Gou Tanabe Archives | Otaku No Culture

The Colour Out of Space Is Blue, If This Thrilling Cover Is Any Indication

After two movies based on The Colour Out of Space, there’s now going to be a manga by celebrated meister Gou Tanabe!

Gou Tanabe and HP Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space Cover — Now available to preorder on Amazon

Just how many stories of H.P. Lovecraft manga artist Gou Tanabe plans to adapt is likely to keep him busy for most of his life! While there’s been a few cinematic takes of The Colour Out of Space, the director and studio can only do so much depending on the budget. Nick Cage’s version (you can read my review here) wasn’t too bad, but to see what this manga artist can deliver in black and white may well mean he has to add colour this time!

This next release from Dark Horse Comics is sure to please, and as for whether a splash of colour will be used in this artist’s rendition, I can’t wait to take a look and be transformed too!

From the Press Release:

The works of H.P. Lovecraft explore horrifically inconceivable gods and monsters amongst humanity. Gou Tanabe presents each of these tales in stunningly visceral artistic detail in his multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated manga adaptations. Now, Dark Horse Manga presents H.P. Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space by Tanabe, translated into English by Zack Davisson, translator of the two-time Eisner Award-winning Showa: A History of Japan by Shigeru Mizuki, and set to join the growing collection of Tanabe’s popular works in July 2025.

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Everything Bold and Viceral in Gou Tanabe’s Call of Cthulhu Needs A Deluxe HC Reprint!

Dark Horse Comics

I really hope Gou Tanabe continues to adapt more of H.P. Lovecraft‘s stories into a visual medium. After the release of Call of Cthulhu, I’m really craving more. And with what’s presented in a tankōbon format, I can’t wait to see what the inevitable deluxe edition will look like. That’s because to marvel at the details put into showing off the city of R’lyeh can mean I can put away those magnifying glasses. Even though my digital copy allowed me to zoom in to marvel at the fine lines and strange hieroglyphs, that did not mean I found Easter eggs.

What makes this release work is that most readers know the basics of this story. Francis Wayland Thurston needs closure following‌ the death of his grand-uncle. He left behind some curious artefacts, including a strange statue of some hybrid octopus and humanoid creature, to his next of kin. But when curiosity gets the better of the young man, I swear he should have died at least five times over! When he goes globetrotting to discover more of these statues exist, there’s a conspiracy that he must get answers to. However, that doesn’t get far when a sailing expedition to locate a tribe gets interrupted and he finds an uncharted isle, and unwittingly unleashes some giant sized amorphous inhabitant!

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From The Mountains of Madness Deluxe Edition to Arkham Horror, Just What Else Will A Scared Dark Horse Deliver?

To distinguish betweeen a work of Lovecraftian terror to cosmic horror, fans have to decide what is essential: Arkham Horror, The Mountains of Madness and many more iconic locales.

The Mountains of Madness Deluxe Edition HC — **Available for purchase on Amazon USA**

The months of July and August are shaping up to be quite the season to enjoy some Lovecraftian style terror with two releases! Early in July saw the release of The Mountains of Madness Deluxe Edition and this month, Arkham Horror! When it came to the latter, I had spend time to reacquaint myself with the game before really wanting to dive deep. It’s been a long time since I last played, and to enjoy it proper meant looking through the source material from start to end.

I must say that the former may well kickstart a set of reprints featuring Gou Tanabe’s fantastic artwork in this 7.5×10 inch format. There’s also Shadows of Innsmouth and The Hound & Other Stories to consider, but that will depend on how well sales go. Also, Call of Cthulhu (Amazon links) will hit shelves soon. If I said I’m waiting for a dual set release, this would be the reason; and if the other tomes aren’t reprinted to offer CoC and MoM up as a pair would have me interested in buying sooner than later.

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Gou Tanabe’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth Will Chill Come November 2023!

H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth has been turned into a manga and it’ll be released at the end of the year.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth (Manga) — **Available for pre-order on Amazon and at your local comic shop (Diamond Distributing)**

Coming to comic shops Nov 15
and bookstores Nov 24, 2023

Gou Tanabe‘s next North American publication will be H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth! This edition is being published by Dark Horse Comics and it is set to arrive later this year. It also includes 12 pages in full colour with a tip-in title page embellished with silver ink.

As for where Call of Cthulhu is (as I reported years ago), that’s because it’s been serialised in the magazine, Comic Beam, and there’s no word if that will get put into a trade paperback and translated too. Fans can chant and make sacred pacts in hopes for it to happen though.

For now, this manga series by Eisner and Harvey Award nominee will come complete in one volume. Zack Davisson has been handling the translation and what’ll be presented is in safe hands. All anyone has to do is look at his portfolio of books (Amazon link) about the supernatural side of Japan.

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A Cold, Terrible World is Hidden at the Mountains of Madness Vol 2 & What’s Next?

mountains of madness manga — Buy volume one and two
on Amazon USA.

Gou Tanabe‘s adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness certainly delivers winter chills and shows this seemingly unadaptable work of HP Lovecraft can be tweaked for any cross media presentation. All it needs is some kind of resolution instead of a terrible revelation at the end.

Anyone who knows the original story will recall Danforth losing his sanity after seeing a Great Old One rise from the destruction. In what’s key to making that moment work is will this artist attempt to draw this cosmic entity? I won’t spoil what he sees. Instead, I can certainly say the city the Elder Things built may be gone for now, but I feel it also exists in an alternate dimension where Clive Barker’s most hailed creation (the Cenobites) lives!

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