Case Study: Dagon Illustrated by Alice Duke and R,J. Ivankovic

Comic Adaptations of H.P Lovecraft's Dagon

For this study, I have chosen to pick a short story that has been adapted in to a comic book. Based on some examples I have chosen, I will look at the differences between them and how they relate to the original story. The reason I am wanting to look into this is because I have gotten quite interested in H.P. Lovecraft's work and I always wanted to retell the story in my own style. The following images are an adaption of Dagon, illustrated by Alice Duke.

Figure 1. Page 1 and 2

Figure 2. Page 3

Figure 3. Page 4

Figure 4. Page 5

Images of The Dagon Story from the Lovecraft Anthology comic (2011)

Moments

This version of the story is done in only a few pages but it does highlight the key events. The first page consists of one panel of him writing about his tale, the next one shows him escaping the occupied ship The following panel shows him in the boat on the ocean and then the last panel shows him waking up on the desolate plane. This does summaries it quite briefly and the visuals do help show a flow of what is happening. 

Frames

The gutter in this story more shows us moving form one scene to another. when the man comes across the monolith there is a transition of aspect to aspect showing us the details on the monolith then the ideas relating to the fact that is might have been worshipped by a tribe. There is a sense of consistency in this page. The panel featuring the monolith helps act as a focal point due to the glowing effect as it was described in the book.  With protagonist running back to the boat, the panels at that point in the story are border less and give us a clear suggestion that theses feeling there are the moods the protagonist is experiencing one in his head. It also suggests how fragmented his memories only, capable of capturing key elements such as the creatures face and hand.

Colour

The art style looks like it was painted traditionally with water colours.  I like the idea of how it uses a traditional painted art style because when it comes to the flashbacks it feels distorted and even a small bit faded as it is being talk from the protagonist's memories. Cool colour palette works well with the night time setting and the mixture of green and purples gives us a dreamlike and mystical atmosphere. However there is a sense of fear and wonder of the unknown. It can also suggest of the creatures otherworldly origins too. At times it even feels a bit like the character is some dream state and it could even consider that it was a all a dream.

When the main character see the beast and runs back to his boat the sequence there feels blended together a series of aspect to aspect and subject to subject transitions as it begins to become jumbled up.I like this lack of uniformed panel layouts because it helps relate to H.P. Lovecraft's theme of madness that are usually refereed through his work. It also helps connect with the line "I think I went mad then." I also like the gradient effect used when the man wakes in hospital and the the framing becomes more organised again with the white gutter. the third last panel depicts the man's visions of a what will come and here it feels like a jumble of two images. One where that sea creature is eating man and other of two crawling out of a street  grabbing some poor souls.The two images feel like figments merged together to emphasis the consequence of what is to happen.while I admire its colourful traditional painted style I still found that particular style to be difficult to see clearly. The ending itself even is unclear with what happens we are not sure if it was him imagining these things or if the entire experience was real or not. Never the less this clarity may encourage further discussion of the story. When the man comes across the chasm, it is depicted like a wide canyon whereas I always depicted it like a narrow sea canyon.

Style of Narrative

The story is told through extracts from the original story summarising the points. I have noticed the adapter did not use all of the extract and has done this as a means to condense the story and highlight the key moments.The creature is depicted as a more humanised creature but shares a few traits of fish such as the eyes, the gills and the webbed hands and feel. However it keeps a intimidating appearance with having pupil-less eyes with blue liquid emitting from its tears and sharp teeth while drooling. The eyes are glowing to emphasis its inhuman appearance and personality. It's giant scale also emphasises it's appearance. These traits help convey its scariness. The monolith is show as a large cuboid with a pyramid top similar to monuments in our world such as the Washington monument and Political Martyrs' Monument. The obelisk is white with cool colour hue that helps emit a blue glow to its surroundings.

An artist called R.J. Ivankovic produced a series of illustrations based on H.P Lovecraft's work. His 

art style is inspired by Dr Seuess. These Lovecraft illustrations feature a narrative that is very similar to how Dr Seuss structured his picture books.

 HPL's Dagon (for beginning readers) - P20-21 (DrFaustusAU 2013)

The depiction of the monolith and its carvings are in sync with the simple line art work style for the story. Despite it being not as detailed as the previous style the artists went for, I still got an idea of what it was meant to be. The monument is round that fits with the child orientated art style. The character's white colour helps make him stand out in the pictures and contrasts with the unknown surreal environment. What I also like about this style is how child friendly it looks while being based of a short horror story. The use of curves, round and the the small head body ratio shapes helps emphasis its visual appeal to a young. The is not shading just base lighting however there is a a sense of gradient certain assets. the use of the soft line work helps emphases the stickiness of the environment around him.

HPL's Dagon (for beginning readers) - P08-09 (DrFaustusAU 2012)

In this depiction of Dagon, the gutters in these two pages helps give a sense of panning across the scene. The scene is not fully cluttered and you can see what is there. There is a sense of unknown as we are just as confused as the main character is. there is small evidence of where we could be.Not only does this establish the new environment but we get a sense of wanting to know what is going on. There are decaying fish, a rowing boat with cargo and we have the main character covered in muck and slime. We get the idea that this character is a sailor because of his cap and his anchor tattoo which is a visual cue associated with the navy. 
 Dr Seuss was a author who wrote children's books that use rhythm as a form of verbal narrative.This artists has developed a style that is very similar to Dr Seuss's visual style. Ivankovic's work such as the Call of Cthulhu looks more liker something that Dr Seuss could have written as it shares similar traits. However his stories have been given further updates versions. The two example are two example of him changing styles and even story layouts and moments. The first example looks like something out of a 1920s/1930s cartoon whereas the other has some traits similar to Dr Seuss unique art style such a the way the style of shading depicted in the picture. this is shown to help emphasis the sticky texture seen in the above image.

I really like how this is a innocent retelling of a horror story in the form of a famous children's author visual and literacy style.

References

DrFaustusAU, 2012. HPL's Dagon (for beginning readers) - P08-09. [image] Available at: http://drfaustusau.deviantart.com/art/HPL-s-Dagon-for-beginning-readers-P08-09-336348560 [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015].

DrFaustusAU, 2013. HPL's Dagon (for beginning readers) - P20-21. [image] Available at: http://drfaustusau.deviantart.com/art/HPL-s-Dagon-for-beginning-readers-P20-21-353467254 [Accessed 8 Oct. 2015].

Lovecraft, H., Lockwood, D., Edginton, I., Davis, R., Hine, D., Moore, L., Reppion, J., D'Israeli., Oakley, S., Culbard, I., Stafford, M., Gallagher, L., Hartman, D. and Duke, A. 2011. The Lovecraft anthology. London: SelfMadeHero.

Lockwood, D. ed., 2011. The Lovecraft Anthology. 1st ed. London: SelfMadeHero.