I wanted to do something different this month so I decided to go back. How far back? Way back, and it goes a little something like this…

I love reading old graphic novels just as much as the new ones. They don’t always have the seriousness of modern trade paperbacks but that can often make them more fun to read. Sometimes old graphic novels are absolutely absurd which makes for great unintentional comedy of the highest caliber. So that was what I was expecting when I picked up The Legion of Night 1 & 2, but instead what I got was a journey into madness.

As I read these books I couldn’t help but compare them to John Carpenter’s ode to H.P. Lovecraft In the Mouth of Madness even though the movie came out after these books. In both, the protagonist is a respected business man who investigates something that seems mundane but turns out to be a journey into the supernatural. The Legion of the Night is highly influenced by Lovecraft’s work. There is the notion that there are things that just cannot be described or understood by human intellect and research into such can lead you nowhere good. Where Lovecraft used deities like Cthulu as the object of madness and horror, The Legion of Night’s supernatural menace is Fin Fang Foom.

As the tale is written about a decent into madness & dream I am going to keep my recap to the point and just give record to the plot contained within these books and a glimmer of the insanity within.

Spoiler

A lawyer by the name of Charles Blackwater is hired to defend a cult named the Beyond Reason Spiritual Fellowship from a range of allegations of everything from kidnapping and fraud to drug trafficking and child pornography. He takes the case for the money, exposing his penchant for greed. Blackwater visits the cult’s compound and reads their literature and comes to the opinion that the accusations are unfounded. So he defends the cult in court and wins, the cult is found innocent on all charges.

Having done a good deal of research on the occult prior to the trial Charles Blackwater found it fascinating and continued his studies. In his quest for knowledge he is gifted a book that the Beyond Reason cult had referenced in their writings but had failed to provide it to Blackwater upon request. The book is a blue print on how to con the strong and take advantage of the weak for your own gains. This inspires Blackwater to investigate further into the charges against the cult he defended and unfortunately he finds out that at least some of the allegations were true. The lawyer decides to contact a newspaper writer that works for a paper that focuses on UFOs and the occult.

Before they meet however, the cult breaks into the lawyers house and blast him of out a window where he falls to his death and into madness. Charles Blackwater is dead, but his shadow or spirit continues to exist in the astral plane or the spiritual plane or whatever your religion or culture has deemed it should be called. There he bonds with a creature named Omen who needs Charles physical form to fight the end of times that is coming.

Meanwhile the Beyond Reach cult manages to awaken the slumbering Fin Fang Foom (a massive dragon) and through him, his master is prepared to turn everything in existence into dream. I hesitate to delve further into what is or can happen to the world as I think much of it is left open to interpretation.

Charles Blackwater / Omen assemble a team familiar with cult knowledge and meta-physical powers to stop Fin Fang Foom in the astral plane before he mates and begins the end of times. Meanwhile, in the physical realm Fin Fang Foom is destroying New York city. In the spirit realm Fin Fang Foom begins mating with one of the Beyond Reach cult members. The group of humans led by Omen manage to destroy Fin Fang Foom’s unborn child and apparently slays the dragon, though I don’t believe he can truly be destroyed permanently.

The tone of these books are obviously dark and as such their are some frightfully disturbing art within. An image of our protagonist with dislocated fingers and an eye about to fall from his socket has been burned indelibly into my mind. This might just be a comic that stays with you even after you’ve packed it away on a shelf next to old issues of Power Pack & Howard the Duck.

It is impossible to fully understand everything going on in The Legion of the Night, but isn’t that the point? The unknown is left to our imagination which can be far more frightful than the truth. So who is this book for? It’s not for your cape fans or those looking for a lucid linear plot. Instead it’s for fans of Lovecraft and cosmic horror stories that are Ok with abstract notions and endings that don’t manage to cleanly wrap everything up in a bow. I found it an interesting and fun read, something different than my normal fare for which I am glad to have picked it up in the bargain bin.

Story
Artwork
Value
Can It Stand Alone
Cool Factor
Average