oooooo..... eerie backstory time! and the infernal force behind it all is... and this is no spoiler because hey check out the title of the first volume... CTHULHU! of course. i've been waiting for that title to have real relevance. ah, Cthulhu. ::happy sigh::
well, it's not exactly Cthulhu himself, but it is one of the lovecraftian god-beings - that crazy lady slash sentient swamp of bubbling un-life known as Shub-Niggurath. more on her later.
this is another superb volume in the superb series. as mentioned, this one is all about the reasons why and the how things happened and the when - most importantly, the when. the featured key takes you back in time to witness various important events. we get to see revolutionary america. we get to see the dead father of our young protagonists, when he and his peers were about their age. we get to see lots of things.
[Enter Positive Comments Here]. i can say nothing about this series that hasn't been said before, by me and by many others. it is brilliant. the dynamic characterizations, the layered mysteries, the sadness and melancholy and loss and sense of wasted potential and wasted lives, the feeling of a grand adventure gone terribly wrong, the genuine sympathy that Hill creates for his vividly depicted cast, all the subtlety and nuance... all there, intact. the art is just as wonderful. i love it! across the board, no complaints. i can read this series again and again, and this volume retains the high quality of all that came before.
okay, Shub-Niggurath. i was going to write a whole homeric ode to that fetid fell enchantress - she is such an ingenious creation and certainly deserves it. but then i remembered that i had already profiled her in another review. so fuck it, i'll just copy and paste. self-plagiarization time!
Shub-Niggurath
Nickname: she-goat of the woods with a thousand young
Likes: relaxing in nature and in subterranean caves
Dislikes: uptight people, smokers (fire in general)
Favorite Craft: as a "fountain of uncleanliness", Ms. Niggurath enjoys simple, primordial delights such as creating, procreating, and bubbling forth various pseudopods and crawly, flappy minions
What She Is Looking For: adventurous souls willing to live in the moment, just let it all go and try something new!
