tentacles rise to attack him! This monster is possibly a Shoggoth, considering its being brought from the Arctic -- although it goes by a different name: Sadu-Hem, a servitor of seven gods known as the Ogdru-Jahad, waiting in limbo to be released from their hyper-dimensional prison. Later we get to see the Sadu-Hem in its full, multi-eyed and multi-tentacled glory: a mass of horror that would make Great Cthulhu himself proud! So, we can surely see the Lovecraftian parallels here, whipping around in a spectral and demonic wind. And you KNOW it's gotta be Mythos -- that great garage surf-punk band The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets even has a song about this mini-series on their Cthulhu Strikes Back CD!

Believe it or not, Topps Comics' X-FILES even has four stories which can be called Mythos, or at least Lovecraft-related! The first X-FILES comic story ever, "Trick of the Light" in the X-FILES HERO ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL is very much an update of sorts of "Pickman's Model." The artist is even named Herbert Thurber, as in Erin Thurber, the unfortunate narrator of HPL's tale! And like Pickman before him, Thurber has a whole studio full of monsters he's drawn -- but rather than ghouls, they are aliens! You see, he is a comic book illustrator, and he always draw his subjects from life models. The problem is that since he is working on the MARS ATTACKS! series he draws them being abducted and menaced by bizarre aliens, and after he draws them they disappear strangely! Near the end of the tale he disappears too -- from his locked jail cell! And it should come as no surprise to the reader that in his very last piece before being arrested he drew as his final subject HIMSELF!

"The Firebird Trilogy" in X-FILES 3-5 concerns the tale of an extraterrestrial wanderer lost upon our little backworld. But this alien is a tentacled aether-swimming behemoth, and said to be a god in the story. Surely it could be one of the Great Old Ones themselves!

"Trepanning Opera" in issue #7 again features that "correlated contents" quote (a very popular item in comics, it seems!). And the first X-FILES ANNUAL has the story "Hallow Eve," which, although like Trepanning Opera" not a particularly Lovecraftian story, some of it takes place at Miskatonic Unversity in Arkham! And the Dean's office is equipped with a huge bookcase towering from floor to ceiling -- and you just KNOW what some of the books therein might be!

So, overall, the X-FILES comics series is not as Mythos-related as most of the other comics covered in this article, but it is truly exciting to find out that the creators of the title are truly in the know!

One final Independent series deserves coverage, Grant Morrison and Steve Yowell's ZENITH series, which originally ran in countless installments of the British weekly comic magazine, 2000AD (see the attached Bibliography for more details on this, and the other titles listed in this article). This bleak and cycnical superhero series certainly had its Cthulhoid elements. Presented in four volumes, or Phases, Phase One was mostly concerned with the machinations of the Cult of the Black Sun, who worshipped the Many-Angled Ones, which is to say, the Great Old Ones. Masterman, an evil Nazi superman who atomized in World War II but cloned and resurrected by the Cult many years later, is himself possessed by Iog-Sotot, the Eater of Souls! And in this Masterman form Iog-Sotot creates much carnage and destruction before eventually being stopped by Zenith and Mandala!

There didn't appear to be too much Mythos-related stuff in Phase Two, from what we able to acquire and read (and believe us: this series is very difficult to find if you're not from England! Fortunately, some it is available, if still hard to find, in reprint form), but in Phase Three, "War in Heaven," Zenith (a rock star turned superhero, incidentally) gets mixed up with an alternate-dimensional war with super-beings possessed by Colin Wilson's Lloigor!

Appendix: The Dr. Strange Series

Perhaps the most consistently Lovecraftian of Marvel's comics (so much so that they demanded their own special section in this appendix!) and characters is that of Dr. Stephen Strange: Sorcerer Supreme. Sorcerer Supreme is the title and honor, of the Earth's greatest wielder of the mystic arts, and comes with the obligation to protect the Earth from those "outside" who would use the Earth for their selfish gain or see it destroyed as an inconvenience to their ultimate plans. It is also necessary for the Sorcerer Supreme to keep the knowledge of what lies outside from the hustling, bustling hordes of humanity, for if they ever learned the truth of that which must be kept secret it would surely drive them mad! No small challenge, admittedly, but Dr. Strange lives up to the task!

A good measure of Strange's power is granted by a group of benevolent deities called the Vishanti, which power the righteous magician can call upon at will. This brings to mind the Derleth dichotomy of the Elder Gods, ultra-powerful, and who, imprisoning the Great Old Ones, have protected mankind. So it is essentially the Elder Gods who lend their power to Dr. Strange in his continuous role as the protector of mankind from the evil of the Great Old Ones.

