Thomas Ligotti's Artistic Breakout: Upcoming Malignancies

 

This year seems a breakthrough one for the philosophical horror tales of Thomas Ligotti. For the first time, his rich and often hard to find stories are being re-created in new mediums. Fox Atomic Comics is leading this trend, with the early September release of a Ligotti graphic novel, The Nightmare Factory. It takes its name from the now out of print book that collected the most stories by Ligotti to date into one edition. Regrettably, remaining copies are difficult to find and are fairly pricey when located. The graphic novel will include three tales, two of which are from the said rare anthology, and the other being Ligotti’s famous Lovecraftian piece, “Last Feast of the Harlequin.” Though Fox Atomic makes me somewhat nervous as a publisher, given the mediocre quality of their “28 Days Later” comic spin-off a couple months ago, this first appearance by Ligotti in comic form definitely entices.

Also of note, the first film appearance of a Ligotti tale should be coming later this year when “The Frolic” appears. This short film should enjoy a limited appearance in theaters and directly on DVD. It will mark a stellar break into film for Ligotti, who experienced little previous appearances outside of print, except for work with the experimental music group, Current 93. While details are still relatively scant about the film, it will hopefully be of superior quality to the many movies over the years that have carelessly used H.P. Lovecraft’s name.

In any case, these excursions into new types of media will surely not mark the last of such attempts by Ligotti admirers. Let’s just hope they set the bar high to start!

-Grim Blogger