2013

So 2013 arrived a couple months back. If I were to say that I've been exceptionally busy, I would be lying. I work less than forty hours a week, make enough money to live on and more time to do things I like to do (as opposed to many other people). Anyways, the reason I mentioned 2013 is because I tried to impose a "resolution" on myself. Maybe less of a resolution and more of a goal. The goal was to read on average one book a week. It might be harder than I thought it was simply because I have plenty of stuff to do outside of reading- work, write, 2 classes, work on APA application, practice guitar/write songs, listen to music. But I've been trying to keep up with the reading. I decided that re-reads and graphic novels also count toward my goal. So far I've read some very awesome books that each probably deserve their own post, so I won't say what they are. I will say that they are all classics (except the last one I read). And what was the last one I read?
Neonomicon by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows. I picked this one up on an impulsive whim. I was in Dearborn waiting for work to get done on my car. A $300 quote doubled once the mechanics started working on my car. Classic car mechanics, fucking crooks, have I ever had a good experience? Whether the markup was legitimate or not, I was still pretty upset about it. After all, I have a limited income and there are several other things that I have to and would rather spend my money on. Anyways, after drowning some of my sorrows with Thai food, I decided that spending more money at the comic book store would make me a little happier. And it did. I had actually never been inside the shop before, I always just skipped it over and went to the record store upstairs. The store itself was very cool. I won't be glib and act like I know a lot about comics, but it seemed like they had a very diverse selection overall. I had my eyes on a book that had a few HP Lovecraft stories in graphic novel format before I came across this book.

I'll be honest. The cover art didn't really catch my attention too much. The upper half looked interesting, Alan Moore's name was on it, and the title was a reference to HP Lovecraft. Actually, I just now realized that the title is "Neonomicon" and not Necronomicon. That's interesting. Time to go back and change the title. Anyhow, my interest was peaked and I did a quick flip of the book, I came across some pages which included copious amounts of nudity and violence. Some of the artwork looked too cool to pass up, so I was sold on it. Kelly (lady at the counter) said it was a good choice and hoped that I was not easily offended. Luckily I'm not easily offended (if it was any other member of my family, it'd be a different story). I read half of the book when I was waiting for my car and the other half when I came home later on. I always try to justify the amount of money I spend on something with the amount of enjoyment I get out of it. That's why I love used books so much. At a couple of dollars you get several hours of art, knowledge, and entertainment. I thought this was a little steep at $20 new, but was still probably worth it.
What starts off as a potentially X-Files type comic quickly spins into an environment occluded by drugs, sex, HP Lovecraft mythology, and occultism. It's fun, interesting, kind of cheesy, and a little grossly fucked up at certain parts. Alan Moore's writing is more straight forward and I would definitely not hesitate to say that this is probably one of his darkest works. I wish I had read more Lovecraft to catch more references. I am slowly working on it though by working my way through his collection. What this comic really is missing is length. I wish it was a little longer. It was a very quick read (6 separate issues altogether, I believe). I feel like once the story really gets going, it ends a little too abruptly. Kind of like if Free to Live by Winterhawk was only half as long. The song would still be great, but there would be 4 and a half minutes of incredible guitar magic missing. Nonetheless, the comic was a lot of fun and made me remember how great graphic novels can be. I read V for Vendetta almost 3 times already. Time to re-read Camelot 3000 and a few others; and try to find some other comics as good or as insane as this one.