Just as Whateley used the Necronomicon in "The Dunwich Horror" to break down the barriers and call up Yog-Sothoth, Dr. Strange uses the Book of the Vishanti as his principle reference work for keeping the barriers between this realm and other realms sealed. It is not that all the other realms are full of lifeforms desiring the destruction of Earth (although there are plenty of these too!), rather that there is an incompatibility between the dimensions -- in which the act of breaking the barriers could cause devastation to all the worlds involved!

Despite this rather Lovecraftian premise, however, the only specifically Lovecraft-created tome in Dr. Strange is, not surprisingly, the Necronomicon, which is shown in DOCTOR STRANGE: MASTER OF THE MYSTIC ARTS # 5 (1977). The tome is used by the Silver Dagger, who finds it in the Vatican's Library!

The first outright Lovecraftian mention in the Dr. Strange series occurs in STRANGE TALES # 168, the last issue of that particular series (but it would be revived in the late 80's), the first part of an on-going story introducing 'The Undying Ones.' That issue also contained, yet again, that "correlated contents" quote from HPL, but unfortunately, as Roy Thomas himself reveals in an article in MARVEL AGE # 75 (June 1989), with the cancellation of Strange's series the storyline had to be finished out in the HULK and SUBMARINER books -- rather unsatisfactorily too, as he put it.

The next Mythos-oriented storyline in a Dr. Strange storyline was the truly satisfying "Shuma-Gorath Saga," appearing in MARVEL PREMIERE 4-10 and 14, and starring Dr. Strange against "the forces of world-devouring Shuma-Gorath," as the advertisements of the day had put it. Shuma-Gorath was a titanic slumbering beast-god akin to HPL's Azathoth, and had for its minions such monsters as the snake-like people of Starkesboro, themselves the followers of ophidian Sligguth, as well as Dagoth, N'Gabthoth, the Shambler from the Sea, and several others. In particularly Lovecraftian style, Strange consulted Von Junzt's Unaussprechlichen Kulten, as well as the Thanatosian Tomes and the Black Sea Scrolls, the latter pair debuting here in this story. The opening story, "The Spawn of Sligguth," especially called to mind the works of Lovecraft, specifically "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." But later chapters were interesting as well, especially the final fateful showdown with Shuma-Gorath!

But Shuma-Gorath returned again, in STRANGE TALES (new series) 12, 13 and 14, and Strange was only able to overcome him by becoming a black magician himself and transcending multiple dimensions in order to gain the raw power he needed!

And "Servants of the Secret Fire" in STRANGE TALES 19 had Strange battling a slimy creature, perhaps a Shoggoth, said to have come forth from the pits of R'lyeh!

The last instance we know of concerning Dr. Strange's battles with the Mythos takes place in his latest title, DOCTOR STRANGE: SORCERER SUPREME # 1. It opens with Dr. Strange battling an island (mentioned as a prison for SOMETHING!) that has just arisen from the ocean depths. While R'lyeh is not specifically mentioned, it is clearly what is implied, especially considering that mere months before STRANGE TALES # 19 (also written by Peter B. Gillis, as is this tale) did mention R'lyeh by name!

DC Comics:

BATMAN # 241 -- May 1972
"Secret of the Psychic Siren"
Story: Mike Friedrich
Art: Rich Buckler

BATMAN # 242 -- June 1972
"Death-Point"
Story: Mike Friedrich
Art: Rich Buckler

BATMAN # 544 -- July 1997
"Major Arcana" (Part 1)
Story: Doug Moench
Art: Kelley Jones

BATMAN # 545 -- August 1997
"Major Arcana" (Part 2)
Story: Doug Moench
Art: Kelley Jones

BATMAN # 546 -- September 1997
"Major Arcana" (Part 3)
Story: Doug Moench
Art: Kelley Jones

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN # 82 -- August/September 1977
"The Lurker Below"
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Mike Nasser

CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN # 83 -- October/November 1977
"Seven Doorways to Destiny"
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Mike Nasser

JONAH HEX: RIDERS OF THE WORM AND SUCH
# 1 -- March 1995
# 2 -- April 1995
# 3 -- May 1995
# 4 -- June 1995
# 5 -- July 1995
Story for all: Joe Lansdale
Art for all: Tim Truman

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 10 -- March 1962
"The Fantastic Fingers of Felix Faust"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Mike Sekowsky

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 11 -- May 1962
"One Hour to Doomsday"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Mike Sekowsky

