Friday, December 17, 2010

Call of Cthulhu Friday: Cthulhu zeitgeist




There is more of it out there than I thought. Not just plushies and Miskatonic U. bumber stickers ( Go Pods!), but I’ve discovered from my Amazon.com browsing that there are a pile of Cthulhu humor books out there. “Where the Deep Ones Are” is obvious, but an interesting one, not so much humor as a “Cthulhu for Idiots” type info book, is Cthulhu 101. Made for people who don’t really know what the works of Lovecraft are all about. It gives you the lowdown on the various entities of the Cycle, goes over Lovecraft and his life, and hits on the pop culture items where the Old Ones and their crew make their mark. Cthulhu zeitgeist!

Much as I am with zombies, I’m sort of Cthulhued out (although that may not jibe with the fact that I do a twice monthly Cthulhu post). Although I’d love more than anything to have a CoC campaign going on in the coming year, I think I can take a pass on the plethora of ancillary Lovecraft floating around out there. I wonder what HP would think of all this stuff?

2 comments:

  1. I too am burned out on Cthulhu, mostly by his omnipresence not just within gaming, but geek culture in general. Truth be told, I haven't read any Lovecraft in several years now...

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  2. The Cute-thulhu stuff really gets under my skin. I have had friends and family comment that I should collect that kind of stuff rather than "the creepy" Cthulhiana I prefer to collect.

    As for the flood of Cthulhu inspired products, I agree, there is way too much. It is a current that is flowing through the geek-market right now. I suppose people are buying this stuff, or there wouldn't be as much.

    The shame of it is that in many ways it weakens Lovecraft's legacy. This is just my opinion of course, but I am afraid I am right on this.

    Personally, I have turned to other aspects of Lovecraft's work and the work found in the Lovecraft Circle. Cthulhu is almost an afterthought for me now when I think about cosmic/existential horror. The genre itself is so expansive that it could easily flourish without the presence of Cthulhu.

    And don't even get me started on the whole zombie craze...

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