Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Brian Roe, Comics, entertainment, kickstarter, Ronda Pattison, Ryan Howe, Tiki Vs Cthulhu

Take Lovecraft Add A Dash Of Howard And A Sprinkle Of Tiki Culture…

Published Sun, 06 Apr 2014 16:00:09 -0500

Brian Roe writes for Bleeding Cool:

Tiki versus Cthulhu is the mythology of H.P. Lovecraft as re-imagined by Robert E. Howard, pulp-fiction adventure combined with Tiki culture but without the kitsch. It's meant to show mankind's epic struggle against elemental forces and the heroic fight to survive in a dangerous and threatening world as degenerate hybrid cultists and noble tribesmen battle in a legendary war for life itself.

This is the kind of story I've wanted to tell ever since I was a young kid going through the dregs of the local drugstore spin-rack and finding various reprints of Strange Tales and Where Monsters Dwell that featured colossal monsters like Bombu, Gormuu, and Moomba striding menacingly across the covers. These giants, who often sported enormous pairs of underwear, seemed to be fully intent on ruling or destroying humanity and were only thwarted by meddling archeologists or scientists or simple dumb luck. I first started reading these fine comics at about the same time that I discovered H. P. Lovecraft and his bizarre alien cosmology. Synergy was bound to happen and I saw Cthulhu as merely another in this pantheon of gargantuas, (not to mention War of The Gargantuas).

There's a natural love/fear that children seem to have for very large monsters. Maybe it's because we can easily imagine ourselves as Gojira striding through cardboard box cities callously kicking around green plastic army men or maybe it's because Gamera is friend to all children but for whatever reason I've always imagined being the monster and not the little green army man. But while the monsters might be fun to mimic they don't often make for compelling stories. The best giant monster stories are the ones that focus on how humanity responds to these creatures and the drama that is created by dealing with something as powerful as any natural disaster but one that has a definite face and clear desire to destroy everything around it that we pitiful humans have built.

Lovecraft provides the first basic bit of Tiki versus Cthulhu in a story told by Zadok Allen in The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Zadok tells of a local legend about an Innsmouth sea captain who traded with a group of islanders that had become willing allies with ancient fish/frog creatures that lived beneath the sea. The captain goes on one voyage to find the islanders all wiped out by a more traditional and pious tribe.

The next part comes from Lovecraft's long distance friend, Robert E. Howard. Howard wrote stories about how heart and brawn could often defeat eldritch horrors if they could only hold out long enough, how a barbarian armed only with a sharp sword and a stout heart could defy even the most vile of ancient nightmares.

When I first started working on this idea back in 2008 it was triggered by a bobble-head doll that a friend of mine brought me from Hawaii that was of a small boy wearing a gourd helmet with cords dangling from the front edge like an attempt to mimic a beard. Or tentacles. After doing some research into this style of helmet it's still not clear if this was a style of headwear that Hawaiians actually ever wore or if it was one of Captain Cook's fancies. Either way it gave me the starting point for the evil island cult that worshipped Cthulhu. So given this questionable historical provenance it was an easy fit to make the good guys followers of the pseudo-mythological being known as Tiki. (And of course I'm talking about the Tiki of ersatz-Polynesian bars and not the true Tiki of actual Polynesian religions.)

So both of the armies are chosen, the uniforms are designed, the banners under which they'll fight are fluttering in the breeze. How do I make this something more than a visual wargame with a pre-determined (the good guys win) outcome? Again I go back to exploring how people handle the worst situations that reality can throw at them. This is a theme I've written into our other comic Zombie Plague and something that intrigues me in the real world. Will the small tribe of Tiki islanders prevail against a foe that has allied itself to a more ancient and powerful being than human minds can fathom? Or will their first taste of Cthulhu's unreality blast away their minds like dust in a hurricane? The answer to this is for me quite simple: Humans are resilient beasts and will almost always find a way to prevail.

Although I'm using subject matter that has become high kitsch in many ways I'm attempting to strip away the chintziness and create something epic and inspiring. Part of this will be exploring the nature of heroic sacrifice and who actually needs who within a given society. but mostly I want to tell a ripping yarn that harkens back to the pulp-fiction and comic books that first inspired me to write.

Luckily I'm also working with two of my favorite people on this project: Ronda Pattison, my long time creative partner, Colorist to The Stars, co-publisher, and all around good egg. And Ryan Howe, one of the most dynamic and easy to work with artists I've ever had the joy to know. We've worked together several times before, on Yva Starling:Troubleshooter, Zombie Plague, and Henchmen so we know that the chemistry is right to make an exciting and memorable book.

But I need help funding this project. I've already run two successful Kickstarters and learned volumes about the process. I've started the Kickstarter campaign for Tiki versus Cthulhu with the simple goal of getting the first issue made as well as including a few neat items as extra rewards. No stretch goals, no expectation of life changing wealth. Just the funds to get this story told.

I've also wrangled some other fine artists like Evan Quiring and Nathen Wahl into creating some awesome artwork to be used as mini-print rewards. These gents, along with other artists who will be contributing artwork, truly get what I'm attempting here. We possess a shared pop culture mythology that binds us together as truly as any ancient belief system. It's just that our legendary tales were told by people like Howard, Honda, Lovecraft, and Kirby.

The campaign has not taken off quite as gracefully as I would like. An initial boost of optimism has given way to a lull that I'm not sure we can recover from. Tenacity and self sacrifice are both great but at this point I need support from like minded people who think that this story is worth telling and worth hearing.

Bleeding Cool readers: This is when I need you to rise up and be counted. If we can raise our overall amount pledged to over $3000 by April 12th I will institute a special Bleeding Cool reward addition. At the end of the campaign if you add the phrase "Bleeding Cool" to your reward information I will add a unique, hand-drawn sketch card to your reward package. It might be a gourd-head, a Tiki tribesman or a giant monster but it will be hand drawn and awesome. Please help us build the upward momentum that we need to make this project real.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847163926/tiki-versus-cthulhu-issue1

http://www.rsquaredcomics.com/

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