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 85 -- November/December 1970
Story: Reprints JLA #'s 10 and 11

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 115 -- January/February 1975
"The Last Angry God"
Story: Denny O'Neil
Art: Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 182 -- September 1980
"Reprise"
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA # 206 -- September 1982
"The Secret That Time Forgot"
Story: Gerry Conway
Art: Carmine Infantino

SWAMP THING # 8 -- February 1974
"The Lurker in Tunnel 13!"
Story: Len Wein
Art: Bernie Wrightson

SWAMP THING # 111 -- September 1991
"Zydeco Ya-Ya"
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Tom Mandrake

SWAMP THING # 114 -- December 1991
"Pirate's Alley"
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Tom Mandrake

SWAMP THING # 115 -- January 1992
"Rum, Necromancy, and the Lash"
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Tom Mandrake

Marvel Comics:

ADVENTURES OF THE X-MEN # 4 -- July 1996
"When The Dweller Awakes"
Story: Ralph Macchio
Art: Mike Miller

AVENGERS # 83 -- December 1970
"Come on in . . . the Revolution's Fine"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: John Buscema

AVENGERS # 88 -- June 1971
"The Summons of Psyklop"
Story: Roy Thomas (from idea by Harlan Ellison)
Art: Sal Buscema

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 1 -- June 1994
"Barbarans at the Gate"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 2 -- July 1994
"The Snow That Slays"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 3 -- August 1994
"Blood Days in Brythunia"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 4 -- September 1994
"Between Twin Terrors"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 5 -- October 1994
"The Woman Who Walks Alone"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 6 -- November 1994
"The Slavers"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: John Watkiss

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 7 -- December 1994
"The Choosers of the Slain"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: John Watkiss

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 8 -- January 1995
"The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan"
Story: Roy Thomas (adapted from Clark Ashton Smith)
Art: John Watkiss

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 9 -- February 1995
"Of Wings and Warriors"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan
"The Talisman of Tolometh" (Part 1)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Audwyn Newman

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 10 -- March 1995
"Swords Against the Sun"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan
"The Talisman of Tolometh" (Part 2)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Audwyn Newman

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 11 -- April 1995
"The Inquisitors of Ong" (adapted from Clark Ashton Smith)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan
"The Talisman of Tolometh" (Part 3)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Audwyn Newman

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 12 -- May 1995
"The Abominations of Yondo"
Story: Roy Thomas (adapted from Clark Ashton Smith)
Art: Rafael Kayanan
"The Talisman of Tolometh" (Part 4)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Audwyn Newman

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 13 -- June 1995
"Into The Citadel of Sin"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan
"The Talisman of Tolometh" (Part 6)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Audwyn Newman

CONAN THE ADVENTURER # 14 -- July 1995
"Tolometh Rising"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Rafael Kayanan

(Note on CONAN THE ADVENTURER: Although an on-going, inter-related series, Cthulhoid elements don't start until issue # 8)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 252 -- January 1992
"The Dead of the Living Night"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 253 -- February 1992
"The Pit and the Parasite"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Dave Hoover

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 254 -- March 1992
"Havoc in Hyperborea"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 255 -- April 1992
"Priests of the Purple Plague"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 256 -- May 1992
"Blood and Bones"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 257 -- June 1992
"Night Wings Over Nemedia"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 258 -- July 1992
"Savage Homecoming"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 259 -- August 1992
"The Mountain Where Crom Dwells"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE BARBARIAN # 260 -- September 1992
"The Second Coming of Shuma-Gorath"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE SAVAGE # 2 -- September 1995
"Stalker of the Snows" (Part 1)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE SAVAGE # 3 -- October 1995
"Stalker of the Snows" (Part 2)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE SAVAGE # 4 -- November 1995
"Stalker of the Snows" (Part 3)
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Mike Docherty

CONAN THE SAVAGE # 10 -- May 1996
"The Necromancers of Naat"
Story: Roy Thomas (adapted from Clark Ashton Smith)
Art: John Buscema

DOCTOR STRANGE: MASTER OF THE MYSTIC ARTS # 5 -- December 1974
"Cloak and Dagger"
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Frank Brunner

DOCTOR STRANGE: SORCERER SUPREME # 1 -- November 1988
"Love is the Spell, and the Spell is Death!"
Story: Peter B. Gillis
Art: Richard Case

GIANT-SIZE WEREWOLF # 4 -- April 1975
"The Night The Moon Dripped Blood"
Story: Doug Moench
Art: (unknown)

