Arkham Woods is manga book from Seaven Seas, a company well known to anime fans for such series as Boogiepop and Venus vs Virus. The author is Christopher Rowley (a fantasy/scifi author with Bazil Broketail and Starhammer to his credit) with art provided by Jhomar Soriano. List price is $9.99 with 200 pages of content, not discounted by Amazon. Like all manga, this is read back to front, then right to left, as in Japan (although there is no particular reason for that with this book, as it is an English language original as far as I know except perhaps for custom). As usual with comics and manga I approach them first as a Cthulhu mythos fan. I was grandly entertained by everything here.

Kirsti Rivers and her mother come to the town of Arkham Woods from California to live in an old house that they have inherited. Kirsti's mom is going blind and they need to sell the house to pay for her treatment. Kirst has made some friends: her boy friend Tommy Townsend, Dantwon Jones the star athlete, the brain at the local school Lin Won and a born again Christian boy Kevin spears who is also sweet on Kirsten. So far, this is pretty typical manga, middle school to high school aged protagonists who fit into convenient stereotypes. About a hundred years ago the house was owned by Krestazious Kraken, and was the site of some rather nefarious goings on. Whlie mom is away, Kirst and Tommy start exploring the house, and find some mysterious keys. They find a room filled with junk and inadvertantly open a hidden passage into a room filled with wooden boxes. Unfortunately they release something ancient and evil, although they don't realize it yet. Without spoilers, I can say some pretty good horrific and action sequences follow all the exposition. Up to the finale Arkham Woods is a pretty tautly plotted Cthulhu mythos comic, but then it deviates into something pure manga. Looking like a Tolkien-esque elf, Nyarlathotep appears and through convoluted means, helps to stop Cthullhu from freeing itself. We find out what happens to Kirsten and her mother in the epilogue.

I think this is an important book because it is one of the first English language Cthulhu mythos manga, and I think opens the door for a host of other ventures in the genre. HPL's creations are often seen in comics, why not manga? Maybe we will see some more translations from the Japanese, like Taimashin #1. In Arkham Woods, the art was quite good, especially the various beasties. The pictures of Cthulhu and its servitors were excellent, as were the action panels. As a manga comic it is first rate. As a Lovecraftian story it has a superb beginning and middle section. The finale was a misstep as far as I was concerned. Nyarlathotep looked nothing like an Egyptian (although I guess he doesn't have to; I just never imagined him as Orlando Bloom). Also, why would Azathoth intervene for the good of the planet, and why would Nyarlthotep seem so noble? Azathoth is an indifferent chaotic idiot, after all, and Nyarlathotep is trying to help Cthulhu get loose. Getting past this point, the epiogue was a fine conclusion.

I have no qulams about giving a warm recommendation to this book; I hope Mr. Rowley will write some other mythos manga! Anyone who reads it will while away a few very pleasant hours. I think it will hold up well to multiple re-reads (a big deal for all comics and manga fans!). Lovecraftian purists will need to let their hair down a little bit, but it's worth it.

Addendum: Lately I've begun to wonder if I overestimate the market for mythos manga. The Dark Goodbye predates (I think) Arkham Woods and the publisher had no qualms about pulling theplug after two issues. ( )