H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness Volume 1 (Manga)

This thing came in the mail on Friday, and I just finished it Sunday morning. It's a manga, a graphic novel, and if you want you can read those things in an hour or two. I took my time, paying attention to the artwork and layout. It's extremely well done. Like, extremely. Having read the original a couple times I was impressed with the quality of landscapes relative to Lovecraft's descriptions.The story veers somewhat from Lovecraft's Poe-inspired tale. Lovecraft told the story of what could be termed the "advance group" from the story of the group that stayed behind. This artist tells their tale from their own perspective. In addition, Lovecraft wrote as if he were just presenting facts, while this manga uses imagery and dialogue to emphasize that the scientists were coming unglued--succumbing to madness. This may bother people who like adaptations to be as true to the original as possible, but then why have an adaptation anyway? Just read the original.The only quibble I have is that the shading in the artwork was a little too dark for my taste, and I wasn't able to easily pick out details. This contrasts with the story taking place when there would have been 22 to 24 hours of sunlight per day in Antarctica, depending on one's location. However, I believe the shading was deliberately chosen to increase the sense of confusion and impending danger.I truly enjoyed this retelling of a classic tale. I'd encourage anyone who has an interest in Manga, Lovecraft, or Classic Horror to buy or borrow a copy. Then sit back, take in the imagery, live the story along with the characters, and enjoy a ride into madness.

I have a lot of Lovecraft physical books and have been slowly trying to get to them. I also love manga so when I saw Tanabe's HPL adaptations I jumped on it. I greatly enjoyed the first one w/ the four short stories and eagerly poured through this two volume set At the Mountains of Madness. The art is extremely detailed and beautiful, it is so busy it reminds me a lot of Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein.The story of course is that of an Antarctic expedition in the early '30s which finds a lot more than they bargained for with primordial denizens in a mythical hidden city. I'm not sure how close to the original material it cleaves but it was a great read and moved quickly, I'm glad I bought both volumes after they were out so I didn't have to wait. The only odd thing I'd mention is that the subject matter is so alien and bizarre I often had a hard time processing what I was looking at, laugh, I've had that trouble in some other fast moving manga like Evangelion. At any rate, this was a wonderful purchase. Hope he does some more! Recommended. (j4.)

I'll say right off that I have not read the original novel, so I cannot say how faithful of an adaption the manga is. What I can say is this manga is chilling and gripping. I can easily see why The Mountain Of Madness is considered a classic horror. It's little wonder why Lovecraft is considered the father of cosmic horror.Mountain of Madness is about an expedition to Antarctica that goes horribly wrong. The team finds something ancient frozen in the ice. And shortly thereafter the body count climbs. Tanabe's art bring the story to life in gorgeously detailed panel after panel. It's cut from a similar cloth as Junji Ito's Remina. If you are in the mood for a scary sci fi, the Mountain Of Madness is a must read. -MickManga

I haven’t been so thoroughly engrossed in something in a long time. I blew through both volume 1 and 2 in a day. The adapted prose from Lovecraft’s works is wonderfully done. And the ART!!!!OMG! The art is AMAZING! My eyeballs were ravenous with a hunger to devour page after page of these deliciously sweet eldritch delights. The way the artists in these books translate Lovecraft’s vision to the page is glorious in every detail. Strange and awe-inspiring without a doubt.I so wish Gou Tanabe would do a version of Call of Cthulhu, Pickman’s Model and The Rats in the Walls.Bottom line, if you love graphic novels, you should buy these. If you love H. P. Lovecraft, you should buy these. If you love both graphic novels and H. P. Lovecraft you are duty-bound to acquire every one of these and fill a void in your soul you only now have become aware of.

Me gustaría decir que esta es por mucho la mejor adaptación de EN LAS MONTAÑAS... pero la verdad es que no conozco muchas, porque no las hay. No importa. Esta adaptación de Tanabe es inquietante, terrorífica hasta decir basta. El dibujo es una obra de arte y ha sabido armar muy bien el desarrollo de la historia respetando en mucho a la obra original. De todos es sabido que Guillermo del Toro quiere llevar esta historia a la gran pantalla... Pues bien, aunque sea otro formato, va a tener que competir con este trabajo y superarlo no va a ser fácil. Vale cada peso que te gastes en él.Una expedición geológica a la Antártida lleva a un grupo de científicos a descubrir algo que no esperaban, algo que está más allá de su comprensión y de sus creencias, algo que existe latente en lo más profundo de un grupo montañoso perdido en el hielo. Lo que han encontrado no es de aquí sino tal vez, de un lugar más allá de la locura... ¡Brutal!

Manga manga! De los que se leen de derecha a izquierda! Pero.... en perfecto inglés. Y además ilustrando a Lovecraft? Una ideal genial!

A little confusing to read in the Japanese order but boy is this book beautiful. Will be buying more of Tanabe's work.

Extrem schön gezeichnete Graphic Novel/Manga, die im Stil stark an alte Holzstiche erinnert, wie man sie von Polarexpeditionen z. B. von Payer- Weyprecht kennt. Sehr ähnlich sind auch die Illustrationen in den Werken Jules Vernes aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. Die Lovecraft-Story ist mir gut bekannt. Einziger "Wermutstropfen" unglaublich aber wahr: der mM qualitativ gute Druck oder auch die Bindung riecht nach Blumenkohl..Nachtrag: Da ein englischsprachiger Rezensent eine vermeintlich falsche Bindung beanstandet: Diese ist korrekt, da bei Manga-Büchern häufig wie im japanischen Original von hinten nach vorne bzw von rechts nach links gelesen wird. Also alles ok, obwohl bei Kollege Rezensent die Alarmglocken schellten...

Muy buen manga, el dibujo es excelente Yuna gran adaptación