INCREDIBLE HULK # 140 -- June 1971
"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the Atom"
Story: Roy Thomas (from idea by Harlan Ellison)
Art: Herb Trimpe and Sam Grainger

STALKER FROM THE STARS (Incredible Hulk novel) -- Pocket Books -- November 1978
Story: Len Wein, with Marv Wolfman and Joseph Silva

MARVEL PREMIERE # 4 -- September 1972
"The Spawn of Sligguth"
Story: Archie Goodwin
Art: Barry Smith and Frank Brunner

MARVEL PREMIERE # 5 -- November 1972
"The Lurker in the Labyrinth"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Irv Wesley

MARVEL PREMIERE # 6 -- January 1973
"The Shambler from the Sea"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Frank Brunner and Sal Buscema

MARVEL PREMIERE # 7 -- March 1973
"The Shadows of the Starstone"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Craig Russell

MARVEL PREMIERE # 8 -- May 1973
"The Doom That Bloomed on Kathulos"
Story: Gardner F. Fox
Art: Jim Starlin

MARVEL PREMIERE # 9 -- July 1973
"The Crypts of Kaa-U"
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Frank Brunner

MARVEL PREMIERE # 10 -- September 1973
"Finally, Shuma-Gorath!"
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Frank Brunner

MARVEL PREMIERE # 14 -- March 1974
"Sise-Neg Genesis"
Story: Steve Englehart
Art: Frank Brunner

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN # 125 -- June 1986
"At The Altar of the Goat God"
Story: Jim Owsley
Art: Gary Kwapisz

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN # 152 -- September 1988
"Valley Beyond the Stars"
Story: Charles Dixon
Art: Gary Kwapisz and Ernie Chan

STRANGE TALES (old series) # 168 -- May 1968
"Exile"
Story: Roy Thomas
Art: Gene Colan

STRANGE TALES (new series) # 12 -- March 1988
". . . Make Thee Mightier Yet!"
Story: Peter B. Gillis
Art: Richard Case

STRANGE TALES # 13 -- April 1988
"Ascent into Hell"
Story: Peter B. Gillis
Art: Richard Case

STRANGE TALES # 14 -- May 1988
"Apogee"
Story: Peter B. Gillis
Art: Richard Case

STRANGE TALES # 19 -- October 1988
"Servants of the Secret Fire"
Story: Peter B. Gillis
Art: Richard Case

Independent Comics:

ALIENS SPECIAL (Dark Horse Comics -- June 1997)
"Elder Gods"
Story: Nancy A. Collins
Art: Leif Jones

HELLBOY (Dark Horse Comics)
"Seed of Destruction" storyline:
# 1 -- March 1994
# 2 -- April 1994
# 3 -- May 1994
# 4 -- June 1994
Collected edition: October 1994
Hellboy created by Mike Mignola
Script: John Byrne
Plot, Art. Cover: Mike Mignola
Collected edition introduction: Robert Bloch

X-FILES (Topps Comics)

X-FILES HERO ILLUSTRATED SPECIAL (1994)
"Trick of the Light"
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

X-FILES # 4 -- April 1995
"Firebird Trilogy" (Part 1)
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

X-FILES # 5 -- May 1995
"Firebird Trilogy" (Part 2)
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

X-FILES # 6 -- June 1995
"Firebird Trilogy" (Part 3)
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

X-FILES # 7 -- July 1995
"Trepanning Opera"
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

X-FILES ANNUAL # 1 -- August 1995
"Hallow Eve"
Story: Stefan Petrucha
Art: Charles Adlard

ZENITH (2000 AD Magazine)
Story: Grant Morrison on all
Art: Almost exclusively Steve Yeowell
Phase One: "Tygers," 15 episodes plus prologue, progs (or, issues) 535-550 (August to November
1987).
"Whitlock," prog 558 (January 1988).
"Peyne," prog 559 (January 1988).
Phase Two: "The Hollow Land," 17 episodes plus prologue, progs 589-606 (August to December
1988).
"Maximan," 1989 WINTER SPECIAL (January 1989).
Phase Three: "War in Heaven," 25 episodes plus prologue, progs 626-634, 650-662, and 667-670
(May 1989 to March 1990).
Phase Four: "Fear of Flying," 15 episodes plus prologue, progs 791-806 (July to October 1982).

(A note on ZENITH: Phases One and Three are the only ones we are able to confirm as being at all Lovecraftian in content; we have also never seen any of Phase Four).

Created: December 2, 1997; Updated: August 9, 2004